From Library Journal
Between the late 1800s and the 1920s, Japanese immigrants (Issei) settled in various places along the Pacific Coast states. In this volume, surviving Issei who settled in the rural Hood River Valley in Oregon tell their stories in interviews conducted by Tamura, an academic and a Sansei (third-generation) native of Hood River. In their own words, the immigrants explain how and why they came to America, their dreams, and their often harsh new life, mostly as farmers and orchardists. Eleven of the 14 elderly interviewees are women, whose unexpectedly positive attitude toward life in the World War II relocation camps gives the book a unique twist. This valuable resource on the Japanese American experience is recommended for academic and large public libraries with collections on Asian American history. --Katherine L. Kan, Hawaii State Lib., HonoluluCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Tamura is a third-generation, or sansei, Hood River Japanese whose eagerness to discover her roots led her to undertake this oral history of the original farmers and merchants. She does so faithfully and movingly, particularly in her portrait of xenophobia as World War II broke out and many of the issei were interned. A good companion to Lauren Kessler's Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family, also about the Hood River issei and Sandra Taylor's Jewel of the Desert: Japanese American Internment at Topaz, reviewed in this issue (p.675). John Mort