Reviewed by Allan W. Austin | Reviews | Journal of American Ethnic History, 28.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the Journal of American Ethnic History online. About 197 words from this article are provided below; about 457 words remain.

If you are a subscriber to the Journal of American Ethnic History, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Journal of American Ethnic History, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American Ethnic History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to the journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

Reviewed by Allan W. Austin | Reviews | Journal of American Ethnic History, 28.2 | The History Cooperative

Reviews

American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II. By Eric L. Muller. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. 197 pp. Photos, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. $27.50 (cloth).

In this brief monograph, Eric L. Muller explores the processes by which government agencies attempted to assess the loyalty of Japanese Americans, or Nikkei, during World War II. While the wartime experiences of Nikkei have received disproportionate scholarly attention, Muller's perceptive study demonstrates that important work in this era remains. In comparing civilian and military efforts to hunt down Nikkei disloyalty, Muller's conclusions are insightful if bleak. While he argues that the civilian War Relocation Authority (WRA) understood its inmates better than more distant military agencies such as the Provost Marshall General's Office (PMGO) and the Western Defense Command (WDC), all reached conclusions that "reflected much more about the agency and the context in which it operated than about the American citizens whose cases it was judging" (p. 4). Muller concludes from the government's inability to achieve a workable definition of loyalty that it provided "valuable lessons ... but it is not an enterprise to emulate" (p. 7).

. . .

There are about 457 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.