First published 2015
Jan Jarboe Russell reveals the hidden history of Crystal City, Texas, where the US government operated its only family internment camp from 1942 to 1948. Trains brought thousands of Japanese, German, and Italian families to this desert facility, including many American citizens. Russell centers her investigation on two teenage girls born in America who found themselves behind ten-foot fences with armed guards, daily roll calls, and censored letters. The camp served a darker purpose than simple detention. FDR's administration used these families as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges, trading hundreds of internees for American diplomats and soldiers held overseas. Some families were shipped to war-torn Germany and Japan, then faced years of struggle to return home. Russell documents their daily existence in the camp and traces how wartime fear transformed loyal Americans into suspected enemies, then back into citizens again.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Crystal City, Texas, Germany, Japan
Period: 1942-1948
416 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: child-death, racism, war