“I remember my release from Manzanar as scary and intense, but until now so little has been said about this aspect of the internment experience. This is an important book, its stories ground-breaking and memorable.”
—Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, coauthor of Farewell to Manzanar
“These stories tiptoe gently into the heart, wipe clear the windows of our memories, and release the frozen tears of our outrage and triumphs. A deeply moving account of life after imprisonment, its lingering stigma, and the true meaning of freedom.”
—Dr. Satsuki Ina, producer of Children of the Camps
“The Nisei memoirists emerge from the creative process voicing this collective yet richly variegation conclusion: ‘while resettlement will never be a truly definitive entity, we are nonetheless finding our way back home in the discovery and telling of our stories.'”
—Arthur A. Hansen, Professor Emeritus of History and Asian American Studies at California State University, Fullerton
“In my teacher professional development work nationally and internationally . . . I will [promote] Making Home from War. The readings . . . are very accessible to secondary school students and I highly recommend their use in social studies and language arts classrooms. The lesson plans are a unique feature to the anthologies and offer teachers tools to help set the context for the readings and to help students debrief them.”
—Gary Mukai, Director of Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education
• Austin, Allan W. Journal of American Ethnic History. Winter 2013. Vol. 32, Issue 2. p. 131-132. University of Illinois Press.
• Sims, Robert C. Pacific Historical Review. Vol. 81, No. 3 August 2012. pp. 485-486. University of California Press.
• Asian Avenue Magazine, “Book Review: Making Home from War.” January 17, 2012.
• Nichi Bei Weekly, “Nisei Writers Explore the ‘Aftershock’ of War.” January 1, 2012.
• Temkar, Arvin. “Art From America's Concentration Camps.” USF News. August 23, 2017.
• Interview with New America Now, Host, Shirin Sadeghi.
• Interview from Heyday website.
• Eastwind Books of Berkeley. Berkeley, California. November 13, 2011.
• Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center. Portland, Oregon. October 9, 2011.
• Elliott Bay Bookstore. Seattle, Washington. October 8, 2011.
• Blaine United Methodist Church. Seattle, Washington. October 7, 2011.
• Oakland Museum of California. Oakland, California. June 6, 2011.
• Berkeley Methodist United Church. Berkeley, California. May 14, 2011.
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. University of California, Berkeley. April 25, 2011.
• Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center. San Jose, California. April 16, 2011.
• San Francisco Main Library. San Francisco, California. April 8, 2011.
• Japanese Institute of Sawtelle. Los Angeles, California. March 13, 2011.
• Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, California. March 12, 2011.
• PS #1 Pluralistic School. Santa Monica, California. March 11, 2011.
• Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. San Francisco, California. February 27, 2011.
With honesty and an eye for detail, Making Home from War is the long-awaited sequel to the award-winning From Our Side of the Fence. Written by twelve Japanese American elders who gathered regularly at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Making Home from War is a collection of stories about their exodus from concentration camps into a world that in a few short years had drastically changed. In order to survive, they found resilience they needed in the form of community, and gathered reserves of strength from family and friends. Through a spectrum of conflicting and rich emotions, Making Home from War demonstrates the depth of human resolve and faith during a time of devastating upheaval.