Japanese American Men
Adios to Tears : The Memoirs of a Japanese-Peruvian Internee in U.S. Concentration Camps by Seiichi Higashide, C. Harvey Gardiner, Elsa H. Kudo (Preface). Paperback - 272 pages (May 2000) University of Washington Press.
Foo : A Japanese-American Prisoner of the Rising Sun : The Secret Prison Diary of Frank 'Foo' Fujita by Frank Fujita, Stanley L. Falk (Designer), Robert Wear (Designer). Hardcover - 371 pages (March 1993) University of North Texas Press. "During his time as a POW, Frank "FOO" Fujita kept a diary of daily happenings, embellished with drawings of life in the camp. He secreted the diary in the walls of his barracks, as the practice was forbidden. That diary forms the basis of these memoirs. ... The bulk of American POWs in Japanese hands surrendered in the Philippines, and most of the published POW memoirs reflect their experience. Fujita's account of the defense of Java and of the fate of the "Lost Battalion" of Texas artillerymen serves to distinguish this memoir from others. "
Harvest Son : Planting Roots in American Soil by David Mas Masumoto. Paperback - 304 pages (September 1999) W.W. Norton & Company;. Also in hardcover. From Booklist: "Masumoto intersperses descriptions and observations of life on his family's farm in California's San Joaquin Valley with a history of the Masumotos in the U.S. His grandfather arrived from Japan in 1899 and established himself by working the vineyards. Yet, just when the growing Masumoto clan is feeling truly a part of this nation, World War II bursts onto the scene and they're driven into internment camps. Growing up in the 1950s, Masumoto has two clear goals: to embrace his Japanese heritage and to flee the valley as soon as possible. While in college, he visits Japan, but the experience forces him to admit that he is not really Japanese. Back home, he is a hyphenated American, balancing his life between disparate cultures. " 
Volcano: A Memoir of Hawaii by Garrett K. Hongo. Paperback (June 1996) Unknown. "Poet Hongo, a Japanese American born on Hawaii and raised in L.A., was estranged from his culture, his homeland, and his family history until he returned to his place of birth.... The tale itself is startlingly dramatic, spiced with scandal, broken hearts, and abandoned children, but Hongo's compelling, candid, and lyrical manner of storytelling is the real draw...." Review by Donna Seaman.
Out of the Frying Pan : Reflections of a Japanese American by Bill Hosokawa, Tom Noel. Paperback - 184 pages (December 1998) University Press of Colorado. "From vividly recollected personal experiences, Out of the Frying Pan is a fresh, personal account of one of the greatest injustices in 20th-century U.S. history. Bill Hosokawa, this country's leading Japanese American journalist, tells how he, his wife, and their infant child were herded into a U.S. World War II relocation camp in Wyoming."
Turning Japanese : Memoirs of a Sansei by David Mura. Paperback 376 pages Rep edition (June 1992) Anchor. "In 1984, David Mura, a third-generation Japanese-American, was awarded a writing grant to live in Japan. After years of ignoring his ethnic heritage, Mura, with his wife (an American), embarked on a trip that profoundly changed his life. Turning Japanese chronicles his quest for self-knowledge and racial identity."
One Thousand Days in Siberia : The Odyssey of a Japanese-American Pow by Iwao Peter Sano. Paperback - 236 pages (April 1999) Bison Bks Co From an amazon reader: "About eight years ago, I read Peter Sano's story when it was in its earliest form. I knew then that he should have it published - and finally, he did. Peter was born in America but at the age of 15, in 1939, he was sent to Japan to become the adopted son of his childless aunt and uncle. Drafted into the Japanese army in 1945, Peter was sent to war. By being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Peter ended up in Siberian POW and labor camps for three years before finally being released. During those years, Peter made life bearable for many of his fellow prisoners, often at his own expense - and though he downplays his heroism, he kept some people alive who would otherwise have perished. His is a tale both humorous and tragic and in the end, inspiring. Today, Peter is back in America..."
Beyond Loyalty : The Story of a Kibei by Minoru Kiyota, Linda Klepinger Keenan (Translator). Paperback - 272 pages (June 1997) Univ of Hawaii Press, "Few Japanese Americans have written so frankly about the humiliation they felt during World War II. Moreover, Kiyota is perhaps the first "renunciant" to share publicly the mental anguish that led to and resulted from his decision to relinquish his U.S. citizenship. Further, as a "kibei nisei"--one of a small group of Japanese Americans who spent part of their childhood in Japan--Kiyota writes from the vantage point of an individual who is at home in two very different languages and cultures. "
Korean American Men
Memories of My Ghost Brother by Heinz Insu Fenkl. Paperback - 288 pages (November 1997) Plume. Also in hardcover.Heinz Insu Fenkl is the son of a German-American soldier who married a Korean woman when he was stationed near Seoul. In this haunting novel he explores the coming-of-age of an Amerasian in Korea... Young Insu grows up in the chaotic streets of Pupyong.... His mother trafficks in everything,skilled in manipulating the black market to support her family. Insu's arrival at the orderly American school does little to resolve the conflicts between the cultures in which he must live. ... And always, there is the memory of his lost half-brother, the baby that his mother sacrificed to marry his father, who refused to raise another man's child.
Ceylon/Sri Lanka American Men
Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje. Paperback - 207 pages Reprint edition (December 1993) Vintage Book. "In the late 1970s Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that "pendant off the ear of India," Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family. An inspired travel narrative and family memoir by an exceptional writer. "Ondaatje is Canadian.
Vietnamese American Men
Catfish and Mandala : A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam by Andrew X. Pham. Paperback -- 344 pages (September 2000) Picador USA. Vietnamese American Andrew X. "Pham's captivating first book delves fearlessly into questions of home, family, and identity. The son of Vietnamese parents who suffered terribly during the Vietnam War and brought their family to America when he was 10, Pham, on the cusp of his 30s, defied his parents' conservative hopes for him and his engineering career by becoming a poorly paid freelance writer. After the suicide of his sister, he set off on an even riskier path to travel some of the world on his bicycle. In the grueling, enlightening year that followed, he pedaled through Mexico, the American West Coast, Japan, and finally his far-off first land, Vietnam."
This page grows organically from recommendations. If we don't have a book that you feel should be listed or if you notice that a book is now out-of-print, please let us know. aawaa2000@yahoo.com
This bibliography/bookstore page made possible in part by a grant from California Arts Council and friends
My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused by Wen Ho Lee, Helen Zia (Contributor). Hardcover - 256 pages 1 Ed edition (January 15, 2002) Hyperion. Very timely book. Little excerpts from Amazon reviewers: "This was the first book I've read in a long time that I couldn't put down. ... It is very disturbing to me that an ordinary American citizen can be incarcerated for 278 days and never have committed a crime.", "In this book Wen Ho Lee comes off as what I think he is, an uncomplicated, straightforward scientist and family man who got embroiled in a highly complex and ugly political game. His voice comes through clearly even with a co-author, .... The book is loaded with details about the case, from the investigations leading up to it, to his own account of his actions, to the legal battles, and the conclusion with the apology from judge Parker. There's a lot packed in here but it is extremely readable.", "I just finished reading Wen Ho Lee's book and I couldn't help feeling that I had just read a story about my father, or any worker who gets caught up in the net others with political egos and hypocrisy run rampant. ... You see in his book how he grows from basically a person trying to do a good job and live a simple life, to one who understands the real motivations of people in politics and how necessary it is to participate in the American system." 
