Overview

In the Japanese American relocation camps of World War II, internees could, on any given day, be both clients and victims of their assigned War Relocation Authority lawyers. The morally ambiguous remit of these attorneys was wide and often contradictory, including overseeing the day-to-day administration of the camps, settling internal disputes between inmates, managing conflict between detainees and their government captors, and providing legal representation for prisoners outside of the camps. The lawyers, who largely identified as progressive New Deal liberals, found themselves unwillingly but inevitably complicit in the government's internment of American citizens. In re-creating the daily lives of these WRA attorneys, Eric L. Muller, a leading expert on Japanese American relocation and internment during World War II, seeks to capture historical subjects as three-dimensional, flawed human beings. Muller adds color, nuance, and pathos to the historical record by creating narrative and dialogue, illustrating how the lawyers' backgrounds, temperaments, circumstances, and personalities shaped their engagements with the unjust system they helped operate. He powerfully illuminates a shameful episode of American history through imaginative narrative grounded in archival evidence.

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9781469673974

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Reviews

"Vivid. . . . For readers interested in human rights, concentration camps, or the legal history of this period, this is an important work.""--Library Journal"

"[A] brilliant book . . . . a masterpiece . . . . an important yet understudied topic.--Art Hansen, Nichi Bei News In a powerful yet easily read narrative, Muller documents with precision the tension these lawyers experienced attempting to do good while working in a fundamentally unjust system. Based on meticulous research . . . . a thought-provoking study of the role of the legal profession in society and the power of individual responsibility, even with its imperfections.""--American Bar Association Vivid. . . . For readers interested in human rights, concentration camps, or the legal history of this period, this is an important work.""--Library Journal"

"Vivid. . . . For readers interested in human rights, concentration camps, or the legal history of this period, this is an important work.""—Library Journal In a powerful yet easily read narrative, Muller documents with precision the tension these lawyers experienced attempting to do good while working in a fundamentally unjust system. Based on meticulous research . . . . a thought-provoking study of the role of the legal profession in society and the power of individual responsibility, even with its imperfections.""—American Bar Association [A] brilliant book . . . . a masterpiece . . . . an important yet understudied topic.—Art Hansen, Nichi Bei News"

Author Information

Eric L. Muller is the Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law in Jurisprudence and Ethics at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

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