6" x 9", 128 page trade paperback titled WE WERE NOT THE ENEMY: REMEMBERING THE UNITED STATES LATIN-AMERICAN CIVILIAN INTERNMENT PROGRAM OF WORLD WAR II by Heidi Gurcke Donald/ iUniverse, Inc., ISBN # 978-0-595-39333-6, Unstated printing , copyright 2006, 2008/ The author provides the compelling real life story of a family with a German father, American mother and two small children who were arrested while living in Costa Rica and sent to the internment camp in Crystal City, TX in 1942. It is a piece of American history that has remained hidden for many years, but should be told. This particular book sheds light on the reach of the US Government into Latin America and the pervasive fear of Axis "enemy aliens" that drove the establishment of these camps across the US in the early part of WWII. Crystal City was designed to be more compassionate because families were kept together, but in the end, many of the families were used as barter to trade for US prisoners held captive in Japan and Germany. The shocking part was approximately 1/3 of the family members were American citizens, either naturalized, an American spouse of a Japanese, German, or Italian, or children who were born in the US, thus citizens. The item is complete and in FINE condition with some overall light wear that includes some small brown stains on the lower inside corner of the front cover and the lower right corner of the first page. The book is signed and dated on the title page by the author, "15 Feb. 2009, Heidi Gurcke Donald." |