From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat, a gripping World War II saga of patriotism, highlighting the contributions and sacrifices that Japanese immigrants and their American-born children made for the sake of the nation:
the courageous Japanese-American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in
Europe; their families, incarcerated back home; and a young man who
refused to surrender his constitutional rights, even if it meant
imprisonment.
They came from across the continent and
Hawaii. Their parents taught them to embrace both their Japanese
heritage and the ways of America. They faced bigotry, yet they believed
in their bright futures as American citizens. But within days of Pearl
Harbor, the FBI was ransacking their houses and locking up their
fathers. And within months many would themselves be living behind barbed
wire.
Facing the Mountain is an unforgettable chronicle
of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe. Based on Daniel
James Brown's extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists
as well as deep archival research, it portrays the kaleidoscopic
journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who
volunteered for 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to
France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near
impossible.
But this is more than a war story. Brown also tells
the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to
shutter the businesses, surrender their homes, and submit to life in
concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven throughout is the chronicle of a
brave young man, one of a cadre of patriotic resisters who stood up
against their government in defense of their own rights. Whether
fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under
unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best--striving, resisting,
pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their
lives, and enduring.
