Colors of Confinement
Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II
Format:Paperback
Publisher:The University of North Carolina Press
Published:30th Aug '21
Should be back in stock very soon
In 1942, Bill Manbo (1908-1992) and his family were forced from their Hollywood home into the Japanese American internment camp at Heart Mountain in Wyoming. While there, Manbo documented both the bleakness and beauty of his surroundings, using Kodachrome film, a technology then just seven years old, to capture community celebrations and to record his family's struggle to maintain a normal life under the harsh conditions of racial imprisonment. Colors of Confinement showcases sixty-five stunning images from this extremely rare collection of color photographs, presented along with three interpretive essays by leading scholars and a reflective, personal essay by a former Heart Mountain internee.
The subjects of these haunting photos are the routine fare of an amateur photographer: parades, cultural events, people at play, Manbo's son. But the images are set against the backdrop of the barbed-wire enclosure surrounding the Heart Mountain Relocation Center and the dramatic expanse of Wyoming sky and landscape. The accompanying essays illuminate these scenes as they trace a tumultuous history unfolding just beyond the camera's lens, giving readers insight into Japanese American cultural life and the stark realities of life in the camps.
Also contributing to the book are:
Jasmine Alinder is associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she coordinates the program in public history. In 2009 she published Moving Images: Photography and the Japanese American Incarceration (University of Illinois Press). She has also published articles and essays on photography and incarceration, including one on the work of contemporary photographer Patrick Nagatani in the newly released catalog Desire for Magic: Patrick Nagatani--Works, 1976-2006 (University of New Mexico Art Museum, 2009). She is currently working on a book on photography and the law.
Lon Kurashige is associate professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. His scholarship focuses on racial ideologies, politics of identity, emigration and immigration, historiography, cultural enactments, and social reproduction, particularly as they pertain to Asians in the United States. His exploration of Japanese American assimilation and cultural retention, Japanese American Celebration and Conflict: A History of Ethnic Identity and Festival, 1934-1990 (University of California Press, 2002), won the History Book Award from the Association for Asian American Studies in 2004. He has published...
“Injustice, in Kodachrome.” - The New York Times
“Sheds new light on life in Wyoming's Heart Mountain internment camp. . . . Disarming. . . . [Manbo's] images show movement and smiles caught in a moment. The people do not perform because of his camera but in spite of it.” - Casper Star-Tribune
“These images offer readers glimpses of the internment that are in vivid color and, unlike government- sanctioned photos, candid and earnest. . . .Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.” - Choice
“[A] provocative and noteworthy collection. . . . [with] unquestionable cultural and historical significance.” - Publishers Weekly
“A rare insider's view of daily life in [Japanese-American internment] camps.” - Durham Herald Sun
“These portraits provide a stark reminder that the families of Heart Mountain were prisoners of war.” - NPR Online
“The strength of this title is the photography: Manbo documents a people who rose above persecution and injustice to carry on traditions and form a community in a barren landscape. Anyone interested in documentary photography and American social and cultural history will appreciate this book. Highly recommended.” - Library Journal starred review
“The narratives and scholarly essays combine with the photos to forge a powerful statement. As humans we see the world in color, so the Kodachrome images convey the circumstances, as we would experience them if we were there. This level of reality is something that existing black and white camp photos cannot duplicate.” - American Studies Journal
“Muller recognized this power of color photography to revive the past and has created a book that presents the internee experience through a modern lens. Just as Manbo's slides were miraculously preserved (in a box in his son's garage), Muller's compilation will help preserve our collective memory of the internment experience.” - Hyphen: Asian America Unabridged
“Stunning.” - Huffington Post
“The collection of pictures [Manbo] took there. . . represent a singular view of internment, all executed in color.” - Los Angeles Times
“Poignant images of pickup baseball, judo matches, parades, and other daily life in a Wyoming internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II.” - Military History Quarterly
“Showcas[es] 65 color images from [Bill Manbo's] rare collection. . . . Each of the essays helps the reader look at the photographs from a different perspective.” - Carolina Law
“The photographs give a haunting account of what life was like for Japanese descents.” - Daily Mail Online
“This is a testament to the incredible power of photography. Even one frame can change the tide of public opinion because photography has the power to add layers to our understanding of how events transpired and how people were affected.” - Washington Post
“These are not pictures of horrors of confinement but rather photos that show how the Japanese made lives for themselves.” - Denver Post
“This volume is at once a wonderful and rare addition . . . to the existing images of the Nikkei experience while incarcerated during World War II.” - Nichi Bei Weekly
ISBN: 9781469666167
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 498g
136 pages