| Edition |
First Atria Books hardcover edition. |
| Description |
x, 388 pages : illustrations, plates, photographs; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
City of good neighbors -- Twinkletoes -- Furusato -- How to make it in America -- 9066 -- A question of blood -- Japanita -- 58 minutes -- Kannon-sama is crying -- "Trapped like rats in a wired cage" -- Everything is going along fine -- A determined effort to see the job through -- 13 days -- Warriors -- Coyotes -- Bulldogs -- 4-F -- Letter from Laramie County Jail -- Boys of summer -- Chasing perfection -- November 4, 1944 -- Going about like eagles. |
| Summary |
In the summer of 1942, the federal government forced 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona and sent them to incarceration camps across the West. Eleven thousand of them landed on the outskirts of the Wild West town of Cody, Wyoming, at the base of Heart Mountain. Heart Mountain Relocation Center would be their home for the next three years... Little brought joy to the imprisoned. That is, until the fall of 1943, when the Heart Mountain High School football team, the Eagles, started its first season. The team was led by Babe Nomura, a speedy back primed to be crowned as one of the best athletes in Los Angeles before being snatched from his Hollywood home and sent to the camp. The rest of the players were ragtag: only two other teens had ever played competitive football. Their coach was a past-his-prime athlete who before camp spent his days as a produce vendor in Los Angeles's Grand Central Market. In lieu of thigh pads, the team broke down old boxes and shoved the cardboard into their pants. Despite every obstacle, the Eagles ran through the competition... The Eagles finished the season undefeated-and unscored upon. On the eve of the Eagles' second season, the federal government began drafting boys and men from the camps for the front lines. Incarcerees help nightly meeting in smoky barracks, fighting and debating their options. The Eagles had to choose: join the Army or resist the draft. Those who resisted stared down the largest mass trial in Wyoming state history, their names branded as traitors in newspapers across the country. Teammates were divided, and some were jailed for their decisions. Based on archival research and interviews with players, their families, former incarcerees, and camp employees, The Eagles of Heart Mountain is a book about a football team, yes. And it's more than that: it's about a group of people wronged by their government standing up and saying 'Enough. |
| Subject |
Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.)
|
| Subject(S) |
Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945.
|
|
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Wyoming.
|
|
Football teams -- Wyoming -- History.
|
|
High school athletes -- Wyoming -- History.
|
|
Japanese Americans.
|
| ISBN |
9781982107031 (hardcover) |
|
1982107030 (hardcover) |
|
Other Resources
