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Book Summary and Reviews of Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown

Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown

Facing the Mountain

A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

by Daniel James Brown

  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • May 2021, 560 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat, a gripping World War II saga of patriotism and resistance, focusing on four Japanese American men and their families, and the contributions and sacrifices that they made for the sake of the nation.

In the days and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. In this unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe, Daniel James Brown portrays the journey of Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven throughout is the chronicle of Gordon Hirabayashi, 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.

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Good nonfiction books for book clubs?
Daniel James Brown who wrote Boys in the Boat has a couple of other great titles. I particularly enjoyed Facing the Mountain. Ilyon Woo's Master Slave Husband Wife is an excellent discussion book. Kate Moore has two books that cover topics worth discussing: The Radium Girls and The Woman They Cou...
-Anne_Glasgow

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Brown chronicles in this this bravura account the experiences of Japanese American soldiers and their families during WWII... . The result is an illuminating and spirited portrait of courage under fire." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A deep and richly detailed examination of indelible decisions and events that tarnished the legacy of America's role in WWII, the internment of Japanese Americans... . A compelling and impressively redefining work on an often over-simplified and always consequential subject... . This should also be read by all who are pondering the true meaning of patriotism." —Booklist (starred review)

"This is a masterwork of American history that will change the way we look at World War II. You don't just read a Daniel James Brown story—you go there. Facing the Mountain is lump-in-the-throat territory, page after page." —Adam Makos, author of A Higher Call

"Daniel James Brown has a way of wrapping himself around a big and complicated subject with such subtlety and grace that we don't at first realize how fast the pages are turning, or how much fascinating material we've absorbed. In Facing the Mountain, all the skills of this master storyteller are once again on display, as he surely leads us to the emotional heart of a fraught and sprawling World War II story most of us knew nothing about." —Hampton Sides, NYT bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and On Desperate Ground

This information about Facing the Mountain was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Daniel James Brown

Daniel James Brown is the author of The Indifferent Stars Above and Under a Flaming Sky, which was a finalist for the B&N Discover Great New Writers Award, as well as The Boys in the Boat, a New York Times bestselling book that was awarded the ALA's Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. He has taught writing at San José State University and Stanford University. He lives outside Seattle.

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