Michi Challenges History, Ken Mochizuki
Michi Challenges History, Ken Mochizuki
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Michi Challenges History
From Farm Girl to Costume Designer to Relentless Seeker of the Truth: The Life of Michi Weglyn

Author: Ken Mochizuki

Narrator: Traci Kato-Kiriyami

Unabridged: 2 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 06/06/2023


Synopsis

In 1968, Michiko Nishiura Weglyn heard the U.S. attorney general declare on national television that there had never been concentration camps in the United States.

Michi was the daughter of Japanese immigrants. In 1942, when she was fifteen, she had been sent to such a camp and imprisoned during World War II along with other Americans of Japanese ancestry. Her family lost everything—but Michi asserted herself as a student leader in high school and, against the wishes of
her family, went on to college; then to New York, where she forged a career as a costume designer, dressing some of the most popular show business personalities of the day.

At the time the attorney general made his remark, the existence of the camps was unacknowledged by both the government and much of the Japanese American community. Michi chose to rock this boat: she left behind her career and set out to document the story of the camps. Her book, Years of Infamy, used the
government’s own records to account for the camps’ existence and for the racism and political calculation that led to their creation. It became a milestone in Japanese American history and a catalyst for the government’s eventual acknowledgment of its discrimination toward its citizens of Japanese ancestry.

In Michi Challenges History, groundbreaking children’s book author Ken Mochizukiweaves a captivating portrait of a woman who defied cultural and political constraints to fight for justice and to uncover the truth of her people’s history—and her own.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Minh

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher WW Norton, and the author Ken Mochizuki for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. As someone who has read a number of Japanese American internment literature, I welcome the addition of discovering more works in this body and canon of work. I find the history......more

Goodreads review by Hikari

The internment of Japanese-Americans in camps is one of the dark moments in American history. If you’ve not read much about these sinister events then this short book is an excellent starting point. It tells the story of this dark moment through a biography of a Japanese-American lady, Michi, who wa......more

Goodreads review by Emi

I'm embarrassed at not having already read Michi Nishiura Weglyn's Years of Infamy, but am all the more inspired to do so after reading Ken Mochizuki's edifying tribute to her life and work. Reading this has clarified so many different things I've studied, read and heard about over the years, yet la......more

Goodreads review by Tiffany

It was very interesting learning about the life of Michi Weglyn. Michi grew up in California and was the daughter of Japanese immigrants. Michi was unreasonably forced from her home and placed in concentration camps during WWII. Michi grew to become a prominent name in the fashion industry, working......more

This is a really powerful biography of a fascinating woman -- and a really good example of how one person can change the course of history and call political leaders on their egregious behavior. The biography itself is a well documented yet accessible read. I wish it had a more engaging cover, becau......more