Maybe it's just me, but this book seemed like it was marketed wrong. I was drawn to it because I thought it was about football, but that was such a small part of the book that I think I was in the wrong mindset heading in.

I love historical books - especially ones that center around marginilized people. Wyoming is my favorite place on Earth, and I adore sports. All of this made it feel like this would be the perfect book for me. But in actuality, it was way more about the internment camps and WWII - which would have been great, if that was the type of book I was looking for at the time.

Unfortunately, it just dealt with a heavier topic than I was in the mood for. The writing was quite dense and hard for met to fully get engaged with.

It could totally be a case of right book at the wrong time....

I feel like the wrongful forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII is a period of history that many Americans don't know about. This book provides that knowledge in four parts, the final being about a scrappy football team from the incarceration camp called Heart Mountain in Wyoming.

I really enjoyed this book! This book was generously provided to me through NetGalley. Highly Recommended!

An excellent look into the terrible treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII. It’s a gut wrenching look at the true conditions and decisions faced by those locked up for no reason other than their family’s nation of origin. An important conversation starter in a time we need to learn from our history.

An in-depth look at a high school football team formed at Heart Mountain where Japanese-Americans were unfairly incarcerated during WW2. This is a very readable and detailed addition to the genre of reportage on activities during this period and should be interesting to both sports fans and history fans.

I enjoyed reading this book. It combines my love of sports and history. I thought the story was well written and quite informative. I enjoyed learning more about life for Japanese Americans during the war.
I would recommend this book to others to read and learn more about US history.

A truly spectacularly written book that also tells a story that definitely needed to be told. Pearson's such a good writer that it's almost infuriating, but here the research is probably the star - I can't even imagine how he managed to pull together all these threads, but I'm glad he did. It's embarrassing how little I need about the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the sports successes at Heart Mountain add a spoonful of something resembling sugar to a tough (to say the least) time in American history and a framework to think about humanity and how it can get lost and regained in times of strife.

First thing you need to know about this book is it is a well written story about a terrible time in American history and the horrible treatment of a group of people. Also I would say that about 25% of this book is actually about football and the rest is concerning the initial treatment of Asian people and everything leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the internment of Japanese people. The rumors spread about these people was pure insanity at the time and the demands that some were throwing out like if they really wanted to prove their loyalty to the U.S. they should volunteer to go to the internment camps. Now mind you some of these were born here and some had proved their loyalty by serving for the U.S. in world war I.

It is my opinion that humanity repeats history over and over the only thing that changes is the class or origin or skin color of the people affected. The hysteria created by politicians and public figures. It is the same fears stoked each time these individuals are going to take our jobs and land and are going to over run us. These people that were raising these claims alot of them were immigrants also or their families were. You would think they would be a more understanding. The Japanese made up less then 1 % and controlled a minimal amount of the farm land in the western united states and yet the fear was they were not loyal even though they expressed full support for the United States. Then they get penalized for getting pushed to poor farm land and making a success of it and for having a strong work ethic.

Now the majority of this story is around the internment camp located in Wyoming but it was interesting to read about some of the locations I have lived including here in Colorado were a camp is located two hours to the east right along the Colorado/Kansas border. This story should provoke your emotions.

Pearson wrote a compelling read about a group of Japanese Americans who played on a football team during WWII. He covers the history of how,thing s came to be quite well. The backstories of the individuals are also provided, adding depth and context. He also relates what happened after the war. I think this book is a valuable contribution to the more specific history of Japanese-American treatment during the Second World War. I learned quite a bit from reading it.