The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion by Roger Daniels


The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion
Title : The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0520219503
ISBN-10 : 9780520219502
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 181
Publication : First published January 1, 1968

This classic study offers a history of anti-Japanese prejudice in California, extending from the late nineteenth century to 1924, when an immigration act excluded Japanese from entering the United States. The Politics of Prejudice details the political climate that helped to set the stage for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and reveals the racism present among middle-class American progressives, labor leaders, and other presumably liberal groups.

The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion Reviews

  • Serena

    I honestly learned a lot from this book. I didn’t realize how far back this went prior to WWII, or the specificity and focus on discrimination and hatred towards Japanese in California specifically. It was a bit dry and overly academic but overall it was informative and interesting enough because of the subject matter

  • Pamela

    Useful general political research...

  • sdw

    This book examines the anti-Japanese movement from the 1880s through the Immigration act of 1924. It contains a lot of information and will be of interest both to folks new to Japanese American history and those who've read a decent number of books about it. The first chapter looks at Issei demographics. The second chapter looks at the Labor movement's role in the early anti-Japanese movement. The third chapter was more boring for me - it dealt with Roosevelt and the school crisis of 1906. The fourth chapter looks at the anti-Japanese racism of California progressives (by which the author means elected democrats). The fifth chapter looks at the "Yellow Peril" in literature and politics. The sixth chapter follows Grodzins lead to look at the role of regional pressure groups. The sixth chapter is concerned with the Alien Land Laws. The seventh chapter looks at the role of anti-Japanese activists in the 1924 federal immigration law. As Daniels points out - this is a book about the excluders and not the excluded. It would be an interesting read in the context of the racism in contemporary immigration debates. The book's analysis of the intersections of racism, imperialism, and economics was more sophisticated than I expected.

  • Lisa

    Slightly dry, but this really hits home the idea that history does not begin or end at the specific historical moment. This presents a story of the internment that begins early in the 20th c and takes you through the political decisions involved in the internment process.