Eyes of the Emperor

by Graham Salisbury

       History records that after the attack on Pearl Harbor, xenophobic paranoia among Americans resulted in the hasty round-up and internment of some 120,000 Japanese -Americans; the only evidence of their "guilt" being their racial heritage. Many of those people lost everything, including their identity as Americans, and the stigma of that ill-conceived governmental action lingers. Why, within the past year, some of those former detainees celebrated the high school graduation which had been denied to them so long ago.

       Graham Salisbury's new book Eyes of the Emperor builds upon this often overlooked chapter of history to create an evocative, poignant portrait of a young man coming of age during this period, only to learn that the country he loved had so little room for him, and so much room for racial hostility and hatred.

       It is 1941. Japan has just aligned itself with Germany and Italy, and the Japanese army has invaded China. For young Eddy Okubo, and undoubtedly any other person of Japanese descent living in America, it is a difficult time and tensions are running high.

       Despite being underage, Eddy manages to enlist in the U.S. Army (much to the chagrin of his father); his world, however, turns upside down on December 7, 1941. On that day, of course, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Eddy's father regards this as a betrayal of his country's warrior ideals, and now encourages Eddy to demonstrate his courage and honor in the service of his adopted nation.

       But little does Eddy know that the fears spawned by the devastating sneak attack will fuel racism and distrust. Eddy and the other Japanese-Americans serving in the army are segregated, given the worst menial labor, and ultimately find themselves literally imprisoned, surrounded by men and machine guns. Even after that "mistake" is cleared up (to no one's satisfaction, really), Eddy finds that his fellow Americans aren't particularly inclined to consider the soliders of Japanese descent as anything besides traitors-in-waiting, and inferior regardless.

       Transported to Cat Island, Mississippi, Eddy and his friends are forced to participate in a top-secret government project. A European scientist has convinced the American government that the Japanese can be identified by their peculiar scent, and as such has developed a program to train dogs to sniff out possible Japanese bunkers and the like hidden in the jungles of the Pacific. Eddy and the others aren't soliders anymore - they're bait for the dogs.

       During his ordeal, Eddy relies on his commitment to make his father proud, as well as his determination to prove everyone wrong about the "Japs" in America. The story represents one boy's struggle to maintain a sense of his identity in a time of uncertainty and racially-motivated distrust. Salisbury's book is based on actual events and is the product of his detailed research and interviews with those who survived the real experience.

       Salisbury, the author of the award-winning Under the Blood Red Sun, has won a variety of prizes for his historical fiction, including the John Unterecker Award for Fiction and the PEN/Normal Klein Award. The Eyes of the Emperor is a solidly written, emotional work of historical fiction

Links:

Author's Site: http://www.grahamsalisbury.com/

NoveList Page: http://web.ebscohost.com.oh0248.oplin.org/novelist/detail?vid=38&hid=106&sid=73b655e0-0a9e-4aeb-8e01-55d69645e355%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9bm92ZWxpc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d

Other Sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_of_the_Emperor

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