Prisons and Patriots Japanese American Wartime Citizenship, Civil Disobedience, and Historical Memory

"Prisons and Patriots is Cherstin Lyon's first book. Its publication catapults Professor Lyon, a historian at California State University, San Bernardino, into the ranks of the premier scholars of World War II Japanese American protest and dissent... The genius of Lyon's book lies less in the stories she recounts than in her placing them into instructive and relevant contexts. The most important of them concerns the nature of citizenship." Nichi Bei Times, January 1st 2012 "With clarity and precision, Lyon tells the complicated story of Gordon Hirabayashi and a handful of resisting Nisei internees who refused to submit to the draft from inside the War Relocation Authority's internment camps during WW II... Historically strong and emotionally powerful, this book shows that the prisons created the patriots, and it does them justice by honoring their actions correctly." Choice, June 2012 "Lyon's book is bold, balanced, and solid. Her research will get readers to view and think of history in a new way."--Rafu Shimpo, the Los Angeles Japanese Daily News, February 9th 2013