Praise for Unpunished Murder:
A Booklist Youth Editors' Choice selection
* "A gripping story and a well-informed perspective on American history. Spotlighting an event seldom discussed in books for young people, Goldstone provides a complex, useful historical context for understanding issues surrounding race and justice." Booklist, starred review
* "The book is, in large part, the story of how racism evolves, persisting in laws and politics despite major social advances." The Horn Book, starred review
"This book shines a light on a shameful sea change moment in U.S. history... Difficult and necessary." Kirkus Reviews
"This is a unique look at not only the massacre in question, but also at the history and workings of the Supreme Court of the United States... This work shows a more complete history of the Reconstruction era and the way the highest levels of government were affected by a country trying to heal and make amends." School Library Connection
Praise for Higher, Steeper, Faster:
* "For those who love history, aviation, or stories of great daring, this is pure pleasure." Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "Readers will breathlessly follow the race to conquer the sky." School Library Connection, starred review
* "Goldstone deftly combines captivating descriptions of the personalities male and female with discussion of the many improvements and ever-present hazards of early flying." Publishers Weekly, starred review
"This look at the early days of the industry highlights the thrill and awe of a watching public as well as the fact that the sky was no longer any sort of boundary." Booklist
"Armchair thrillseekers will settle in and read this one straight through." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
10/28/2022
Gr 6 Up—A shameful chapter of American history is put under the microscope in this well-researched examination of the policies, laws, and attitudes that led to Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066. In the fearful frenzy after the attack on Pearl Harbor, decades of accumulated anti-Asian rhetoric made Executive Order 9066 possible, with the order sending thousands of people of Japanese descent into military-patrolled concentration camps where they had little privacy, few possessions, and no access to their property or businesses. Readers will no doubt be shocked and saddened by the political climate that led to that moment, but the detailed narrative shows the building snowball of resentment careening toward Asian Americans. Beginning with the Constitution and the criteria for citizenship therein described, each chapter continues the story of Chinese and then Japanese immigrants, illuminated by the many amendments and court rulings that allowed some among them to become U.S. citizens. Goldstone does an exceptional job extrapolating how the questions surrounding race and citizenship that brewed for decades before World War II can apply to DACA and DREAM citizenship questions and race relations in modern times. Goldstone also matter-of-factly discusses the importance of accurate language—he calls the bigoted anti-Asians "white supremacists" and describes the internment facilities as "concentration camps"—always defining the terms and explaining to readers why it is both accurate and important to do so. VERDICT An important purchase for all libraries.—Abby Bussen
2022-04-13
A perspective that situates a blight on U.S. history within a broader history around race and citizenship.
Three years after the statement by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that lends the book its title, the Supreme Court ruled that Executive Order 9066—which sent more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent (most of them U.S. citizens) into what the government then termed concentration camps—did not violate the Constitution. Goldstone describes discussions of race at the time the Constitution was written, traces mid-19th-century Japan–U.S. relations, and shows the rising vitriol following the later arrival of Japanese laborers in America. The narrative describes campaigns by White supremacists, particularly in the American West, to limit access to immigration, birthright citizenship, union membership, property ownership, and naturalization and to generate a frenzy of anti-Asian hatred. Pivotal court cases challenging discrimination against Chinese and African Americans help readers understand the groundwork leading to Executive Order 9066. The author closes with a sober warning about the necessity of remaining vigilant in protecting democracy, particularly in light of recent Islamophobic rhetoric. This comprehensive yet concise and readable work adds value to the body of literature about the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II by showing how, far from being an aberration, these events “were inevitable byproducts of a nation that had spent a century either perpetuating or acquiescing to slander and bigotry.”
An informed, persuasive overview of the environment leading to Japanese American incarceration. (bibliography, source notes, photograph and illustration credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)