Franklin S. Odo: No Sword to Bury

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#CC0000" alink="#CC0000"><center><hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade>The story of another "Band of Brothers"<hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade><p><a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/ChicagoBook.aspx?ISBN=9781592132072&&PRESS=temple" target="_top">Buy this book!</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">View Cart</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">Check Out</a></p><p><img src="1451_reg.gif" height=200 border=1 vspace=4></p></center><h1>No Sword to Bury</h1> <H2>Japanese Americans in Hawai'i during World War II</H2> <h3>Franklin S. Odo</h3> <P>cloth 1-59213-207-3 $50.50, Dec 03, <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT> <br>paper 1-59213-270-7 $26.95, Mar 04, <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT> <br>Electronic Book 1-59213-803-9 $26.95 <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT> <BR> 336 pp 6x9 2 tables 26 halftones </P><BLOCKQUOTE><I>"Franklin Odo has captured with much warmth and poignancy, the emotions of men who, though abandoned by their country, loved this country and proved it by repeatedly standing in harm's way to defend it."</I> <br>&#151<b>Senator Daniel K. Inouye</b> (D, HI)<I></I></BLOCKQUOTE> <p>When bombs rained down on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese American college students were among the many young men enrolled in ROTC and immediately called upon to defend the Hawaiian islands against invasion. In a few weeks, however, the military government questioned their loyalty and disarmed them. <p>In <i>No Sword to Bury</i>, Franklin Odo places the largely untold story of the wartime experience of these young men in the context of the community created by their immigrant families and its relationship to the larger, white-dominated society. At the heart of the book are vivid oral histories that recall their service on the home front in the Varsity Victory Volunteers, a non-military group dedicated to public works, as well as in the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Illuminating a critical moment in ethnic identity formation among this first generation of Americans of Japanese descent (the <i>nisei</i>), Odo shows how the war-time service and the post-war success of these men contributed to the simplistic view of Japanese Americans as a model minority in Hawai`i. <BR> <h2>Excerpt</h2><P>Excerpt available at <a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress">www.temple.edu/tempress</a></p> <BR> <h2>Reviews</h2> <p><i>"</i>No Sword to Bury<i> is a fascinating study of an often overlooked part of the story of Americans of Japanese ancestry in the World War II era. The Japanese American population of Hawai`i navigated its way through one of the most dangerous and transformational periods in U.S. history. Franklin Odo's use of personal stories of the men and women who made that journey reveals the choices that were made, the strategies that were used, and the lessons we all can draw from them."</i> <br>&#151<b>The Hon. Norman Y. Mineta</b> <p><i>"One of the strengths of </i>No Sword to Bury<i> is Odo's care in presenting a more layered, nuanced study of Japanese Americans and their role in Hawaiian history. What emerges is a portrait of a lively, diverse group of men who had mixed motives and feelings of what they did during the course of their lives."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>International Examiner</i></b> <p><i>"</i>No Sword to Bury<i> is a masterful contribution based on years of painstaking research. In fact, there is nothing quite like it written about the Japanese American experience. Franklin Odo presents a detailed history of the Varsity Victory Volunteers in the larger context of Hawai'i before and during World War II. He does an excellent job of marshalling data from the extant literature, rare archival sources, and most importantly, a plethora of original oral history interviews. The voices and biographies of key VVV members and the public figures in Hawai'i who supported their endeavors lie at the core of Odo's work. Captivating and informative, </i>No Sword to Bury<i> demonstrates the multicultural dynamics that have been so central in the formation of our 50th state."</i> <br>&#151<b>Lane Ryo Hirabayashi</b>, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside <p><i>"[A] significant addition ot the literature in western U.S. history...a fine book, [it] promises to be an important work for years to come."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>History: Reviews of New Books</i></b> <p><i>"By drawing on oral records and archival materials, Odo provides a rich and detailed social history of the VVV members. He not only situates them in the racial dynamics of prewar and wartime Hawai'i, but also successfully allows them to tell their individual stories."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>Choice</i></b> <p><i>"The story is well told and carefully documented."</i> <br>&#151<b>SAGE Race Relations Abstract</b> <p><i>"...a deep and detailed look at an articulate and important group." The book was described as being "a good addition to the literature on Asian America, on WW II's transformation of American life, and on Hawai'I..."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>Biography: An Interdisciplinary Journal</b></I> <p><i>"[This book] is a long-anticipated work that should not disappoint its readers.... Extending beyond the VVV experience, </i>No Sword To Bury<i> is a significant contribution to our understanding and analysis of Japanese American history in Hawai'i, particularly of the Nisei generation, and complements well other major works that appeared in the 1990s. Odo's achievement lies in detailing the diverse lives and viewpoints of the VVV members in their own words through many revealing oral history interviews."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>The Contemporary Pacific</i></b> <p><i>"Seldom has a work drawn from military history provided such a rich assortment of provocative reflections on ethnic group identity, racism, and social forces.... [Odo's] notable success [is] in stimulating hard thinking about the history of Japanese Americans and of American society."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>The American Historical Review</i></b> <p><i>"...an important addition to an understudied aspect of Japanese American's wartime experience."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>The Historian</i></b> <p><i>"...this book makes an important contribution by showing how the racial reformation of the Nisei contributed to the model minority myth."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>The Journal of American History</i></b> <p><i>"Thoroughly familiar with Hawai`i and Japanese American history, Odo recounts that past with confidence and grace, and illustrated by family stories the issei experience and nisei coming of age spring vividly to life....</i>No Sword to Bury<i>, accordingly, engages huge issues and themes while paying attention to the particulars of individuals and their everyday lives�.[the book] deserves a wide and appreciative reading."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>Hawaiian Journal of History</i></b> <p><i>"Franklin Odo�s carefully researched, textured narrative examines a select group of second generation Japanese American, or Nisei men who volunteered to be manual laborers for the U.S. Army for approximately the first year of the war� Odo�s excellent book helps us begin to understand why."</i><br>&#151<b><i>American Studies</i></b> <p><i>"One of the strengths of </i>Odo is among the best of historians who work backwards from the present, wanting to find explanations in the past to understand and solve the problems of present conditions�.The main strength of this book are the life stories � a treasure trove of stories hitherto untold about the lives of Japanese Americans in Hawai�I during World War II."</i> <br>&#151<b><i>The Journal of Asian American Studies</i></b> <BR> <h2>Contents</h2><P> <p>Introduction: The Making of a Model Minority <br>1. Immigrant Parents <br>2. Generation on Trial: The 1920s <br>3. Before the Fire: The 1930s <br>4. Pearl Harbor <br>5. Hawai'i Territorial Guard <br>6. The Varsity Victory Volunteers <br><i>Photo Gallery</i> <br>7. Schofield Barracks <br>8. The Front Lines: Battlefront and Home Front <br>9. After the War <br>Conclusion <br>Appendix: Roster of Varsity Victory Volunteers <br>Notes <br>Bibliography <br>Acknowledgments <br>Index </P><BR> <H2>About the Author(s)</H2> <table><tr><td valign="top"><img src="/tempress/authors/1451_au.gif" height="90" width="75"></td><td width="100%" valign="middle"><p><b>Franklin S. Odo</b> is Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program and editor of <i>The Columbia Documentary History of the Asian American Experience</i>.</P></td></tr></table> <BR><H2>Subject Categories</H2> <p><A HREF="/tempress/asian_amer.html" TARGET="_top">Asian American Studies</a> <BR><A HREF="/tempress/race.html" TARGET="_top">Race and Ethnicity</a> <BR><A HREF="/tempress/history.html" TARGET="_top">History</a> </p> <BR><h2 class="inpageheading">In the series</H2> <P><I><a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress/asam_history.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Click for other books in this series!'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;" target="_top">Asian American History and Culture</a></i>, edited by K. Scott Wong, Linda Trinh V�, and Cathy Schlund-Vials. </p><p>Founded by Sucheng Chan in 1991, the <I>Asian American History and Culture</I>, series has sponsored innovative scholarship that has redefined, expanded, and advanced the field of Asian American studies while strengthening its links to related areas of scholarly inquiry and engaged critique. Like the field from which it emerged, the series remains rooted in the social sciences and humanities, encompassing multiple regions, formations, communities, and identities. Extending the vision of founding editor Sucheng Chan and emeriti editor Michael Omi and David Palumbo-Liu, series editors K. Scott Wong, Linda Trinh V�, and Cathy Schlund-Vials continue to develop a foundational collection that embodies a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to Asian American studies.</p> <p align="center"><a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/ChicagoBook.aspx?ISBN=9781592132072&&PRESS=temple" target="_top">Buy this book!</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">View Cart</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">Check Out</a></p><p><font face="Arial" size="1"><a href="copyright.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Web Copyright Policy';return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''" title="Web Copyright Policy">©</a> 2015 <a href="http://www.temple.edu" target="new" onMouseOver="window.status='Link to Temple University home page';return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''" title="Link to Temple University home page">Temple University</a>. 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