The Past Speaks

In this interview, Prof. Greg Robinson talks about his new book, which examines the internment of Japanese North Americans in the United States, Canada, and Mexico after Pearl Harbor. All three countries interned people of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast.

I like the fact that this book takes a pan-North American perspective, looking at all three North American countries.  Call it NAFTA history. All too often, historians based in the United States conflate the “United States” and “North America”. Historians in Anglophone Canada are a little better– they make cross-border comparisons with the US but rarely think about Mexico.

Robinson‘s biography is as interesting as this book. He is a native of New York City who now teaches, in French, at l’Université du Québec à Montréal .  For a link to Robinson’s personal website, click here.

Image of book cover used with permission of the author.