Like Friends, Like Foes offers a comprehensive analysis of how Nevada residents responded and reacted to the "Japanese Question" during World War II. Both before and during the war, the experience of Japanese American residents of Nevada varied widely. Once the war started, Japanese immigrants experienced an unusual case of mass internment fromthe mining towns of Ruth and McGill, Nevada, while Japanese American railroad workers and their families, scattered across the state, faced sudden layoffs and evictions. At the same time, most of the Japanese Americans living in Nevada fared much better than their counterparts who resided in the surrounding states. Andrew Russell's study examines how variations in local history and local circumstances generated starkly different perspectives and responses to the supposed "Japanese problems" confronting Nevada's small communities, the state, and the larger region. While Russell's interpretive history spotlights some highly unusual developments, it nevertheless offers fresh evidence of how individuals or small groups can play significant roles in combating the abuse of civil rights during times of fear and uncertainty.
Andrew B. Russell grew up in Las Vegas and earned his BA and MA in history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He completed his PhD in history at Arizona State University in 2003, specializing in the modern United States, the American West, and public history. His expertise, previous publications, and consulting work has centered on the Japanese American communities and the wartime confinement camps of Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico as well as the federal, state, and local restrictions implemented in the Interior West during World War II.
"Like Friends, Like Foes contains information that the public needs. Russell's scholarship is exceedingly sound, and he has uncovered many unknown stories. This book makes an important contribution to the fields of Japanese American history, Asian American studies, and the events of World War II." -Sue Fawn Chung, professor emerita of history, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, author of In Pursuit of Gold: Chinese American Miners and Merchants in the American West "Russell's scholarship in Like Friends, Like Foes is both pioneering and impressive, as well as comprehensive and painstaking. His presentation is exceedingly balanced, and the temper of his argument's exposition is notably judicious. This book is truly a masterpiece." -Arthur A. Hansen, professor emeritus of history and Asian American studies, California State University, Fullerton, author of Manzanar Mosaic: Essays and Oral Histories on America's First World War II Japanese American Concentration Camp
