Reading: THEY CALLED US ENEMY: EXPANDED EDITION - George Takei & Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott (authors), Harmony Becker (illustrator)

Prose (Story): The deluxe edition (featuring sixteen pages of bonus material) of the bestselling graphic memoir from actor/activist George Takei, with co-authors Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott (the wonderful artwork via illustrator Harmony Becker), chronicling his family's experiences during WWII - when he was just a child - as the U.S.'s anti-Japanese sentiment stripped them and others of Japanese descent of their assets and rights, before forcing them to relocate to "relocation centers" (internment camps) far away from home. 

Don's (Review): Though out of school for more years than I'd care to admit, I don't even remember the Japanese internment camps, set up in America during WWII, ever being mentioned in a single history or social studies class. I have learned and sought out more information, as an adult, about this horrible and dark period of American history, but still wasn't prepared for the deeply-personal spin George Takei puts to the ordeal. The bombing of Pearl Harbor also detonated the lives of many Japanese and Japanese-Americans up and down the west coast, and even if you spent your life in the States or were born here, to suddenly have your loyalty not only questioned but villified was unthinkable ... and yet the Takeis lost their home, possessions, and family business before being shipped off to a "relocation center" - all of this viewed through the eyes of a very young George, who stayed strong taking care of his younger brother even while watching the toll the camps took on his parents. Especially George's father, the proud patriarch of the family, who worked for years to build both a strong family and successful business, only to have the latter stripped away and his family treated like criminals. With a big toe-hold in today's America, They Called Us Enemy should be compulsory reading in schools; a genuine primer for how easily panic and paranoia can take hold in enough hearts to turn an entire country against its own. In light of the violence exploding across this country now against the Asian community, thanks to the dangerously idiotic rhetoric of a deposed despot (though I read this book in January, the review is actually being written in early March), while thankful that Takei manages to remain positive and a stalwart supporter of human rights - as well as the country that once called him enemy - I can't help but be shocked and sickened by how little progress America has made in remembering the melting pot it was meant to be from its inception. Or that we are, indeed, all God's children, created equal.  5/5 stars