“A Celebration of Art Hansen” was the centerpiece of the first-ever Nichi Bei Book Fest in San Francisco Japantown on July 27. Art and wife Debbie caught Covid from a cruise the week before so had to join us by Zoom in the Koho Co-Creative Space in the Peace Plaza, but it was still a celebratory event with stories told, tributes made, and city proclamations presented.
I was honored to moderate the conversation with Art, as his work changed the course of my life when I was just starting out. While researching my part as the JACL character in the TV-film of Farewell to Manzanar I found his 1974 essay in Amerasia Journal called “The Manzanar Riot: An Ethnic Perspective.” co-authored with David Hacker. It was the first time in print I ever saw an honest accounting of how the mass demonstration at Manzanar that led to bloodshed was not just a protest against the government, it began as a protest of the JACL leadership in camp. And Art named names. His article showed me there was an alternate history to be told, and it set me on the path I’ve traveled to this day.
From Harry Ueno to Joe Kurihara to James Omura, Art has championed resistance history, and I have been honored to join him on that journey over the decades and to call him friend. I was privileged to be able to feature him along with Omura in Conscience and the Constitution, our film on camp resistance.
For the Nichi Bei News Summer Book Review issue, here is my review of Art’s latest book, A Nikkei Harvest.
“A Capstone Collection from a Beloved Historian“
Review of A NIKKEI HARVEST: Reviewing the Japanese American Historical Experience and Its Legacy
by Arthur A. Hansen with Wayne H. Maeda
Nichi Bei Foundation. 292 pages. Paperback. $24.99.
Reviewed by Frank Abe
Nichi Bei News
July 18, 2024
For fourteen years, Art Hansen has published scores of insightful and memorable reviews of the latest books about the Japanese American experience. With the gathering of the best of this crop of essays in the aptly-titled A Nikkei Harvest, it’s our turn to appreciate the scope and sweep of this bountiful collection.
Over 65 reviews for the Nichi Bei Weekly and Nichi Bei News, what Art has done is to empower the authors who document our stories and elevate noteworthy works that might otherwise have fallen under the radar into obscurity. Art is generous with his praise where it’s deserved, while calling out places where authors can do better.
The reviews are organized around nine subject areas, such as Family, Community, and The Arts, and for this new volume he’s added comprehensive new introductions to each. What I’ve found remarkable about Art’s reviews is the way he works in nuggets of information and penetrating insights that compel me to clip and save them in case I need them for some future project. I’m sure I’m not alone. I’m glad to now have these essays all in one place.
But this is far more than a collection of disparate reviews. Art typically opens each piece with a chatty anecdote about his first meeting with the author or his personal connection to the material. Standing alone, these stories at first seem discursive. But when assembled in book form and read from page to page, you realize how fortunate you are to find yourself in close conversation with one of the great minds in this field, sharing his journey through the decades of our shared history whether it was interviewing Harry Ueno and Karl Yoneda about the Manzanar Revolt, or founding the oral history program at Cal State Fullerton. …
Continue reading this review of A NIKKEI HARVEST at the NIchi Bei News website. Support the Nichi Bei with a subscription.