SEATTLE — Author Daniel James Brown will attend a one-hour virtual book launch event on Tuesday, May 11 at 8 p.m. (EST), 7 p.m. (CST), 6 p.m. (MST) and 5 (PST). Brown has recently published “Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II.” (Viking, May 11, 2021, $30)
The book launch is also in partnership with Elliott Bay Book Company of Seattle, University Books of Seattle, Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Book Passage in San Francisco, and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii in Honolulu.
Brown is the author of “The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party,” (2009, HarperCollins), and “The Boys in the Boat,” (2016 Puffin Books), a New York Times best-selling book.
In “Facing the Mountain,” Brown chronicles wartime America in the backdrop of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Using oral histories, interviews and extensive archival research, Brown details the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese American families.
Brown unveils seldom-told stories of heroism in a masterfully woven and moving historical account told with raw truth and compassion in the face of seemingly unsurmountable challenges.
While some of the Nisei sons volunteered to fight on battlefields in Europe with the segregated all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, other young men fought to defend the constitutional rights of their community. Regardless of where their battles played out, these individuals exemplify American patriotism under extreme duress in their striving, resisting, standing on principle, and enduring.
Since the book’s inception more than five years ago, Brown has worked closely with Densho, a nonprofit organization that has been documenting and preserving Japanese American history for the past 25 years. Densho exists to preserve and share the history of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans and from that legacy works to promote equity and justice today.
“Facing the Mountain comes to us during a time of deep unrest, a time when our empathy for others is so needed to guide the choices we will make,” said Tom Ikeda, the Densho executive director who write’s the forward for Brown’s new work. “This book will open hearts.”
The book launch event is free to attend but pre-registration is required. RSVP at https://densho.org/mountain. For additional details about the book, visit Daniel James Brown’s website.
