WHAT DID THE INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS MEAN?, edited by Alice Yang Murray. Boston, Mass.: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000, 163 pp., $13.50 (paper).

This book is part of a series called "Historians At Work." Aimed at the undergraduate student, the series is designed to introduce students to a historical issue and provoke thought and discussion through the study of several scholarly interpretations or perspectives on the subject. Although it is primarily intended as an educational tool, the series is also of value and interest for the general reader.

This volume introduces the controversy surrounding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Contributing authors ask what internment meant, why the policy was adopted and how internees reacted to their incarceration.

In the context of a world at war, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor "rekindled the embers of anti-Japanese sentiment." In its wake, advocates of internment encouraged, and found a receptive and enthusiastic supporter in, the commander of the Western Defense Command, Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt.