An Absent Presence

“Caroline Chung Simpson’s work provides a fascinating analysis. . . . [C]ompelling. . . . [O]ffer[s] fresh and original perspective on the role of Asian American women in American life. . . . This original interdisciplinary work . . . offers valuable commentary for scholars from a range of fields and serves as a model for further inquiry into how the remembrance and forgetting of the internment has shaped a collective narrative of being American.” - Robert T. Hayahi , Western Historical Quarterly

“Simpson’s thesis is unique, and she considers a time period that has not been widely discussed in books about the Japanese American experience.” - Katharine L. Kan , Library Journal

“This clearly written, challenging work raises new questions about the interpretation of the internment and Japanese American identity. Professional historians as well as college students will find Simpson’s analyses well worth pondering.” - Ann M. Harrington , History: Reviews of New Books

"[A]n engaging and deeply moving account of how remembering and forgetting the history of Japanese American internment have been fundamental to the postwar articulation of the United States as a democratic nation that was to prevail over its cold war enemies. . . . Beautifully written, with eloquence, deft and nuance, this book is a bold statement about the historical rootedness of cold war U.S. liberal ideology in the original violence of Japanese American internment."

- Lisa Yoneyama, Journal of Asian American Studies

"[I]nsightful. . . . Works like An Absent Presence remind us how much of the narrative of American history remains untold and even suppressed. . . ." - Carin Holroyd , Canadian Literature

“An Absent Presence is an ambitious, nuanced, and far-reaching analysis of a critical topic that adds much to our understanding of American history and in particular the central role Asian Americans have played in it.” - David Palumbo-Liu, author of Asian/American: Historical Crossings of a Racial Frontier

“This impressive and well-written book presents important new historical and cultural material in an understudied period within Asian American studies.” - David Eng, author of Racial Castration: Managing Masculinity in Asian America