They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

 genre: graphic non-fiction memoir

I had no idea of who George Takei was when I began this graphic memoir, but I do now.  Apparently he's an actor from Star Trek - and while that makes him interesting in the pop culture sense, what this novel does is place him and his family's lived experience in the time period of World War 2 and the American prison camps for the Japanese.  While very young, George was forcibly removed from his home with his parents and younger siblings for the singular reason that they are of Japanese descent.  Four years of his life were spent behind barbed wire fences, his parents unable to make decisions regarding their own lives.  This is a really interesting and upsetting story and I appreciated all the before and after to put things into context.  It is hard to read about the times when my country just absolutely did not live up to its own ideals, but it is so important.  I highly recommend this book - I honestly wish someone had made me read it during AP American history in high school, it does that good of a job shedding light on the historical piece and the implications.