The Train to Crystal City

By Jan Jarboe Russell,

Book cover of The Train to Crystal City: FDR's Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America's Only Family Internment Camp During World War II

Book description

The New York Times bestselling dramatic and never-before-told story of a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II: “A must-read….The Train to Crystal City is compelling, thought-provoking, and impossible to put down” (Star-Tribune, Minneapolis).

During World War II, trains delivered thousands of civilians from the United…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Train to Crystal City as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Was it just Japanese Americans who were detained during the war? I found myself asking this question before I started researching this topic. Sadly for me, Russell’s book was not yet published. While there are many books that detail the experiences of Germans and Italians (citizen and nationals) with internment, this book focuses on two young, American-born women—one German American, the other Japanese American—and the trials and tragedy they faced when they were detained and deported to Germany and Japan because their parents were foreign-born and eventually returned to the United States. I normally am skeptical of books described as…

From Stephanie's list on Japanese American incarceration.

If you love The Train to Crystal City...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like The Train to Crystal City?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Train to Crystal City.

Browse books like The Train to Crystal City

Book cover of Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II
Book cover of What Did the Internment of Japanese Americans Mean?
Book cover of When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During WWII

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,762

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Train to Crystal City, you might also like...

Book cover of The Hunt for the Peggy C: A World War II Maritime Thriller

The Hunt for the Peggy C by John Winn Miller,

The Hunt for the Peggy C is best described as Casablanca meets Das Boot. It is about an American smuggler who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising chase by a brutal Nazi U-boat captain…

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan. The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced, it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run the…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Japanese Americans, Texas, and concentration camps?

Texas 226 books