The Colonel
And The Pacifist
The Colonel and the Pacifist tells the story of two men, Karl Bendetsen and Perry Saito, caught up in one of the most infamous episodes in American history: the forced imprisonment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War.
In weaving together their contrasting stories, Klancy Clark de Nevers not only exposes unknown or little-known aspects of World War II history, she also explores larger issues of racism and war that resonate through the years and ring eerily familiar in this era of hostility to immigrants.
“de Nevers’s insightful history of this dark story is a painful reminder of how ignorance and war hysteria made it possible for one man to trample on the Constitution of these United States. . . . This story should serve as a cautionary tale for all Americans.”