They were called aliens and enemies. But the World War II internees John Christgau writes about were in fact ordinary people victimized by the politics of a global war. The Alien Enemy Control Program in America was born with the United States?s declaration of war on Japan, Germany, and Italy and lasted until 1948. In all, 31,275 ?enemy aliens? were imprisoned in camps like the one described in this book?Fort Lincoln, just south of Bismarck, North Dakota. ø In animated and suspenseful prose, Christgau tells the stories of several individuals whose experiences are representative of those at Fort Lincoln. The subjects? lives before and after capture?presented in five case studies?tell of encroaching bitterness and sorrow. Christgau based his accounts on voluminous and previously untouched National Archives and FBI documents in addition to letters, diaries, and interviews with his subjects. ø Christgau?s afterword for this Bison Books edition relates additional stories of World War II alien restriction, detention, and internment that surfaced after this book was originally published, and he draws parallels between the alien internment of World War II and events in this country since September 11, 2001.

Demonstrates how states at war redrew the boundaries between members and non-members, thus redefining belonging and the path to citizenship.

This graphic history tells the story of Canada’s first national internment operations through the eyes of John Boychuk, an internee held in Kapuskasing from 1914 to 1917. The story is based on Boychuk’s actual memoir, which is the only comprehensive internee testimony in existence. The novel follows Boychuk from his arrest in Toronto to Kapuskasing, where he spends just over three years. It details the everyday struggle of the internees in the camp, including forced labour and exploitation, abuse from guards, malnutrition, and homesickness. It also documents moments of internee agency and resistance, such as work slowdowns and stoppages, hunger strikes, escape attempts, and riots. Little is known about the lives of the incarcerated once the paper trail stops, but Enemy Alien subsequently traces Boychuk’s parole, his search for work, his attempts to organize a union, and his ultimate settlement in Winnipeg. Boychuk’s reflections emphasize the much broader context in which internment takes place. This was not an isolated incident, but rather part and parcel of Canadian nation building and the directives of Canada’s settler colonial project.

The nation's foremost civil libertarian shines a light on the cynical exploitation of 9/11 by government officials to target immigrants and lay the groundwork for rolling back the rights of ordinary American citizens.

This study, first published in 1986, examines the evolution and application of the policies of wartime governments designed to deal with the danger to national security thought to be posed by enemy alien residents, and considers the social and political forces which helped shape these policies. The scope of the powers assumed by the authorities to regulate the entry, departure, movement, employment, business activities and many other facets of the lives of aliens were unprecedented in war or peace. This book will be of interest to students of history.