"Enemies among Us will be an indispensable resource for those seeking to comprehend how, during World War II, it came to be that 'Americans created, castigated, and then incarcerated alleged enemies; all this, despite lack of evidence, or worse, evidence to the contrary.'"—William Issel, California History
"Schmitz's work untangles the psychological, political, social, and, yes, racial forces that culminated in a sad historical episode."—Mark G. Brennan, Chronicles Magazine
“Enemies among Us sheds important light on little-remembered but undeniably significant episodes in twentieth century history. By expanding our understanding of American detention, internment, and repatriation during World War II, John Schmitz exposes the dynamics that can lead to the mass violation of civil rights, even by otherwise well-intentioned policy makers and law enforcement officials. As much as it is a historical text, this work also presents an important warning for our world today.”—Bradley W. Hart, author of Hitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States
“John Schmitz has accomplished something no other scholar has attempted: a comprehensive, thoroughly researched investigation of the wartime treatment of all three major national groups treated as ‘enemy aliens’ in the United States during World War II: Germans, Italians, and Japanese. The interpretive arguments are provocative [and] important.”—Max Paul Friedman, author of Rethinking Anti-Americanism: The History of an Exceptional Concept in American Foreign Relations
“John Schmitz makes astute use of previously unused documents to weave together the internment and relocation story, the military situation abroad, and the machinations of American politicians struggling to master it all. Enemies among Us is a unique and important addition to our understanding of this sad episode.”—Stephen Fox, author of Fear Itself: Inside the FBI Roundup of German Americans during World War II
