books
kokomo joe the story of the first japanese american jockey in the united states
the first japanese american jockey kokomo joe burst like a comet on the american horse racing scene in the summer of 1941 . as war with japan loomed yoshio kokomo joe kobuki won race after race stirring passions far beyond merely the envy and antagonism of other jockeys . his is a story of the american dream catapulting headlong into the nightmare of a nation gripped by wartime hysteria and xenophobia . the story that unfolds in kokomo joe is at once inspiring deeply sad and richly ironic and remarkably relevant in our own climate of nationalist fervor and racial profiling . sent to japan from washington state after his mother and three siblings died of the spanish flu kobuki continued to nurse his dream of the american good life . because of his small stature his ambition steered him to a future as a star jockey . john christgau narrates kobukis rise from lowly stable boy to reigning star at california fairs and in the bush leagues . he describes how at the height of the jockeys fame even his flight into the sonora desert could not protect him from the governments espionage and sabotage dragnet . and finally he recounts how after three years of internment kokomo joe tried to reclaim his racing success only to fall victim to still rampant racism a career ending injury and cancer .
paperback bison books 2009 isbn13 9780803218970 isbn10 0803218974
abridged n isbn 13 9780803218970 number in series 1 number of pages 202 publisher univ of nebraska pr release date 62135769600000