The train to Crystal City : FDR's secret prisoner exchange program and America's only family internment camp during World War II / Jan Jarboe Russell.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 363-370) and index.

Without trial. New enemies ; Eleanor vs. Franklin ; Strangers in a small Texas town -- Destination: Crystal City. Internment without trial ; A family renunion ; The hot summer of '43 ; "Be patient" ; To be or not to be an American ; Yes-yes, no-no ; A test of faith ; The birds are crying --The equation of exchange. Trade bait ; The false passports ; Under fire ; Into Algeria ; The all-American camp ; Shipped to Japan ; Harrison's second act -- The road home. After the war ; Beyond the barbed wire ; The train from Crystal City.

The dramatic and never-before-told story of a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II, where thousands of families-many US citizens-were incarcerated. Their stories of day-to-day life at the camp, from the ten-foot high security fence to the armed guards, daily roll call, and censored mail, have never been told. Combining big-picture World War II history with a little-known event in American history that has long been kept quiet, The Train to Crystal City reveals the war-time hysteria against the Japanese and Germans in America, the secrets of FDR's tactics to rescue high-profile POWs in Germany and Japan, and how the definition of American citizenship changed under the pressure of war.

English.