Tokyo Rose -- Zero hour : a Japanese American woman's persecution and ultimate redemption after World War II

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Title:

Tokyo Rose -- Zero hour : a Japanese American woman's persecution and ultimate redemption after World War II

Author:

Frattino, Andre R., 1984- author.

Kasenow, Kate, illustrator.

Chiang, Janice, letterer.

Summary:

Tells the true story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese American woman who was visiting relatives in Tokyo shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Trapped in Japan, Iva was pressed to renounce her American citizenship, but refused. As war raged across the Pacific, she took a job with Radio Tokyo--where she was forced to host "Zero Hour," a propaganda show aimed at demoralizing American troops--in the role of Tokyo Rose, the "Siren of the Pacific." -- Publisher's description.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : chiefly illustrations (black & white) ; 27 cm

Genre:

Comics (Graphic works)

Graphic novels.

Nonfiction comics.

Biographical comics.

Personal Subject:

Tokyo Rose, 1916-2006-Comic books, strips, etc.

Subject Term:

Japanese Americans -- Comic books, strips, etc.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Comic books, strips, etc.

Author(s):

Kasenow, Kate,

Chiang, Janice,

Publisher:

Tuttle Publishing,

Publication Date:

2022

ISBN:

9784805316955

Publication Information:

Rutland, Vermont : Tuttle Publishing, [2022]

Call Number:

741.5 FRATTINO

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003639427	Adult Nonfiction	741.5 FRATTINO	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

**2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year: Silver Award Winner in Graphic Novels & Comics Category**
**Recommended by The New York Public Library as one of its 50 best comics for adults**
**A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection**

Traitor or hero? Discover the truth behind the legendary Tokyo Rose.

Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour tells the true story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese American woman who was visiting her relatives in Tokyo shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Trapped in Japan, Iva refused to renounce her American citizenship. But she was forced to take a job with Radio Tokyo to host "Zero Hour," a propaganda broadcast aimed at demoralizing American troops--in the role of the infamous Tokyo Rose, "The Siren of the Pacific."

The dramatic events recounted in this story include:
Iva's arrest by the Americans, who eventually found that her actions were blameless Her emotional return to the United States and the racially-motivated public outcry that led to her re-arrest and prosecution for treason The dishonest actions of prosecutors who coerced witnesses into providing false evidence against her The six years she spent in prison, and her eventual pardon by President Ford in 1977
Written by Andre Frattino and illustrated by Kate Kasenow, Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour has an introduction explaining the "Tokyo Rose" phenomenon and the devastating effects of World War II on Asian-American communities that continue to reverberate. In a world rife with misinformation and racial prejudice, the story of Tokyo Rose has never been more relevant.

Author Notes

Andre R. Frattino has devoted his life to the art of visual storytelling, especially within the vein of historical fiction and non-fiction. Following his graduation from Savannah College of Art and Design, Andre went on to publish several titles ranging from the 2018 Florida Book Award Winner; A Land Remembered: A Graphic Novel , Simon Says: Nazi Hunter and has recently worked on Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Shapeshifters #1.

Kate Kasenow is a comic artist with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Sequential Art from Savannah College of Art and Design. She has worked on an array of graphic novels including An Elegy for Amelia Johnson, Amy Devlin Mystery and Form of a Question, a creative autobiography of a Jeopardy champion.

Janice Chiang is an award-winning comic letterer with over four decades of experience. She began her career as a freelancer for Marvel Comics and has continued on to work for all the major comic book publishers. Her most iconic work was for the comic book series, Ghost Rider where she designed the main character's flaming word balloons. Presently, she heads the lettering department for John and Sandy King Carpenter's Storm King Comics and is a freelancer for DC Comics.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A firecracker of a subject helps propel this graphic biography of Iva Toguri D'Aquino and her incredible double life as "Tokyo Rose" past a certain lack of visual polish. The story opens at D'Aquino's 1949 treason trial, with reporters and rubberneckers scrambling for a glimpse of the Japanese American woman accused of producing anti-American propaganda for Japan. Flash back to 1941, when young Iva is sent to Tokyo to help care for relatives, only to be trapped there when Japan declares war on the U.S. Refusing to renounce her American citizenship, Iva has her passport revoked and is drafted into work for the "thought police" at Radio Tokyo. There, she secretly helps POWs and teams up with other forced conscripts, including her future husband Felipe, to produce an irreverent version of Radio Tokyo's propaganda broadcasts that relays secret messages of hope to Allied troops. Back in the U.S., however: her parents are among the thousands of Japanese Americans interned in detention camps, and the U.S. doesn't believe she acted as a double agent. Frattino's script, though sometimes overly wordy, captures Iva's saucy, rat-a-tat dialogue as heard in her broadcasts, and Kasenow's scratchy black-and-white drawings of Iva express the same attitude, but other characters often seem hurriedly sketched in. Still, this is a well-researched history of an unjustly maligned woman and a crackling espionage adventure story, to boot. (Sept.)