Seen and Unseen

 Seen and Unseen by Elizabeth Partridge 124 pp.

The subtitle of this book "What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Mitatake, and Ansel Adams's Photographs Reveal about the Japanese American Incarceration" tells exactly what this book is about. It begins with a brief explanation of how the Japanese living on the west coast were rounded up and sent to camps after the war with Japan began. Partridge goes on to explain how Dorothea Lange was hired by the government to photograph the camp at Manzanar for the U.S. Government and how many of her photos were censored by a Major Beasley in a very arbitrary manner. Toyo Mitatake had a photo studio in California before incarceration and, with home built camera he secretly took photos in the camp until he was made an "official" photographer for special events. Ansel Adams, known for his landscape photography, was also hired to photograph the camps. Unlike Lange who opposed the incarceration, Adams thought it was necessary. He used his photographs to show the beautiful surroundings of the camp's location. This is an interesting and accessible look at one of the dark periods of American History.