Sixty-seven years after its publication, No-No Boy is widely recognized as a classic work of literature.
“It is not enough to be only half an American and know that it is an empty half. I am not your son and I am not Japanese and I am not American,” writes John Okada in this powerful novel. Identity struggles lie at the heart of this story about a Japanese American man who spent time in an internment camp and refused to fight for the United States—earning him the label “no-no boy” and landing him in prison. Written in 1957 at the height of the Cold War and before Vietnam, the book was way ahead of its time in questioning one’s identity and loyalty to a country. Sixty-seven years after its publication, No-No Boy is widely recognized as a classic work of literature.