Forbidden Family: A Wartime Memoir of the Philippines, 1941-1945 (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography)
(Part of the Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography Series)
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Book Overview
Written just five years after the end of World War II, this is Margaret Sams's moving testimony of life in a Japanese internment camp--the can of Spam hoarded for Christmas dinner, the clandestine... This description may be from another edition of this product.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0299121402
ISBN13:9780299121402
Release Date:January 1989
Publisher:University of Wisconsin Press
Length:316 Pages
Weight:1.46 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 6.3" x 9.4"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
A Fascinating History
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
Forbidden Family was like reading a letter--full of secrets, humor, gossip--from a friend. Margaret Sams, who went to the Phillippines hoping for an adventurous life got more than she could have ever imagined. Her husband of the time was sent off to join the Bataan Death March, while Margaret and their 3-year-old were rounded up and told to bring "enough supplies for three days." They were taken to Santo Tomas Internment camp in Manila where they lived for three years. During that time Margaret met and fell in love with another prisoner, Jerry Sams. Their affair shocked the sensibilities of the camp (even amidst all the war issues.) She writes about being shunned (and Jerry being punished), constantly worrying about being shot for hiding a contraband radio, scrounging for food so they wouldn't starve, attempting to escape. It's a fascinating history, an amazing story.
Great Read
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
Whether you're interested in WWII or not you'll love this book. Wonderfully written, this emotional tale of love under the most dire circumstances is sure to make you laugh, cry, feel. Margaret and Jerry Sams are an inspiration to all. And even at 90 their love is still as strong as ever.
Love triumphs.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 27 years ago
This very interesting autobiography is the story of a conventional young American housewife who becomes separated from her husband in the chaos of the Philippines of 1942 and is imprisoned with her young son in a brutal Japanese internment camp. In her struggle for survival she meets and falls in love with a fellow prisoner, whose child she bears, at great risk, and in the face of opposition from fellow inmates and captors alike. Sams' story, expertly and sensitively edited, is a frank and touching love story as well as an epic of survival, and will be of interest to students of 20th-century American culture and mores as well as WWII readers. (The "score" rating is an unfortunately ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)
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