TURNING LEAVES: The Photograph Collections of Two...

TURNING LEAVES: The Photograph Collections of Two Japanese American Families by Richard Chalfen (University of New Mexico Press: $19.95). Chalfen uses the snapshot albums of the George Nagano family of Los Angeles and the Uyeda/Miyamura family of Gallup, N.M., to document nearly a century of Japanese-American life. These candid, unprofessional and often slightly fuzzy photographs form the visual equivalent of an oral history. Although taken for sentimental reasons, they bear witness to the changes that the Asian community in the United States has undergone, from the immigrants who arrived during the 1880s and 1890s to face anti-Asian prejudices and laws (a confrontation that culminated in the relocation of Japanese-American citizens during World War II) to the baby boomers who seek to reconcile often contradictory Japanese and American experiences.