James D. Houston

A compelling and beautifully told story of extreme events that resonates the terrible cost of the American Dream. A powerful work of fiction that recreates one of the most tragic events of pioneer America, as a wagon train crosses the country to the Promised Land of California, only to be halted in the final stages by an early winter in the high reaches of the mountains. the emigrants endure the bitterest of winters with only the most slender of supplies?d...

A fire at a geothermal plant near a volcano in Hawaii is blamed on eco-activists, but native Hawaiians accuse developers of angering the volcano's god. Insurance adjustor Travis Doyle flies to the scene, discovers an old love and together they are caught in a volcanic eruption.

During World War II a community called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese American internees. One of the first families to arrive was the Wakatsukis, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry. For Jeanne Wakatsuki, a seven-year-old child, Manzanar became a way...

"The true story of the Wakatsuki family of Santa Monia, California, is told by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who was seven years old when she and her family were taken by bus 250 miles to Camp Manzanar, near the High Sierras. The drama follows the family from their well-ordered, pleasant life in Santa Monica to the emotion-shattering experience of being uprooted and evacuated to camps."--Container.