The climate of the country

the long version

This is a novel set in the Tule Lake Japanese American Segregation Camp during WWII. It is loosely based on the experiences of the author's parents. Mueller was born in Tule Lake to a Caucasian couple who worked in the camp. Her father, a conscientious objector, set up the consumer Co-operative Store system and her mother taught in the camp school. The book is unusual within the canon of Japanese American Internment literature in that it deals directly with the day-to-day operations and the politics in the camps during the period shortly after the mandated signing of loyalty oaths by the prisoners. It is a hard look at what transpired as a result of the oaths.