Kokomo Joe

by Christgau, John

• ISBN13: 9780803218970
• ISBN10: 0803218974
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

The first Japanese American jockey, Kokomo Joe burst like a comet on the American horse-racing scene in the summer of 1941. As war with Japan loomed, Yoshio "Kokomo Joe" Kobuki won race after race, stirring passions far beyond merely the envy and antagonism of other jockeys. His is a story of the American dream catapulting headlong into the nightmare of a nation gripped by wartime hysteria and xenophobia. The story that unfolds inKokomo Joeis at once inspiring, deeply sad, and richly ironic-and remarkably relevant in our own climate of nationalist fervour and racial profiling. Sent to Japan from Washington State after his mother and three siblings died of the Spanish flu, Kobuki continued to nurse his dream of the American good life. Because of his small stature, his ambition steered him to a future as a star jockey. John Christgau narrates Kobuki's rise from lowly stable boy to reigning star at California fairs and in the bush leagues. He describes how, at the height of the jockey's fame, even his flight into the Sonora Desert could not protect him from the government's espionage and sabotage dragnet. And finally he recounts how, after three years of internment, Kokomo Joe tried to reclaim his racing success, only to fall victim to still-rampant racism, a career-ending injury, and cancer.

Author Biography

John Christgau, a retired English instructor and lecturer, is the author of many books, including The Gambler and the Bug Boy: 1939 Los Angeles and the Untold Story of a Horse Racing Fix (Nebraska 2007) and Tricksters in the Madhouse: Lakers vs. Globetrotters, 1948, available in a Bison Books edition.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

The Pocket Baby

Kokomo Joe

Mister Charley

Brilliant Queen

The Yankee Doodle Boys

Joltin' Joe

The Railbird Witch

The Oriental Invaders

Lumberjacks and Truckers

Joe Btfsplk

Miserable Saboteurs

Nipponese Dynamite

Hoover's Lists

Fibber McGee

The Whiz Kid with the Jive Drive

The Canadian Mounties

Chester from Gunsmoke

Stargazers Sources

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