News / George Takei's THEY CALLED US ENEMY is a New York Times Bestseller! Watch him on the TODAY Show!

George Takei's THEY CALLED US ENEMY is a New York Times Bestseller! Watch him on the TODAY Show!

July 26, 2019

George Takei at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, photo by Sean Macgowan

It's been a big week for George Takei. To launch his graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, co-written with Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and drawn by Harmony Becker, this iconic actor/author/activist:

  • appeared on The TODAY Show (unprecedented for a graphic memoir!),
  • flew to Comic-Con for a standing-room-only panel and two sold-out book signings,
  • was honored with Comic-Con's prestigious Inkpot Award,
  • held another sold-out signing at the Japanese American National Museum,
  • and finally returned home... as a New York Times bestselling author.

Although the Times removed its "Graphic Books" bestseller list in 2017, comics can now reach the "mainstream" lists if they are hugely popular — so They Called Us Enemy is now an incredible #2 in ALL Paperback Nonfiction, sitting above The Mueller Report and many modern classics of prose.

Additionally, They Called Us Enemy has already become:

  • an Amazon bestseller — #1 Graphic Novel, Top 10 in all books
  • a Barnes & Noble College bestseller — #9 in Paperback Nonfiction

Of course, as the "King of the Internet," Takei responded on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with heartfelt words:

Just one week after its release, I am astounded and grateful to learn that my graphic memoir, THEY CALLED US ENEMY, is a New York Times Bestseller! The story of the Japanese American internment MUST reach new generations — and with your help, it will.

Congratulations to the THEY CALLED US ENEMY team!

Pictured above at one of their maxed-out Comic-Con signings.

(Seated, L-R: Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger, Harmony Becker, George Takei)

Watch George Takei speak to millions on the TODAY Show!

George Takei on the TODAY Show. Photo by Leigh Walton

In a stunning graphic memoir, actor/author/activist George Takei revisits his haunting childhood in American concentration camps, as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon — and America itself — in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.

Thanks to all the retailers, reporters, teachers, librarians, and readers for supporting this powerful and urgent book.

"They Called Us Enemy is truly beautiful — moving, thoughtful, important, engaging, and stunningly rendered. I am so excited to see this book's impact on the world." — Jacqueline Woodson, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming



"A tale of triumph over adversity." — BBC America



"Riveting... Takei has evolved into an increasingly powerful voice for oppressed communities, and They Called Us Enemy finds him at peak moral clarity — an unflinching force in these divisive times." The Washington Post

 

They Called Us Enemy

by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker


ISBN 978-1-60309-450-4 - Diamond: MAR190630

$19.99 (US) • black & white interiors • YA and up

a 208-page softcover graphic novel with flaps • 6.5” x 9”

Available now wherever books are sold!