Evelyn Iritani: The Secret Mission Behind a Wartime Rescue

The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist uncovers the little-known story of the dangerous negotiations that led to the exchange of American and Japanese civilians during World War II.

In the fall of 1943, as some of the Second World War’s bloodiest battles unfolded across the Pacific, the United States and Japan pulled off a diplomatic coup—the return of civilians caught on the wrong side of the battlefield after Pearl Harbor. In Safe Passage, journalist Evelyn Iritani reveals the rarely told story behind this wartime exchange, featuring a cast of determined diplomats, sharp-tongued journalists, missionaries, and refugees—and the difficult choices involved in bringing everyone home.