From a Cornell University librarian and a documentary filmmaker comes the first comprehensive biography of the visionary Japanese photographer who never became a US citizen yet was lauded 80 years after his death by President Barack Obama for reminding us “what citizenship is all about.”

Friendly and likeable yet quiet and retiring, George Masa made a dramatic impact within his adopted Southern Appalachian community and far beyond. Paul Bonesteel’s 2002 film A Life Reimagined: The Mystery of George Masa rekindled interest in the photographer. Then, in 2019, a chapter of Janet McCue’s Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography with George Ellison explored Masa’s unique friendship and powerful collaboration with Kephart in words and images. Now, after conducting groundbreaking research in the US and Japan, McCue and Bonesteel tell the fascinating story of an immigrant who endured scrutiny from the Bureau of Investigation, harassment from the Ku Klux Klan, and the collapse of the economy, his business, and his health—all while making it his life’s goal to champion conservation in Southern Appalachia.