Bob Asahina is better known in publishing circles as an editor than an author, but that is about to change, thanks to an auction win by his old boss (at Broadway Books), Bill Shinker, who now has his own imprint at Penguin Putnam. Shinker won the rights to Asahina's first book, Just Americans, which is the story of the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated and perhaps least known unit in the WWII U.S. Army. Asahina's own father and uncle served in the 442nd, and he aims to show the unit at war and in the often difficult conditions they faced on the home front, at a time when their fellow citizens were being interned. Agent in the North American rights deal was Suzanne Gluck at ICM, and Asahina's editor will be another former Broadway colleague now at PP, executive editor Lauren Marino.