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Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality
“A work of stunning density and penetrating analysis . . . Lost Battalions deploys a narrative symmetry of gratifying complexity.”—David Levering Lewis, The Nation
During the bloodiest days of World War I, no soldiers served more valiantly than the African American troops of the 369th Infantry—the fabled Harlem Hellfighters—and the legendary 77th “lost battalion” composed of New York City immigrants. Though these men had lived up to their side of the bargain as loyal American soldiers, the country to which they returned solidified laws and patterns of social behavior that had stigmatized them as second-class citizens.
Richard Slotkin takes the pulse of a nation struggling with social inequality during a decisive historical moment, juxtaposing social commentary with battle scenes that display the bravery and solidarity of these men. Enduring grueling maneuvers, and the loss of so many of their brethren, the soldiers in the lost battalions were forever bound by their wartime experience.
Both a riveting combat narrative and a brilliant social history, Lost Battalions delivers a richly detailed account of the fierce fight for equality in the shadow of a foreign war.
During the bloodiest days of World War I, no soldiers served more valiantly than the African American troops of the 369th Infantry—the fabled Harlem Hellfighters—and the legendary 77th “lost battalion” composed of New York City immigrants. Though these men had lived up to their side of the bargain as loyal American soldiers, the country to which they returned solidified laws and patterns of social behavior that had stigmatized them as second-class citizens.
Richard Slotkin takes the pulse of a nation struggling with social inequality during a decisive historical moment, juxtaposing social commentary with battle scenes that display the bravery and solidarity of these men. Enduring grueling maneuvers, and the loss of so many of their brethren, the soldiers in the lost battalions were forever bound by their wartime experience.
Both a riveting combat narrative and a brilliant social history, Lost Battalions delivers a richly detailed account of the fierce fight for equality in the shadow of a foreign war.
656 pages, Hardcover
First published November 29, 2005
19 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Richard Slotkin
21 books61 followersRichard Slotkin is an American cultural critic, historian, and novelist. He is Olin Professor of English and American Studies Emeritus at Wesleyan University, where he was instrumental in establishing the American Studies and Film Studies programs. His work explores the mythology of the American frontier and its influence on national identity. His trilogy—Regeneration Through Violence, Fatal Environment, and Gunfighter Nation—is widely regarded as a seminal analysis of the frontier myth in American culture. Slotkin has also written historical novels, including Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln and The Crater: A Novel of the Civil War. His contributions to scholarship and literature have earned him numerous accolades, including the Albert J. Beveridge Award and multiple National Book Award nominations.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 26, 2016
On a random Saturday last April, I visited the National World War I Museum in Kansas City. It is a huge and architecturally imposing building, with some beautiful sight lines and an overall plan that seems designed to signify national grandeur (the defiant obelisk, the flag-lined drive leading to the main entrance). The day I went there was a steady flow of visitors, but nothing resembling a crowd. Certainly nothing resembling the crowds at KC’s popular barbeque joints.
The interior of the museum is a cool and modern contrast to the limestone Egyptian Revival exterior. To enter the exhibits, you cross over a sleek glass bridge that spans a field of poppies. Once you get into the museum proper, you move in a chronological semi-circle that is evenly divided into pre-American and post-American participation.
The exhibits are, to be frank, less than awe inspiring. There are some very fake-looking fake trenches, guarded by mannequins in various uniforms. There is the usual hotchpot of weaponry, helmets, insignia, and gas masks. In the small section devoted to the naval war, there was a model of a ship, and maybe a torpedo. I can’t quite recall, since I was already dreaming of the Enlist poster I was going to buy in the gift shop (the one with the mother and baby at the bottom of the ocean). There is an “interactive” portion to the museum, but unfortunately it is utilizing technology that wasn’t even cutting edge in the 90s.
In all, not the greatest showing of the curator’s art.
The thing that impressed me most was the gap between the outside of this grand structure (built in 1926) and the inside (which feels a bit drab and outdated). I think the word I’m looking for is overshadowed. In America, World War I has, in just about every sense, been overshadowed by its big brother, World War II.
We’re coming up on the centennial of the First World War, which began in 1914. The United States did not enter until 1917; it was not until 1918 that U.S. troops became fully engaged in combat operations. The war, of course, ended in November of that year. American dead numbered around 116,000, of which less than half – approximately 53,000 – were combat deaths. Because of her late entry, and the sudden collapse of the Central Powers, the U.S. suffered less than most other belligerent nations. The United Kingdom lost over a million men; France lost 4% of its population.
Despite the relatively – stress relatively – low combat losses, the Great War had a tremendous impact on the United States. Millions of American men were mobilized for war. Entire industries shifted into war footing. Governmental power expanded. Free speech – indeed, the foundations of free and democratic government – met its match in the Espionage Act of 1917. Nebraska made it illegal to teach the German language. Some of our best writers left our shores and started hanging out in Paris, where they wore berets, drank absinthe, and created the high school English curriculums of the future.
The draft, the anti-German propaganda, the factories churning out machine guns and puttees, the laws making it illegal to disagree with the war, all combined to create a nationalistic fervor that was new to the United States. America had never been this geared for war, or at least not since the Civil War, when we fought each other. In 1917, the U.S. had a common purpose and a common enemy. Suddenly, the phrase “I am an American” took on a whole new meaning.
Nationalism is an interesting thing, in that it tends to paper over a lot of domestic problems, pushing aside important social issues in favor of solidarity in the face of external threats.
This tension is the focus of Richard Slotkin’s Lost Battalions. His book is not a standard military history. Rather, it combines aspects of typical war books (maps, tactics, descriptions of battle), with a keen interest in the homefront, specifically racial and ethnic relations.
In conducting this study, Slotkin chooses to focus on two distinct groups of fighting men.
The first is the fabled 77th Division, the actual “lost battalion” of World War I. The 77th was made up of New York immigrants, working class men, the “Jews and wops, the Dutch and Irish cops.” These were men whose ethnicities, national origins, and socioeconomic status made them an American underclass. Nine companies of this division, under the command of Major Charles Whittlesey, were part of an offensive in the Argonne Forest when they were cut off by German forces. During a nearly weeklong siege, food, water, and ammunition ran low; they were subjected to a friendly-fire bombardment; and they fended off numerous German attacks. When they were relived, they became national heroes, and Whittlesey received the Medal of Honor.
The second group of fighting men is the 369th Infantry, known as the Harlem Hell Fighters. This was a black outfit, commanded by mostly white officers (there were black officers, but many of them were transferred out of the 369th). In a country that often treated them as subhuman (the term “second class citizen” gives Jim Crow far too much credit), black soldiers enlisted not only to serve their country, but to prove to their country their worth. They faced every difficulty encountered by white soldiers, plus the withering racism of the South, where their cantonments were often located. After the war, the general consensus was that black troops had underperformed. The Harlem Hell Fighters belied that notion, giving the nation contemporary heroes such as Henry Lincoln Johnson who are nearly forgotten today.
The prewar, war, and postwar histories of the two “lost battalions” are intertwined throughout the book. Slotkin follows each unit as it is formed, trained, and shipped overseas. He takes you into their baptisms of fire, and later, observes their homecomings in a nation that initially applauded their efforts but eventually failed to give them the equality they sought.
Initially, I approached this book with a bit of hesitation. I’d previously slogged through Slotkin’s Regeneration Through Violence and found the writing to be only a slightly more polished version of a PhD dissertation. I took a chance on this book because I liked the underlying notions; however, I was worried that I’d find myself in another wordy quagmire.
Fortunately, this book reads much better than Regeneration Through Violence. Indeed, and somewhat surprisingly, it reads well as a military history. Slotkin’s scenes of battle are quite credible, with a visceral pungency to them.
Slotkin’s real purpose, however, is not simply to recapitulate old war stories. He picked these two units, one made up of immigrants, the other made up of African-Americans, because they were strangers in their own land. They were outsiders to the white, native-born, “true” Americans who dominated the power structures of government, business, and the law. These immigrants and blacks went to war hoping to leverage their patriotism into national acceptance. Instead, as Slotkin writes, “the pressures of war produced a power political reaction which, under the banner of 100% Americanism,” reaffirmed the supremacy of the White and native-born…”
I found this to be a valuable book. It is perspective broadening, in that it moves beyond the confines of the battlefield to show you the social and domestic reverberations of a heterogeneous democracy at war. It would be nice to say that the Harlem Hell Fighters and the Lost Battalion had a happy-ever-after; that their heroism paved the road to equality. Unfortunately, that is not the historical reality. The efficacy of minority and melting-pot troops actually scared the white establishment, to such an extent that they later peddled the disingenuous trope that black troops had failed to live up to expectations in combat.
The same issues covered by Slotkin in Lost Battalions reappeared during World War II (with the black community once again trying to use military service as social leverage), Korea (when the U.S. Armed Forces were finally desegregated), and Vietnam (when black troops were drafted to fight for a country that did not give them equal rights). Historical events don’t occur in a vacuum. There are layers upon layers upon layers. Recognizing this gives you a richer understanding of American history Admittedly, most of the history books I read operate at only one level: the level of a John Wayne-loving fifteen year-old boy. In that way, Slotkin’s book is a bit of a wakeup call.
The interior of the museum is a cool and modern contrast to the limestone Egyptian Revival exterior. To enter the exhibits, you cross over a sleek glass bridge that spans a field of poppies. Once you get into the museum proper, you move in a chronological semi-circle that is evenly divided into pre-American and post-American participation.
The exhibits are, to be frank, less than awe inspiring. There are some very fake-looking fake trenches, guarded by mannequins in various uniforms. There is the usual hotchpot of weaponry, helmets, insignia, and gas masks. In the small section devoted to the naval war, there was a model of a ship, and maybe a torpedo. I can’t quite recall, since I was already dreaming of the Enlist poster I was going to buy in the gift shop (the one with the mother and baby at the bottom of the ocean). There is an “interactive” portion to the museum, but unfortunately it is utilizing technology that wasn’t even cutting edge in the 90s.
In all, not the greatest showing of the curator’s art.
The thing that impressed me most was the gap between the outside of this grand structure (built in 1926) and the inside (which feels a bit drab and outdated). I think the word I’m looking for is overshadowed. In America, World War I has, in just about every sense, been overshadowed by its big brother, World War II.
We’re coming up on the centennial of the First World War, which began in 1914. The United States did not enter until 1917; it was not until 1918 that U.S. troops became fully engaged in combat operations. The war, of course, ended in November of that year. American dead numbered around 116,000, of which less than half – approximately 53,000 – were combat deaths. Because of her late entry, and the sudden collapse of the Central Powers, the U.S. suffered less than most other belligerent nations. The United Kingdom lost over a million men; France lost 4% of its population.
Despite the relatively – stress relatively – low combat losses, the Great War had a tremendous impact on the United States. Millions of American men were mobilized for war. Entire industries shifted into war footing. Governmental power expanded. Free speech – indeed, the foundations of free and democratic government – met its match in the Espionage Act of 1917. Nebraska made it illegal to teach the German language. Some of our best writers left our shores and started hanging out in Paris, where they wore berets, drank absinthe, and created the high school English curriculums of the future.
The draft, the anti-German propaganda, the factories churning out machine guns and puttees, the laws making it illegal to disagree with the war, all combined to create a nationalistic fervor that was new to the United States. America had never been this geared for war, or at least not since the Civil War, when we fought each other. In 1917, the U.S. had a common purpose and a common enemy. Suddenly, the phrase “I am an American” took on a whole new meaning.
Nationalism is an interesting thing, in that it tends to paper over a lot of domestic problems, pushing aside important social issues in favor of solidarity in the face of external threats.
This tension is the focus of Richard Slotkin’s Lost Battalions. His book is not a standard military history. Rather, it combines aspects of typical war books (maps, tactics, descriptions of battle), with a keen interest in the homefront, specifically racial and ethnic relations.
In conducting this study, Slotkin chooses to focus on two distinct groups of fighting men.
The first is the fabled 77th Division, the actual “lost battalion” of World War I. The 77th was made up of New York immigrants, working class men, the “Jews and wops, the Dutch and Irish cops.” These were men whose ethnicities, national origins, and socioeconomic status made them an American underclass. Nine companies of this division, under the command of Major Charles Whittlesey, were part of an offensive in the Argonne Forest when they were cut off by German forces. During a nearly weeklong siege, food, water, and ammunition ran low; they were subjected to a friendly-fire bombardment; and they fended off numerous German attacks. When they were relived, they became national heroes, and Whittlesey received the Medal of Honor.
The second group of fighting men is the 369th Infantry, known as the Harlem Hell Fighters. This was a black outfit, commanded by mostly white officers (there were black officers, but many of them were transferred out of the 369th). In a country that often treated them as subhuman (the term “second class citizen” gives Jim Crow far too much credit), black soldiers enlisted not only to serve their country, but to prove to their country their worth. They faced every difficulty encountered by white soldiers, plus the withering racism of the South, where their cantonments were often located. After the war, the general consensus was that black troops had underperformed. The Harlem Hell Fighters belied that notion, giving the nation contemporary heroes such as Henry Lincoln Johnson who are nearly forgotten today.
The prewar, war, and postwar histories of the two “lost battalions” are intertwined throughout the book. Slotkin follows each unit as it is formed, trained, and shipped overseas. He takes you into their baptisms of fire, and later, observes their homecomings in a nation that initially applauded their efforts but eventually failed to give them the equality they sought.
Initially, I approached this book with a bit of hesitation. I’d previously slogged through Slotkin’s Regeneration Through Violence and found the writing to be only a slightly more polished version of a PhD dissertation. I took a chance on this book because I liked the underlying notions; however, I was worried that I’d find myself in another wordy quagmire.
Fortunately, this book reads much better than Regeneration Through Violence. Indeed, and somewhat surprisingly, it reads well as a military history. Slotkin’s scenes of battle are quite credible, with a visceral pungency to them.
They suffered intense artillery bombardments: mind-numbing sense-shattering barrages of high explosive, tearing mutilations of white-hot shrapnel. But gas claimed the largest share of victims, and to Miles “the never ceasing menace and presence of gas was in a way more hateful than high explosive itself.” The enemy used chlorine and phosgene, “the latter a vile and sweetish stench,” and mustard gas, distinguished by its odor “of rare, ripe onions.” The ground they occupied had been heavily fought over, and the air was full of the stench of the unburied dead, cows, horses, and humans. In some places it was a heavy livid stink, so strong it almost had a color; in others it was a pervasive breathing of rot, a continual reminder of how easily one’s own precious incomparable body could be made into meat. They smelled it as they bolted the cold rations that managed to reach them in the lines, cans of corned beef whose taste was so vile they called it “monkey meat.” Each of the frequent bombardments they suffered renewed the stench, churning the old dead out of the ground and making new dead. They saw dead men and men killed and wounded every day – most of the wounds resulting from artillery fire, high explosive, and shrapnel that tore men to pieces, inflicted horrible dismemberments and mutilations. “Battle..if it is sufficiently severe, intense, and long in duration…will ultimately break everyone committed to it…”
Slotkin’s real purpose, however, is not simply to recapitulate old war stories. He picked these two units, one made up of immigrants, the other made up of African-Americans, because they were strangers in their own land. They were outsiders to the white, native-born, “true” Americans who dominated the power structures of government, business, and the law. These immigrants and blacks went to war hoping to leverage their patriotism into national acceptance. Instead, as Slotkin writes, “the pressures of war produced a power political reaction which, under the banner of 100% Americanism,” reaffirmed the supremacy of the White and native-born…”
Thus both [the 77th Division and the 369th Infantry] were, in a double sense, “Lost Battalions.” They fought their last stands cut off and alone, and their stories have similarly been lost to memory and public myth. The loss was and is a serious one, for the men and their communities, and for the nation as a whole. The myths of a nation or a community are the stories that embody the memory of their people’s collective past. The story of the Lost Battalion and the Harlem Hell Fighters is worth recovering, if only as an act of historical justice to their veterans. But it is also worth recovering for the sake of justice itself: it is one of those stories that reminds us just how difficult it has been for America to live up to the promises of liberty and justice for all that were made at the nation’s birth – just how resistant Americans as a people have been to the moral demands of the democracy they profess.
I found this to be a valuable book. It is perspective broadening, in that it moves beyond the confines of the battlefield to show you the social and domestic reverberations of a heterogeneous democracy at war. It would be nice to say that the Harlem Hell Fighters and the Lost Battalion had a happy-ever-after; that their heroism paved the road to equality. Unfortunately, that is not the historical reality. The efficacy of minority and melting-pot troops actually scared the white establishment, to such an extent that they later peddled the disingenuous trope that black troops had failed to live up to expectations in combat.
The same issues covered by Slotkin in Lost Battalions reappeared during World War II (with the black community once again trying to use military service as social leverage), Korea (when the U.S. Armed Forces were finally desegregated), and Vietnam (when black troops were drafted to fight for a country that did not give them equal rights). Historical events don’t occur in a vacuum. There are layers upon layers upon layers. Recognizing this gives you a richer understanding of American history Admittedly, most of the history books I read operate at only one level: the level of a John Wayne-loving fifteen year-old boy. In that way, Slotkin’s book is a bit of a wakeup call.
The history of the Lost Battalions provides an answer to the question whether a “nation of nations” can maintain itself as a nation-state. In 1917, immigrants in every stage of assimilation…all showed their willingness to serve the country in war and their desire to play a responsible role as political citizens in peace. It did not require ethnic homogeneity, cultural “amalgamation,” or the imposition of a “one-language” standard for citizenship to make them effective patriots. To win their hearts and minds, their acceptance of the ultimate sacrifice, the nation had only to offer safety, a measure of dignity, a chance for material betterment, a credible promise of justice somewhere down the road, and a plausible claim that he war itself was just and necessary. No more than that, and nothing less.
March 14, 2012
My second reading of this book finds me improving my rating from three to four stars. Slotkin's work here is a very effective examination of the negotiation (or, for African-Americans, the continued negation) of identity and citizenship in American society through the crucible of the First World War. Lost Battalions won't provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the war from beginning to end, or even from American entry to the Armistice, but it is an exceptional discussion of the social forces of the era, wrapped as they were in the integration of Eastern and Southern Europeans into notions of normative white society, General Leonard Wood's subscription to the Melting Pot thesis and the corresponding implications for the US Army, and Teddy Roosevelt's Strenuous Life-driven efforts on behalf of the Preparedness movement. Slotkin situates African-Americans firmly within the narrative of citizenship and demands that anyone interested in the Long Civil Rights Movement pay attention to this chapter of African-American history.
August 13, 2022
I made it to chapter 13 before tapping out, and will someday return. Not right now, though. An immensely dense work covering immigration, citizenship, racism, US involvement in WWI, the unionization movement, and a million and one other things. Given everything that it includes, it's surprisingly readable, but it's also very, very detailed, and at a certain point I could take no more - particularly given the parallels to the current political situation in the US.
If you're looking for a book on the historical Lost Battalion, this is probably too many other things for you; if you're looking for a read which gives you a good history of America as it was in 1918-1919, in all of its messy, arrogant, upstart craziness, then this is for you.
If you're looking for a book on the historical Lost Battalion, this is probably too many other things for you; if you're looking for a read which gives you a good history of America as it was in 1918-1919, in all of its messy, arrogant, upstart craziness, then this is for you.
August 8, 2019
Richard Slotkin has spent his distinguished career dissecting how violence has shaped this country from its beginnings. His history of two World War I units, the "Harlem Hellfighters" and the "Lost Battalion," details not only the exploits of both units in France but also their experiences returning home from the war. These units were primarily made up of, respectively, black men and immigrants, so each hoped to win new rights and respect from the nation they fought for so valiantly. Although Slotkin can be a bit long-winded at times, this book works as a blending of military and social history. A unique addition to the books published to mark the centennial of the war to end all wars.
December 28, 2023
The first chapters about the ideology of racism and patriotism are interesting. However, much of the book deals with the minutiae of the western front from August to November 1918. In the end, I felt I was drowning in battle trivia. The book would have been better served if it were 300 pages shorter. Ultimately, the book is a bore.
December 22, 2019
I hate modern history as it has to get politically correct. Yes the Harlem Hellfighter's are a distinguished unit but I wanted to know about the 77th Division the Lost Battalion not the Hellfighters. I guess the Hellfighters were "lost" but I want the 77th
July 16, 2024
This is a fantastic book that was not only a well-crafted, thoroughly interesting read but also a wonderful lecture on American history they might not teach in class...
February 15, 2023
This book is magisterial in detail, research and scope. I strongly suggest any student of war to read this well authored book. I purchased this book at the National WW I Museum in Kansas. My wife and I went for a weekend. If you have the opportunity you should go - it is brilliantly done! ( And in 2020 when we first went, even with the Covid restrictions it is an amazing museum and book store.)
Don't read this book fast. It is packed with detail and analysis that has been thoroughly researched and documented in the notes and bibliography.
Without spoilers, this book looks at the Lost Battalions of the 307, 308, 369 and the larger look at the 15 and 77th Divisions. The book explicitly covers Policy, Recruiting, Organization, Training, and Staffing. The book is a who's who of those linked and involved with organizing and defining these unique units.
This book also explores - in detail - the social contract, Wilsons social contract based on his speeches to make the world safe for democracy. A premise based on the constitution and its equal protections under the law. Regrettably, Wilsons Administration - Democrats and Progressives implied much, but promised and delivered on nothing.
These Units were fiercely pragmatic and also fiercely patriotic. They had problems, but by and large, they were well officered and well led and these units, composed entirely of immigrants and Black Americans, endured bad equipment, bad treatment by those outside of the Division and Regiments and still performed exceedingly well. This alone, is a testament to their self discipline and dignity as men.
One spoiler - The 77th, also known as the "melting pot" division, was created entirely of hyphenated Americans from the Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, Brooklyn, Red Hook, Harlem, Bronx and Flatbush and the men could speak 42 different languages - NOT including English
There are 17 Chapters in this book. 35 pages of notes and 16 pages of bibliography for a total of 615 reading pages. - You have to read the notes and look at the bibliography
The whole book stands out as brilliantly done - I would point the reader to page 138 - and the Battle of Henry Johnson. Its a shame this did not get wider publicity in history and chapter 10 - The Lost Battalion, which gets hardly an honorable mention of 4 pages in the US Army publication "Infantry in Battle" that was printed by the War College in 1939 to prepare staff officers and units for the coming of WW II
" The story of Lost Battalions is also worth telling for the light it sheds on a critical moment in American history, and on the processes that produce social and political change. In following their story we can see how the grand structures of policy and political thought play upon the people and culture of the streets and the trenches; and how ideas arising from the streets and trenches can, in turn, affect the rationales and usages of high politics. The career of the Old Fifteenth engaged its Black soldiers in direct confrontation with the Jim Crow South; its deployment to France exposed its men to a new and liberating understanding of themselves as Americans. The men of the 77th Division and their communities were Americanized and politicized by their experience, which would contribute to their emergence in the 1930s as pillars of the New Deal coalition. Although isolationism and intolerance triumphed in the aftermath of the war, the mobilization of 1917–18 was only the opening engagement in a fifty-year struggle to answer the two fundamental issues of American nationality: Were Americans willing to become a genuinely democratic multicultural and multiracial society; and would such a society be willing and able to support the nation’s assumption of a Great Power role?"
This is Black History Month - This is the perfect book for this month. order this book, get out a notepad and highlighters and dig in.
Don't read this book fast. It is packed with detail and analysis that has been thoroughly researched and documented in the notes and bibliography.
Without spoilers, this book looks at the Lost Battalions of the 307, 308, 369 and the larger look at the 15 and 77th Divisions. The book explicitly covers Policy, Recruiting, Organization, Training, and Staffing. The book is a who's who of those linked and involved with organizing and defining these unique units.
This book also explores - in detail - the social contract, Wilsons social contract based on his speeches to make the world safe for democracy. A premise based on the constitution and its equal protections under the law. Regrettably, Wilsons Administration - Democrats and Progressives implied much, but promised and delivered on nothing.
These Units were fiercely pragmatic and also fiercely patriotic. They had problems, but by and large, they were well officered and well led and these units, composed entirely of immigrants and Black Americans, endured bad equipment, bad treatment by those outside of the Division and Regiments and still performed exceedingly well. This alone, is a testament to their self discipline and dignity as men.
One spoiler - The 77th, also known as the "melting pot" division, was created entirely of hyphenated Americans from the Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, Brooklyn, Red Hook, Harlem, Bronx and Flatbush and the men could speak 42 different languages - NOT including English
There are 17 Chapters in this book. 35 pages of notes and 16 pages of bibliography for a total of 615 reading pages. - You have to read the notes and look at the bibliography
The whole book stands out as brilliantly done - I would point the reader to page 138 - and the Battle of Henry Johnson. Its a shame this did not get wider publicity in history and chapter 10 - The Lost Battalion, which gets hardly an honorable mention of 4 pages in the US Army publication "Infantry in Battle" that was printed by the War College in 1939 to prepare staff officers and units for the coming of WW II
" The story of Lost Battalions is also worth telling for the light it sheds on a critical moment in American history, and on the processes that produce social and political change. In following their story we can see how the grand structures of policy and political thought play upon the people and culture of the streets and the trenches; and how ideas arising from the streets and trenches can, in turn, affect the rationales and usages of high politics. The career of the Old Fifteenth engaged its Black soldiers in direct confrontation with the Jim Crow South; its deployment to France exposed its men to a new and liberating understanding of themselves as Americans. The men of the 77th Division and their communities were Americanized and politicized by their experience, which would contribute to their emergence in the 1930s as pillars of the New Deal coalition. Although isolationism and intolerance triumphed in the aftermath of the war, the mobilization of 1917–18 was only the opening engagement in a fifty-year struggle to answer the two fundamental issues of American nationality: Were Americans willing to become a genuinely democratic multicultural and multiracial society; and would such a society be willing and able to support the nation’s assumption of a Great Power role?"
This is Black History Month - This is the perfect book for this month. order this book, get out a notepad and highlighters and dig in.
December 16, 2014
This book is a narrative on the First world War and and ethnicity in America. The need for soldiers for the coming was war lead to an unwritten social pact with hyphenated Americans, blacks and other minorities. This pact seemed to offer full acceptance as Americans in return for their service. The author follows the fortunes of Black units and the77th division known as the rainbow division because of its racial diversity. The slights and indignities that they had to endure were many. Even thought they distinguished themselves they came home to find their social status had not changed or had worsened. A good book on an aspect of race relations that isn't well known.
August 2, 2014
More like 4.5 stars. Like The Burglary, which I reviewed a while back, this is creepily familiar in its portrayal of a wartime America where dissent is equated to treason. Slotkin's focus is on the "Melting Pot" battalion (a mixed race unit drawn from New York immigrants) and the Harlem Hellfighters (black troops) both believing that by fighting alongside white America in WWI, they'd prove themselves as 100 percent American as the WASPs who looked down on them. Unfortunately, white America proved (in hindsight unsurprisingly) unwilling to grant these men the credit, or accept that anyone outside the "Nordic" race could be truly American (again awfully familiar). An excellent work.
Want to read
August 22, 2010This book tells the story of two U.S. Army combat units, one African-American and the other composed of Eastern & Southern European immigrants, which defied prevailing stereotypes and distinguished themselves on the Western Front in 1918.
January 8, 2014
Brilliant book about forgotten heroes in a forgotten war.
February 12, 2016
Some things never change
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews