The Harlem Hellfighters

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks with art by Caanan White (2014) 257 pages

This fictionalized historical graphic novel contains some characters that are amalgams and some that are real people. One real life black officer given some focus in the story is jazz band conductor James Reese Europe. Max Brooks explains at the end that he originally wrote a screenplay to tell the story of this African American regiment that fought in WWI. When no studios or producers bought it he eventually turned it into this graphic novel. It is exciting like a good historical movie. Life and death for the soldiers in the trenches and no man's land of France is, of course, gruesome. Racism is faced throughout their training in America and assignments "Over There." The popular song of the period How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm is sung by the soldiers many times, and it got stuck as I heard it in my head. The song takes on special meaning as the men think about how they will be treated when, or if, they return to America. The Harlem Hellfighters fought separately, but under French command, as top American military personnel routinely worked to repress them. The narrative structure of this story kept reminding me of the Civil War movie from 1989 Glory. This regiment in WWI fought valiantly and achieved much that sadly has often not been taught in American history. 

 

Miracle at St. Anna

Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride, 271 pages.
I read McBride's first novel when it first came out, I remember really liking it. On the second reading, that holds true, I really liked it, but having recently read the author's prize-winning account of John Brown, The Good Lord Bird, which was one of the best books I have read in several years, this debut did suffer a little by comparison. This was still an exciting account of the war in Italy. The main focus comes when four African-American soldiers become separated from their unit during a fierce battle. They find a traumatized orphan, the head of a statue, and, eventually, a group of partisans with secrets of their own. By the time you got to the end of the book, I had long forgotten the twists and turns set up in the very beginning, but it was still a satisfying, though sad, conclusion.
The really great thing about listening to the book was hearing the narration by the awesome Wendell Pierce. He does a great job setting the tone of the book; it is a great read.

Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, 151 pages

Jabbar tells a compelling tale of the first all-black tank regiment to be deployed during World War II. They were sent as part of the post D-Day force and were deployed as part of Patton's Third Army.  They saw a tremendous amount of action in France, Belgium, and in Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge. Patton had asked for them specifically, and seemed to appreciate all that the unit did, but never really changed his racist attitudes toward black soldiers. All recommendations for unit and individual citations were blocked for decades, they didn't receive the Presidential Unit Citation until Carter was President.
A compelling story, well-told. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a gifted storyteller / historian.
I wish that our library had the unabridged audio available. I counted half the pages of the book itself for this abridged audio.
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