African-American involvement in the Second World War has long been neglected or dismissed. Matthew F. Delmont vividly brings to life the heroism of African-American war veterans, the battles they constantly faced at home and abroad, and the horrific ways they were treated and targeted after their active war service ended.
Delmont’s “definitive and deftly drawn history needs to be read, shared, and wide exposures,” said a review on Goodreads.com.
Delmont points out how so much of the Second World War “looks different when viewed from the African American perspective” — even the start date, said Jennifer Szalai in a review for The New York Times.
“For many Black Americans, the real war began several years before Pearl Harbor, with Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in October 1935. ‘Half American’ begins with a chapter on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, an integrated battalion of Americans who fought against Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War,” said the review.
Delmont is an energetic storyteller, giving a vibrant sense of his subject in all of its dimensions, said Szalai.
