White War, Black Soldiers: Two African Accounts of World War I

by Bakary Diallo, George Robb (Editor), Lamine Senghor, Nancy Erber (Translator), William Peniston (Translator)

Overview

Strength and Goodness (Force-Bonté) by Bakary Diallo is one of the only memoirs of World War I ever written or published by an African. It remains a pioneering work of African literature as well as a unique and invaluable historical document about colonialism and Africa’s role in the Great War. Lamine Senghor’s The Rape of a Country (La Violation d’un pays) is another pioneering French work by a Senegalese veteran of World War I, but one that offers a stark contrast to Strength and Goodness. Both are made available for the first time in English in this edition, complete with a glossary of terms and a general historical introduction. The centennial of World War I is an ideal moment to present Strength and Goodness and The Rape of a Country to a wider, English-reading public. Until recently, Africa's role in the war has been neglected by historians and largely forgotten by the general public. Euro-centric versions of the war still predominate in popular culture, Many historians, however, now insist that African participation in the 1914-18 War is a large part of what made that conflict a world war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624669767
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/24/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

George Robb is Professor of History, William Paterson University.

Nancy Erber is Professor Emerita of English, City University of New York.

William Peniston is Librarian and Archivist, The Newark Museum of Art. 

Editorial Reviews

"White War, Black Soldiers is a terrific read, from start to finish, and addresses such an important gap in our knowledge about Africa, Africans, and WWI. The editors offer a rich, balanced and nuanced account not just of the historical contexts in which to read these texts but also of how we should approach them—in all their complexity. Diallo’s text nicely defies a neat postcolonial reading and helps us appreciate the historical contingencies and variations of interwar ‘radicalism’. It also of course helps students confront the ongoing whiteness of WWI studies."
—Antoinette Burton, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

From the Publisher