Lost Battalions The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality

by Slotkin, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780805081381
• ISBN10: 0805081380
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-03
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

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 Hell Fighters-and the legendary 77th "lost battalion" composed of New York City immigrants. They had been promised civil equality in exchange for loyal service. But although they lived up to their side of the bargain, the country to which they returned simply reaffirmed the laws and social customs that had stigmatized them as second-class citizens.

Author Biography

Richard Slotkin is the Olin Professor and the former director of
American studies at Wesleyan University. His previous books include Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln (0-8050-6639-X), National Book Award finalist Gunfighter Nation, and Regeneration Through Violence, also a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Albert J. Beveridge Prize. He lives in Middletown, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps	p. xiii
Safe for Democracy: The Lost Battalion and the Harlem Hell Fighters	p. 1
"The Great Composite American": Theodore Roosevelt and American Nationalism, 1880-1917	p. 12
No Black in the Rainbow: The Origin of the Harlem Hell Fighters, 1911-1917	p. 35
"The Jews and Wops, the Dutch and Irish Cops": Recruiting the Melting Pot Division, July-December 1917	p. 72
The Politics of Ridicule: The 15th New York Goes to War, October 1917-May 1918	p. 112
The Slamming of Great Doors: Entering the World of Combat, May-September 1918	p. 153
Home Fires Burning: Political and Racial Reaction, Summer 1918	p. 213
"Tout le Monde a la Bataille!": The Allied Offensive Begins, September 12-27, 1918	p. 241
The Last Long Mile: The Hell Fighters at Bellevue Ridge and Sechault, September 26-October 1, 1918	p. 275
The Lost Battalion: Whittlesey's Command at Charlevaux Mill, October 1-8, 1918	p. 305
Print the Legend: The "Lost Battalion" as Public Myth	p. 364
"No Man's Land Is Ours": The Hell Fighters and the Lost Battalion Return, February-May 1919	p. 395
The Black and the Red: Race Riots, Red Scares, and the Triumph of Reaction, 1919-1924	p. 428
Unknown Soldiers: Charles Whittlesey and Henry Johnson, 1919-1929	p. 462
"Say, Don't You Remember...?": Public Memory, Public Myth, and the Meaning of the War, 1919-1930	p. 489
The New Deal and the Renewal of American Nationalism, 1930-1941	p. 522
The Bargain Renewed: The Myth of the "Good War" and the Memory of the Lost Battalions, 1938-1965	p. 551
Notes	p. 563
Selected Bibliography	p. 599
Acknowledgments	p. 617
Index	p. 619
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