Half American
The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad
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Narrated by:
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William DeMeritt
About this listen
• Winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction
• A New York Times Notable Book
• A Best Book of the Year from TIME, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Washington Independent Review of Books, and more!
The definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective, written by civil rights expert and Dartmouth history professor Matthew Delmont
“Matthew F. Delmont’s book is filled with compelling narratives that outline with nuance, rigor, and complexity how Black Americans fought for this country abroad while simultaneously fighting for their rights here in the United States. Half American belongs firmly within the canon of indispensable World War II books.”—Clint Smith, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
Over one million Black men and women served in World War II. Black troops were at Normandy, Iwo Jima, and the Battle of the Bulge, serving in segregated units and performing unheralded but vital support jobs, only to be denied housing and educational opportunities on their return home. Without their crucial contributions to the war effort, the United States could not have won the war. And yet the stories of these Black veterans have long been ignored, cast aside in favor of the myth of the “Good War” fought by the “Greatest Generation.”
Half American is American history as you’ve likely never heard it before. In these chapters are stories of Black heroes such as Thurgood Marshall, the chief lawyer for the NAACP, who investigated and publicized violence against Black troops and veterans; Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., leader of the Tuskegee Airmen, who was at the forefront of the years-long fight to open the Air Force to Black pilots; Ella Baker, the civil rights leader who advocated on the home front for Black soldiers, veterans, and their families; James Thompson, the 26-year-old whose letter to a newspaper laying bare the hypocrisy of fighting against fascism abroad when racism still reigned at home set in motion the Double Victory campaign; and poet Langston Hughes, who worked as a war correspondent for the Black press. Their bravery and patriotism in the face of unfathomable racism is both inspiring and galvanizing. In a time when the questions World War II raised regarding race and democracy in America remain troublingly relevant and still unanswered, this meticulously researched retelling makes for urgently necessary listening.
©2022 Matthew Delmont (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This vivid book shows how much of World War II looks different when viewed from the perspective of Black Americans—many of whom drew parallels between the fascist threat abroad and Jim Crow at home."—New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"Delmont is an energetic storyteller, giving a vibrant sense of his subject in all of its dimensions."—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times
“This book not only details historical wrongs committed against the black press, it ardently honors the sacrifice of black Americans who served in World War II."—Wall Street Journal
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From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a groundbreaking reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threated by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor
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Disturbing yet Reassuring
- By Sams95 on 11-18-22
By: Adam Hochschild
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Freedom Flyers
- The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II
- By: J. Todd Moye
- Narrated by: Brandon Massey
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Freedom Flyers brings to life the legacy of a determined, visionary cadre of African American airmen who proved their capabilities and patriotism beyond question, transformed the armed forces - formerly the nation's most racially polarized institution - and jump-started the modern struggle for racial equality.
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VERY disappointed,,
- By Max & Lucy on 06-11-16
By: J. Todd Moye
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The Yanks Are Coming!
- A Military History of the United States in World War I
- By: H. W. Crocker
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling military historian H. W. Crocker III turns his guns on the epic story of America's involvement in the First World War with TheYanks Are Coming!. The year 2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of the Great War, and in Crocker's sweeping, American-focused account, listeners will learn: How George S. Patton, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, "Wild Bill" Donovan, Harry S. Truman, and many other American heroes earned their military spurs in during World War I.
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Great book, all but forgotten part of US history
- By RMF5630 on 12-10-14
By: H. W. Crocker
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Enduring Vietnam
- An American Generation and Its War
- By: James Wright
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The Vietnam War is largely recalled as a mistake, either in the decision to engage there or in the nature of the engagement. Or both. Veterans of the war remain largely anonymous figures, accomplices in the mistake. Critically recounting the steps that led to the war, this book does not excuse the mistakes, but it brings those who served out of the shadows. Enduring Vietnam recounts the experiences of the young Americans who fought in Vietnam and of families who grieved those who did not return.
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Great
- By Rebecca Delgado on 03-20-23
By: James Wright
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The Generals
- Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall - from the World War I battle that shaped them to their greatest achievement: leading the allies to victory in World War II.
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Nothing new here
- By Mike From Mesa on 01-13-16
By: Winston Groom
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Red Summer
- The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America
- By: Cameron McWhirter
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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After World War I, black Americans fervently hoped for a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and equality. Black soldiers believed their participation in the fight to make the world safe for democracy finally earned them rights they had been promised since the close of the Civil War. Instead, an unprecedented wave of anti-black riots and lynchings swept the country. From April to November of 1919, the racial unrest rolled across the South into the North and the Midwest, even to the nation's capital. Red Summer is the first narrative history about this epic encounter.
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Better Understand 2019 by Looking Closely at 1919
- By JAS on 03-27-19
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The New York Times: Disunion
- Modern Historians Revisit and Reconsider the Civil War from Lincoln's Election to the Emancipation Proclamation
- By: Ted Widmer - editor
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck, Mark Boyett, Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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A major new collection of modern commentary - from scholars, historians, and Civil War buffs - on the significant events of the Civil War, culled from The New York Times' popular Disunion online journal.
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Excellent audiobook! Love this format!
- By BVerité on 03-17-15
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The Allies
- Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Winston Groom tells the complex story of how Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin - the three iconic and vastly different Allied leaders - aligned to win World War II and created a new world order.
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Great read
- By Kindle Customer on 05-26-19
By: Winston Groom
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The Glory and the Dream
- A Narrative History of America, 1932 - 1972
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 57 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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This great time capsule of a book captures the abundant popular history of the United States from 1932 to 1972. It encompasses politics, military history, economics, the lively arts, science, fashion, fads, social change, sexual mores, communications, graffiti...everything and anything indigenous that can be captured in print.
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Fabulous book, good narration, bad recording
- By Paula on 07-10-08
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To End All Wars
- A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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World War I stands as one of history's most senseless spasms of carnage, defying rational explanation. In a riveting, suspenseful narrative with haunting echoes for our own time, Adam Hochschild brings it to life as never before. He focuses on the long-ignored moral drama of the war's critics, alongside its generals and heroes. Thrown in jail for their opposition to the war were Britain's leading investigative journalist, a future winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and an editor who, behind bars, published a newspaper for his fellow inmates on toilet paper.
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A story of personalities
- By Tad Davis on 06-09-11
By: Adam Hochschild
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Waging a Good War
- A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas E. Ricks offers an utterly new perspective on America’s greatest moral revolution—the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—and its legacy today. While the Movement has become synonymous with Martin Luther King Jr.’s ethos of nonviolence, Ricks draws on his deep knowledge of tactics and strategy to advance a surprising but revelatory idea: the greatest victories for Black Americans of the past century were won not by idealism alone, but through recruiting, training, discipline, and organization—the hallmarks of any successful military campaign.
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I was born and raised in Alabama. Jim Crow Era.
- By Moses Pitts on 10-06-22
By: Thomas E. Ricks
What listeners say about Half American
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- vJoezyz
- 11-30-23
No words
I had no words listening to this (in a good and sad way). Not realizing the level of racism that happened while defending your own country, goes without saying.
History leaves out a lot of things - what happened to these people should NOT be one of them.
Eye opening.
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- Ed Patrick
- 02-27-23
So painful …
…yet so important for every American to be exposed to this strikingly well organized explanation of black history in our country during the first half of the twentieth century.
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- Alicia
- 09-20-23
A Must Read
This book provides readers with the often hidden truths of our past and its connection to the present. Well done.
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- Michael Taylor
- 11-21-22
Great Book
This should be required reading for all Americans. We must honor the sacrifices of Black Americans who fought in World War II.
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- Regina Bristow
- 12-03-22
Truly insightful, well written.
I know and teach history, however, this book exposed much more personal details from veterans, their families, and the imbedded war correspondent. I’m blown away.
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- Jessica Sporn
- 02-04-23
A Shocking Revalation
An absorbing book. The author reveals the outrageous discrimination that Black soldiers faced during and after WW 11.
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- Bruce
- 09-24-23
A must read for everyone
This book tells a sad story of white racism during WW11 and beyond. It should be a must read for all.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-15-22
Half American is a must read
This is one of the most compelling books I have read in a long time. It made me proud, sad, and angry throughout. The theme of fighting a war on two fronts is very powerful and meaningful to my understanding of WWII and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement in this country.
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- Patrice Ghezzi
- 01-24-23
Great!
So very good. Hard, often, to hear about indignities waged upon the Black race, but many valuable lessons within.
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- Lynda Dickson
- 11-23-22
Wonderful tribute to Black Veterans
Excellent, informative, enlightening discussion of an important but neglected part of American race relations history!
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1 person found this helpful