Let Us Fight as Free Men: Black Soldiers and Civil Rights (Politics and Culture in Modern America)

The integration of the military was a long hard struggle. This book looks at the fight that African Americans waged to integrate the military, and to integrate normal society as well. The book covers the integration of the military extensively, only looking outside the military a few times. Focusing as heavily as it does on the military, the book does have the potential to seem too focused, not providing enough historical and societal context.

This is a book written for students of the history of the latter half of the 20th Century. Even though the average reader will enjoy it, and learn a lot, that is not the target audience. The writing is strong, and avoids a lot of the academic prose that can overwhelm this type of book. What could have made this stronger is if the author put more societal context into her thesis; the role that the events discussed in this book played in the larger society feels lost at times, but in the end, this is a well written book.