Written by Alexander Barnes and others, Forgotten Soldiers is a non-fiction book that looks at the foreign born American soldiers who gained their citizenship through the military. This looks at the draft, the differences between how they were treated, the difficulties in having so many different people working together, many not understanding English, and so much more.
I loved this book, and honestly I am considering getting a copy or two for some family members who would be interested. There were, according to this book, over 800,000 aliens who fought in the Great War. These are people who we, as American’s, don’t really talk about, even though this is our history. I appreciated the approach they took, and that they worked through the war instead of group by group.
I learned so much I didn’t know before, though the draft information I thought was very interesting. You can tell, as you work through this book, that the civil war was still having an effect on decisions that were made and how things were handled.
Forgotten Soldiers makes a point to state that there were so many different types of soldiers. Different backgrounds, view points, some who were loyal soldiers, and some who didn’t like to follow orders. The authors tried to paint a picture of what these soldiers were really like and what they had to deal with.
This is a book I highly recommend to everyone, American and non, for a great look at WW1.
Note: I did receive this book in exchange for an honest review.
