View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.
Written with passion and intelligence, the letters of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade in World War II express the raw idealism of
anti-fascist soldiers who experienced the war in boot camps,
cockpits, and foxholes, but never lost sight of the great global
issues at stake.
When the United States entered World War II on December 7, 1941,
only one group of American soldiers had already confronted the
fascist enemy on the battlefield: the U.S. veterans of the Lincoln
Brigade, a volunteer army of about 2,800 men and women who had
enlisted to defend the Spanish Republic from military rebels during
the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). They fought on the losing
side.
After Pearl Harbor, Lincoln Brigade veterans enthusiastically
joined the U.S. Army, welcoming this second chance to fight against
fascism. However, the Lincoln recruits soon encountered suspicious
military leaders who questioned their patriotism and denied them
promotions and overseas assignments, foreshadowing the political
persecution of the postwar Red Scare. African American veterans who
fought in fully integrated units in Spain, faced second-class
treatment in America's Jim Crow army. Nevertheless, the Lincolns
served with distinction in every theater of the war and won a
disproportionate number of medals for courage, dedication, and
sacrifice.
The 154 letters in this volume, selected from thousands held in
the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives at NYU's Tamiment Library,
provide a new and unique perspective on aspects of World War
II.
General
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