Black Shame: African Soldiers in Europe, 1914-1922
by Dick van Galen Last
edited by Ralf Futselaar and Bob Moore;
Bloomsbury Academic, London: April 2015
Original Title: De zwarte schande, Published October 1st 2012 by Atlas
In Black Shame, Dick van Galen Last provides an exceptionally detailed analysis of the recruitment, deployment and reactions to African soldiers in the WWI European theatre of war. The book also paints a vivid picture of the wider debates of race and national identity which the use of African troops sparked or fueled within the main actors on the WWI scene: France, Britain, Germany and even the US. Drawing on war-time attitudes, the author proceeds to explore the reality and long-term consequences of the participation of African regiments in the post-war occupation of the German territories. Wide-ranging, both geographically and thematically, the first publication of its kind, Black Shame adds a fresh, truly comparative perspective to the scholarship in the fields of imperial and military history, as well as war studies and postcolonial studies, and will appeal to academics and postgraduate students alike.
About the Author
Dick van Galen Last was, until his death in 2010, Librarian and Senior Researcher at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
