While we now see the contribution of the African American in American history as crucial and necessary to understand the “bigger picture,” this was not always the case. African-Americans in the Defense of the Nation will prove to be invaluable to the researcher because it encompasses so many early bibliographies of the “contribution and participation of African Americans in American wars, and this book covers both military exploits and home front support.” Controvich, who has a long history of compiling bibliographies and is an “avid collector of army unit histories,” presents a solid piece of scholarship here that will undoubtedly help future researchers. The topic is frequently more difficult with the “large number of descriptors that were used to describe the African American service person: Black, Colored, African American, Afro-American, Negro, and Freedman.” This work is organized chronologically and topically into chapters that cover both sexes too. This is a useful work filled with good research that is highly recommended.
American Reference Books Annual
There was a time not so long ago when articles and books on black participation in the armed forces were few and far between. Over the past thirty years, however, that situation has changed considerably. Anyone who doubts that fact need only to peruse the pages of African Americans in Defense of the Nation, a lengthy bibliography compiled by James T. Controvich, to learn that hundreds of works have been written about the contributions of African American men and women in all of the military services. . . .African Americans in Defense of the Nation is a useful and much needed bibliography that will be greatly appreciated by aficionados of black military history.
Army History