“War is hell, and this book proves it. It's all here. The S.S. murdering entire populations, partisans fighting Fascists, betrayals, starvation, gore. Added to this mix is the prejudice experienced by "colored" troops fighting in Italy during WWII under mostly white officers. Along with the lack of respect dished out by their fellow white soldiers, there is prejudice within the ranks of the African-Americans. Those who are college-educated and are officers look down on the men who were drafted off of farms, mostly in the South, and who are uneducated and, in some cases, illiterate. There are a number of problems with this book: the lack of sympathetic characters, the endless repitition of dialog and scenes, but for me, the biggest problem is its title. The Miracle at St. Anna leads one to believe that out of this madness something good happens, but the survival of one child among the slaughter of 500 Italians was not enough for me to feel that I had witnessed a miracle. I assumed that somehow these African-American troops would be able to save or at least save some of St. Anna, but they couldn't, and it ends up with even more death. This was a difficult read. I expected better from the author of The Color of Water.”
