With sweeping vision, historical precision, and unparalleled research, this book will stand as the definitive study of the 369th. It is this aspect of the storied regiment's history-its place within the larger movement of African Americans for full citizenship in the face of virulent racism-that Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War brings to the fore. It also, in its insistence on American identity, points to a truth at the heart of this book-more than fighting to make the world safe for democracy, the black men of the 369th fought to convince America to live up to its democratic promise. When on a French lieutenant warned Henry Johnson of the 369th to move back because of a possible enemy raid, Johnson reportedly replied: "I'm an American, and I never retreat." The story, even if apocryphal, captures the mythic status of the Harlem Rattlers, the African-American combat unit that grew out of the 15th New York National Guard, who were said to have never lost a man to capture or a foot of ground that had been taken.
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