On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II (V Ethel Willis White Books) (ISBN 0295987057) Book Reviews 1-6 Sorted By Most Recent, at VeryWellSaid.com

Double Injustice

Jack Hamann's book is indispensable for anyone interested in the story of Italian POWs in WWII. He takes a little-known incident--the 1944 lynching of Italian POW Guglielmo Olivotto in Seattle--and expands it into an analysis of the treatment of both Italians and black Americans in the American military. Olivotto's death was never solved; or rather, as Hamann shows, it was blamed on the black soldiers stationed at Fort Lawton who had rioted and attacked the Italian POWs over an earlier fist-fight. As Hamann demonstrates, the prosecution of some 44 soldiers in a court martial, and the conviction of 28 of them, including three for the murder of Olivotto, was a miscarriage of justice. The prosecutor--the soon-to-be-famous Leon Jaworski--concealed crucial evidence of the probable innocence of many of the soldiers from the defense. More disturbing, Hamann shows that evidence at the scene of the lynching was destroyed or mishandled, leaving the black soldiers to take the rap. His research indicates that it was probable that a white MP had actually lynched the Italian.
Hamann's book thus sheds light on two not very widely known aspects of WWII. First, he brings attention to the fact that 50,000 Italian POWs were interned in the U.S., with Americans displaying a mixed attitude towards them. Many Italian Americans visited the POW facilities, hoping to find relatives or information about relatives in Italy, with some ending up marrying the POWs. Other Americans resented the fact that the Italian POWs--at least those who had taken a loyalty oath to work with the Allies--were treated so well and allowed to visit and dine off base: the word many used was "mollycoddling." Second, Hamann publicizes the fact that even as late as 1944, African Americans in the military were kept in segregated facilities and allowed to work only in menial jobs in the service--loading and unloading ships and supplies. When these two aspects were allowed to collide, as they did in the riot at Fort Lawton, murder and mayhem could result. Anyone interested in either of these two aspects of WWII will find this book invaluable.

(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-11-16 16:56:57 EST)

07-31-08

1\1

The truth wins out

On American Soil is a fact-based account of a little know event during World War II - an event which led to the largest court-martial of World War II and another example of American injustice that we were never taught about in American schools. What began as a riot, supposedly led by black Army soldiers against Italian prisoners of war, ended in the hanging of one of the POWs. Then came the cover-up. Over 60 years later, Author Hamann did the best he could with the information still available to tell us what actually happened while giving us a detailed description of the personalities and litigation involved. One of the legal stars of the future to come out of this trial was prosecutor Leon Jaworski who went on to be a major participant in the Nuremberg trials and special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal. It is a sad tale of injustice, but maybe Hamann has overcome some of the unfairness with this book. Sadly too late for the railroaded African American soldiers who were prosecuted, sentenced, and have died before this book and its information came to light. It's not a pretty picture, but fascinating never the less. Hamann does a good job of taking very obscure and detailed information and giving us a story of compelling interest.

(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-09-01 11:41:23 EST)

04-17-08

1\1

Great Book

This book is about a trial during WWII. The defendants are Black Soldiers. The vicitim is an Italian prisoner of war. The author does a great job telling the story of this racially charged trial, and the injustce that resulted. I had never heard of the events that are chronicled in this book, but it was certainly a dark hour in American justice. It was a fast entertaining read. I found this suprising considering how factually oriented the book is. Overall, it is a really good book.

(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-08-01 11:19:01 EST)

12-23-07

2\2

On American Soil

This book I started out fact and increased the pace until the very end. It was one of the best books that I have ever read. It contains true history, murder and suspense.

On American Soil me back to a time in America where it is sometimes painful to be. It is a must read for anyone who claims to know American history.

(Review Data Last Updated: 2008-04-21 10:23:54 EST)

07-18-05

7\8

Timely and fascinating

It is rare that a book of history is so eminently timely to the events of the present day. It is even rarer when it has such an immediate impact. In June, a scant three months after the book's release, House Representative Jim McDermott of Washington introduced a resolution, cosponsored by 25 representatives, calling for an inquiry into the convictions of 28 black soldiers for rioting and murder, as chronicled in Hamann's debut novel "On American Soil."

Hamann weaves a compelling narrative of the events of 1944 at a remote army base at Fort Lawton in Seattle that culminated in the largest army court martial of WWII and the lynching of an Italian prisoner of war.

After hundreds of thousands of Italian and German soldiers surrendered in North Africa, the Allies found themselves unexpectedly confronted with the problem of housing POWs on an unimagined scale. America's military leaders were determined that they would set the standard for compliance with the Geneva Convention. The environment that sparked the lynching of Private Olivetto was the American public's dismay at the "coddling" of Italian prisoners and the military's attempts to defend that treatment.

To describe the book's events further would do disservice to the pleasure of the read. It progresses quickly, through short but compelling personal narratives, high court room drama, and even a thrilling whodunnit murder mystery.

In the end, it is the gripping story, as uncovered through Hamann's painstaking research that make the book the masterpiece that it is. Indeed, in an Indiana Jones-style twist, the key document uncovered by Hamann was found deep in the National Archives in a stack of boxes entitled "Miscellaneous." Yet, it must also be noted that what is striking as one reads the book is that it reads like the most tautly-paced work of fiction. I, a week before my first year law school finals, picked the book up for the first time. I did not put it down until I had read the book in its entirety.

In an America that continues to be plagued by issues of race relations and the treatment of prisoners, this is an accessible book that should be required reading.

(Review Data Last Updated: 2007-12-24 06:28:51 EST)

07-17-05

7\8

Timely and fascinating