This was a decent novel. I recommend for fans of the genre.

A unique book I have not stopped thinking about. I loved reading this and felt privileged to gain this perspective. I think this is not only an interesting read but would make a great addition to an English Literature or History class.
It gets 5 stars from me and deservedly so.

A big thank you to Oxford University Press, Pellom McDaniels III, and Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

The editor begins with a drawn-out introduction on the stance of the black man in the early 1900s. Jim Crowe laws were enforced; white supremacy was society's belief. The position of African Americans in the South was precarious and the draft for WWI did not improve this. They had slipshod housing, were refused commanding positions, were given second rate supplies. Luckily Christian's employer, MC Kennedy, kept Christian on a his personal valet. That's the role he played throughout the war. His journal of his sojourn begins on October 5th, 1917.

The memoir reads as more of a travelogue of London than a journal of his thoughts and opinions. He catalogues his activity day-to-day, but never how he feels about his plight. He was a servant. He, as an African American, wasn't seen fit for active duty. And I have to wonder after having read this, if perhaps he was too soft for battle anyway-if he would have survived active duty. He seemed quite satisfied to serve at table, to be a sightseer, a gopher. It just didn't seem to occur to him that there could be a different life out there for him.

I'm not sure what the editor wishes to convey with the publishing of this book. Various photos included show the rough responsibilities of soldiery, which our subject had nothing to do with. Now that would make for an interesting book. This one was just 1900s English impressions.

Royal A. Christian's memoir is an account of his time spent in London and France towards the end of World War One, when he came over as a valet to the head of a US railway company who had joined the war effort. The book was originally self-published in 1919 and has now been republished with an introduction by historian Pellom McDaniels III, which gives more context to what he describes as the transformational effects of the Great War on the lives of many African Americans.

I wish that the introduction had been longer, as it contains some fascinating background on the beginning of the Jim Crow laws and details the racism experienced by black soldiers during the war (including an incredibly disturbing account of a soldier being lynched by fellow Americans because he was dating a white French woman.) However, this part of the book feels a little perfunctory; it could easily have been double the length.

Christian's memoir itself is written in a chatty, conversational style that's very easy to read. It made me like him a lot and wish that I could have met him. It's also fascinating and incredibly valuable to get this type of direct wartime account written by a working class black man, rather than from the perspective of his employer.

As a Londoner, I also loved Christian's curiosity and eye for detail during his time here. In the city's parks,

'Most of the young ladies with their soldier boys prefer sitting on the grass, and as for kissing that is common... I saw some queer things in different parts of the world, but Hyde Park has got it on all places I ever saw.'

London is obviously a little bit scandalous in comparison with his home in Chambersburg. After all, in London,

'the women as well as the men are some drinkers. Nearly any time you pass a saloon you can see the women standing right at the bar drinking with the men.'

In places the book is a little hard to parse because Christian is writing for a Chambersburg audience and it's occasionally dense with references to local people and allusions to events that he expects you to know about. There are also occasional whole passages which are markedly different in register from the rest of the book and which seem to be cribbed directly from a London guidebook.

This isn't a rush out and buy it immediately book, but as a look at life in 1918 told by an engaging narrator, it's definitely worth a look.