This was an area of postcard collecting and history I was not familiar with. The author illustrates through his collection of French and German WWI postcards the propaganda both governments published depicting Black African Troops. The text is well written and informative. Enjoy this beautifully illustrated book

I liked the images and historical background of this book.

‘With a Weapon and a Grin: Postcard Images of Frances’s Black Colonial Troops in WW1’ should interest many more than dedicated deltiologists as it attempts to document an early example of spin, namely, the efforts by both the French and the Germans in the First World War to use postcards to present a particular image of Black Africans serving in the French forces.

The French had the more difficult job as they needed to transform the image of the black as barbarian into one of childlike, grinning, yet disciplined combatant, who posed no threat to the French citizenry but who could strike fear in the hearts of the enemy by his courage and willingness to lay down his life for the motherland. German propagandists had a much easier time as they simply had to portray these men in the traditional manner as savage cannibalistic primitives whose very existence on European soil represented not only an affront to civilization but a clear and present danger to the honour of white women.

Likosky’s focus is on the tirailleurs Sénégalais (Sengalese infantry) and his choice of cards largely limited to those he has personally acquired. These are significant limitations but given the dearth of printed material on this subject one cannot really complain.

The author should, moreover, be congratulated for taking the story beyond the end of the war to consider pertinent topics such as German representations of black French troops during the 1923-25 occupation of the Ruhr.

What Likosky fails to do is explain the precise relationship between postcard manufacturers and the French and German governments. Thus he uses phrases such as “French government officials deliberately set about to change” the image of Africans as “bloodthirsty and savage” without saying exactly who those officials were or precisely how they set about engineering this desired change. Nevertheless this relatively brief volume should be welcomed for shedding much light, in a visually compelling manner, on a relatively neglected aspect of the Great War.

Likowsky creatively puts a much-needed spotlight on the men of French colonial Africa who worked hard to win the same victories, suffered the same defeats, and endured all same the hardships and challenges of their white counterparts, yet are usually given little attention or go completely ignored in written histories of the conflict. With its rich collection of postcards from both sides of the trenches and its focus on these oft-overlooked group of soldiers, this book is an absolute treat for any history-lover who has a passion for WWI.