Another ARC gem! Loved diving into this book—a story that stays with you. While every reader’s experience is unique, I found this new release to be a thoughtful and rewarding read. Looking forward to seeing what this shares next! This was my first book I have read of this Author. Adding more to my TBR list.

Incredible, thought-provoking and heart wrenching!

Having snagged this book when it was available as "Read Now' for Black History Month I knew that I needed to read it sooner rather than later. I knew it'd get me thinking, I knew it would be hard to read, not because I doubt the truth of any of it, but because I know that those experiences are a true representation of this part of our history. All of that being said, while I was initially a little confused on what key characters we were following based on the chapters, I assumed perhaps it'd be 4 or 5 characters but quickly learned that every character in this story was part of filling in the blanks, with some showing up more than others. The converging timeline of Sammie and David meeting at the end of the war ripped my heart out having witnessed all the death, devastation, and injustice when it came to Black Americans fighting in the war and the Jewish people being forced into the concentration camps.

Steven A. Holmes wrote an incredibly compelling story showing the intersect between the injustices faced by marginalized communities in different spaces during the same time. Having not learned much of anything about the experiences of Black soldiers in the past century I now feel compelled to read and learn more as well as looking into the story that inspired part of this book. Thank you Mr. Holmes for sharing the story of the 333rd Battalion and what happened to them.

I have not reviewed this on any review sites or posted anything on social media about this yet, I will do so closer to its publication date and will update the links as I do!

It was a great read it showed people help regardless of color or beliefs. Something the world needs to embrace now.

“Black Messiahs” is a breathtaking and deeply moving novel that masterfully intertwines the lives of three unforgettable characters against the monumental backdrop of World War II. Through the eyes of Amos and Samuel Johnson—two brothers from Chicago’s Southside determined to serve their country despite entrenched racism—and David Cohen, a young Jewish boy struggling to survive the horrors of Nazi-occupied Poland, the story explores the very core of human dignity, resilience, and hope.

The narrative is as historically grounded as it is emotionally resonant, shining a powerful light on the contradictions of an America that sends Black soldiers to fight for freedom abroad while denying them equality at home. The author’s portrayal of the Johnson brothers’ courage and brotherhood is both gripping and nuanced, capturing the complexity of their motivations and the weight of their sacrifices. Similarly, David Cohen’s harrowing journey through ghettos and concentration camps is rendered with heartbreaking honesty and an unwavering sense of humanity.

When these lives converge as Allied forces push through Austria, the result is a climax both cathartic and profound. “Black Messiahs” does not shy away from the brutality of its era, nor from the enduring spirit that propels its characters forward. It is a powerful meditation on faith, freedom, and the meaning of duty—one that reverberates long after the final page. This historic piece is a triumph: urgent, compassionate, and unforgettable. It is a refreshing literary piece in this day and age.

Thank you, Steven A. Holmes, NetGalley, and Koehler Books for this ARC.

The story itself is great and breathtaking and deep.
The presentation is a bit off and off sync for me.
The shifting back and forth can confuse someone.
Still worth a good read.

This is such an indepth historical portrayal of the role of Black Americans in the war to preserve rights of Americans while also suffering the injustices on the homeland.

I enjoyed the way this was written and I think this an important book that should be read when learning about how injustice manifests in the American society and how this has always been entrenched in the sociopolitical system.

Through the stories of three central characters, Black Messiahs tells a sweeping historical tale about race in both America and Poland in the 1930s and 1940s. Two of them, brothers Amos and Sammie, grew up on the south side of Chicago. They and their families and friends faced the racial discrimination against African Americans typical of that era, while also working to support each other and create community in those dangerous and challenging times. During the same years, young David and his family in Bialystock, Poland, face equally and increasingly pernicious antisemitism by Poles and later the occupying Germans. The history of pre-war racism and antisemitism is already a lot to cover in one piece of fiction. The book doesn’t stop there, however. Through the experiences of two additional characters—Donna (Amos’s girlfriend) and Lonnie (Sammie’s soon-to-be Army buddy)— the author aims to highlight as well the troubling history of anti-female and anti-gay discrimination of that era.

I admire the author’s ambitious goals for this piece of historical fiction, but I think the author succeeded only partially. The stories were well-told, and I found the events described in the book plausible and historically accurate. But I often felt that the characters were created and manipulated in service of the particular points the author wanted to make about the political and social moment, rather than being fully realized portraits of people caught in the maelstrom of Jim Crow America and Nazi Europe. The novel is a straightforward and somewhat successful effort to present important historical moments in a fictional context, though I hoped for more intersection of the storylines of two Black soldiers (the Black Messiahs of the title) and the liberation of inmates in the concentration camps near their fighting. The writing was good, the characters reasonably well-drawn, and the dialogue serviceable. But there was little literary flair, and I was not surprised to learn that the book is the first novel by a prize-winning journalist. As I read, I was repeatedly drawn back to the book to find out what would happen to each of the characters, and I learned some details about horrific true-life incidents that formed the basis of parts of the plot, but I found myself wishing for more insight and complexity in the storytelling.

Thanks to NetGalley and koëhlerbooks for providing a pre-publication copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.