This book contains a lot of interesting and eye-opening anecdotes (presented verbatim) about the Marines, race relations in the armed services, and prevailing societal attitudes about race when the Montford Point Marines enlisted. So in that regard, it is a five-star book. But unfortunately, the style of the book is not my favorite. It is presented as a series of anecdotes from different Montford Point Marines. There is some general historical narrative, but the bulk of the text is first-person accounts, so it skips around from person to person. The anecdotes are roughly in chronological order, so they start with each man's account of his youth, where he grew up, etc. I understand why the author took this approach, but it is just not my favorite style as I find it too disjointed.

If you like first-person accounts of history, this is definitely a great book. If you are particularly interested in one man's anecdotes, I recommend bookmarking the pages where he appears so that you can reference his background information later on in the book. ( )