THE Book

praise for forgotten

Hard to believe this story hasn’t been written before. Linda Hervieux’s Forgotten is essential, fiercely dramatic, and ultimately inspiring. All Americans should read this World War II history, which doubles as a civil rights primer, to learn the true cost of freedom.
– Douglas Brinkley, best-selling author of Cronkite

Linda Hervieux's passionate excavation of the saga of the segregated 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion reaps huge rewards, not the least of which brave men have finally gotten their rightful due.
– Wil Haygood, best-selling author of Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America

Compelling ... a welcome addition to our understanding of the war and the American military. 
– Washington Post

A long-overdue, sympathetic treatment of the barrage balloon operators who fought valiantly on the beaches of France.
– Kirkus Reviews

 Forgotten is an utterly compelling account of the African Americans who played a crucial and dangerous role in the invasion of Europe. ... The story of their heroic duty is long overdue.
– Tom Brokaw, best-selling author of The Greatest Generation

Watching Hervieux unravel the formation and work of the 320th Balloon Battalion Brigade is thrilling. With her compelling language and in-depth research, the narratives of the men of the 320th are drawn against the backdrop of a segregated Army and country in a gripping, visceral read. ... Here is a stunning achievement that will add much to the historical scholarship of our country.
– Hope Wabuke, The Root

Linda Hervieux's Forgotten is a magnificent achievement, an inspiring story -- long overdue -- of an African-American U.S. Army unit that landed against fierce opposition on Omaha Beach. ...  In this mesmerizing book, Hervieux relates how those GIs ... remained focused on their military tasks for years despite oppressive discrimination and apathy on the home front. Forgotten will surely appeal to both general readers and those with an abiding interest in World War II history.
– Joseph Balkoski, D-Day historian, author of Omaha Beach: June 6, 1944

Hervieux’s book is a well-researched and fast-paced, fascinating read. From the segregated sections of Atlantic City to the grit and grime of Normandy Beach, this is an important chapter in the story of the Greatest Generation.   
– Army Major Crispin Burke, Task & Purpose

In Saving Private Ryan, soldiers storm the shores of Normandy on D-Day, their faces stern and resolute—and white. But history is different, and Hervieux, in her first monograph, powerfully gives voice to the African Americans who were also on those beaches in northern France on that fateful day in June 1944.
– Library Journal starred review

Forgotten by Linda Hervieux is the riveting story of an all-black battalion’s heroism at D-Day—partly military history, and partly a portrait of the tension between race relations in the Jim Crow South and national service in wartime America.
– Harlem World pick

This is a story about war heroes, certainly, but it’s also a story about racism and bigotry in American history, a story about brave soldiers who were denied recognition for their heroic acts. Based on interviews with some surviving members of the 320th ... the book is carefully documented and, in places, quite moving. An important story that has remained untold for far too long.
– Booklist Online

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