Strength and Goodness
(
Force-Bonté
) by Bakary Diallo is one of the only memoirs of World War I ever written or published by an African. It remains a pioneering work of African literature as well as a unique and invaluable historical document about colonialism and Africa’s role in the Great War. Lamine Senghor’s
The Rape of a Country
La Violation d’un pays
) is another pioneering French work by a Senegalese veteran of World War I, but one that offers a stark contrast to
. Both are made available for the first time in English in this edition, complete with a glossary of terms and a general historical introduction. The centennial of World War I is an ideal moment to present
and
to a wider, English-reading public. Until recently, Africa's role in the war has been neglected by historians and largely forgotten by the general public. Euro-centric versions of the war still predominate in popular culture, Many historians, however, now insist that African participation in the 1914-18 War is a large part of what made that conflict a world war.