Customer Reviews

Season For War

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Mr. Kluge has written many novels but this is apparently the first in this area. It concerns the relationship between a journalist and the white officers and black enlisted men of the 25th Cavalry from fighting the Apaches in Arizona to the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. African-American military fiction is rare and this is a good "read." I know at least one character that of an angry black officer who defects to the Filipino side is based on an actual historical person

A fine piece of work that covers the frontier and Buffalo Soldiers from the Apache wars to the handling of the insurrection in the Philippines with America displaying its first efforts at colonialism. The main charcters are Captain Lawson, his wife and journalist Edwin Morrison, and you'll learn to appreciate each one of them for their strong roles in the story. Much of the novel revolves around the fighting in various arenas and takes you inside the interaction of the black troops with each other and with their white officers. The Filipinos showed themselves to be worthy opponents. As always, the writing by Kluge is of the highest order. I suggest that you pick up his other novels, and also an account of America in Micronesia, for additional superb reading. Mabuhay from Manila, where I read the novel on the steps of Fort Santiago.