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    Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance
    Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance
    Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance
    Audiobook5 hours

    Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance

    Written by Alexis Clark

    Narrated by Allyson Johnson

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    This is a love story like no other: Elinor Powell was an African American nurse in the US military during World War II; Frederick Albert was a soldier in Hitler's army, captured by the Allies and shipped to a prisoner-of-war camp in the Arizona desert. Like most other black nurses, Elinor pulled a second-class assignment, in a dusty, sun-baked-and segregated-Western town. The army figured that the risk of fraternization between black nurses and white German POWs was almost nil.

    Brought together by unlikely circumstances in a racist world, Elinor and Frederick should have been bitter enemies; but instead, at the height of World War II, they fell in love. Their dramatic story was unearthed by journalist Alexis Clark, who through years of interviews and historical research has pieced together an astounding narrative of race and true love in the cauldron of war.

    Based on a New York Times story by Clark that drew national attention, Enemies in Love paints a tableau of dreams deferred and of love struggling to survive, twenty-five years before the Supreme Court's Loving decision legalizing mixed-race marriage-revealing the surprising possibilities for human connection during one of history's most violent conflicts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateMay 15, 2018
    ISBN9781684413256
    Author

    Alexis Clark

    Alexis Clark, previously an editor at Town and Country magazine, is a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, Yahoo, The Root, Condé Nast Traveler, Manhattan, Uptown, and the Daily Front Row. The author of Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance (The New Press), she lives in New York City.

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    Reviews for Enemies in Love

    4/5

    37 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Excellent book! Such a beautiful love story !
    • 5/5
      Thanking the author about giving the reader a history on military nursing back in those years. The same events that happened then are happening now.
    • 3/5
      Elinor, an African American nurse, is stationed at a German POW camp in the Arizona desert. Here, she meets Frederick, a German prisoner, and falls in love with him. After the war they marry and have children. This book combines their story with general facts about the time period and race relations. Unfortunately, the book felt stagnant at times. I wish the author had gone more with a story telling route than the typical non-fiction recital of facts. While their story was interesting, it could have been a more impactful book if it focused purely on the couple.
    • 3/5
      I listened to this book which I received from the publisher to review. Much of what I learned was entirely new to me. I did enjoy learning about the African American nurses and how badly they were discriminated against during World War II. The love story of Elinor and Frederick was sweet and their struggles as an interracial couple were compelling. All that said, the story was told in a straightforward, boring style which made me unable to give it more than three stars. The
    • 5/5
      This was a very unusual story that was very well told. I liked it.
    • 4/5
      There are so many aspects of history that never make it into history books. Little has been written about the experiences of black women who served as nurses in the military during World War II and even less about the prisoner of war camps that were here in the United States. This book covers both of these subjects, plus telling the story of an African-American nurse who falls in love with a German POW. And finally it tells the story of the challenges a mixed race family had in the America of the 1950's.Listening to this audio book made me angry at the prejudices of the military, and also of the American people, who relegated black military personnel to second class assignments, and the customs of the country that kept them segregated from the opportunities of normal American life. We should have done better and we still need to do better.
    • 4/5
      I received a book on cd in exchange for an honest review. I did not read the description of the giveaway very closely. Coming from a history of being in an interracial relationship, I just reacted. I am not a history buff and am not a nonfiction reader, so I find myself in uncomfortable position. I am listening to the cd, and will til the end.
    • 5/5
      I was spellbound from the first sentence as the author tells the true story of an African American nurse and a German POW. It is the story of their love and marriage and the prejudices they faced throughot their lives. I liked how the author, Alexis Clark, wove the current events of the time periods.