Enemies in Love

Praise for Enemies in Love: A “New & Noteworthy” selection of The New York Times Book Review “[Clark] poignantly lays out the history of racial discrimination in WWII America, describes prejudices and injustices in the wartime US Army, and tells an intriguing love story of two unlikely people.” — America in WWII magazine “ Enemies in Love expands beyond the beleaguered couple to examine some of the lesser-known aspects of the war, from the discrimination faced by African Americans in the military to the interaction between German prisoners of war and the communities that reluctantly housed them. A powerful tale of love against all odds. ” — Booklist “In this compelling and original work, Alexis Clark has given us an absorbing narrative of an unlikely love in an unlikely place between unlikely protagonists. An African American nurse and a German POW, brought together by the winds of war in an Arizona desert: it is an irresistible human story that evokes perennial themes. Clark‘s voice is engaging, and her tale universal.” — Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House “Alexis Clark‘s astonishing and necessary love story is not only a valuable document about time past, but a prescient look at the ways in which miscegenation changed the world and changes the world. Written with compassion and clarity, Clark‘s necessary history illustrates the ways in which love and the personal are always political. A tour de force.” — Hilton Als, staff writer at the New Yorker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and author of White Girls “Clark‘s unlikely love story of a World War II German POW and African American army nurse mercifully yanks us from a world of staid stereotype and racial acrimony into one of possibility and transcendence. A tonic for weary souls.” — Pamela Newkirk, author of Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, winner of the 2016 NAACP Image Award “Alexis Clark illuminates a whole corner of unknown World War II history in a U.S. prisoner of war camp and the postwar American suburbs, full of expected racism and intolerance—sweetened by unexpected love, unusual pockets of racial harmony, and genuine romance.” — Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci “A powerful testament to our shared humanity, Enemies in Love is sensitive, audacious, and inspiring. It challenges stereotypes and ignites hope. Indeed, love is both fragile and enduring, defiant and comforting—just like this remarkable book.” — Janet Dewart Bell, author, Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement