Book Description

When 2nd Lieutenant Welton I. Taylor, a lanky kid from the South Side of Chicago with a genius-level I.Q. and a passion for flying, deployed to the South Pacific with the all-black 93rd Infantry Division in 1943, he expected to utilize his flying skills and Field Artillery training in the service of the country he loved. Little did he know that the army that had painstakingly trained him really didn't want him to fight, or that the Jim Crow laws that had haunted his life at home would follow him all the way to Guadalcanal. Two Steps from Glory is the eye-opening and inspiring story of how a young black pilot outsmarted the racist machinations of the segregated U.S. Army, out-maneuvered the Japanese Army, and dodged the Grim Reaper on no less than eight occasions during World War II -- all while flying a tiny, fabric-covered airplane with not even a radio, much less a gun, on board. Professors and students of 20th Century American History, African-American Studies, Military History, and Civil Rights will find Two Steps from Glory to be much more than a good story, well told, however. A veritable history lesson in a box, Two Steps from Glory uses it Foreword and Afterword to provide a succinct overview of two hundred years of African American military history, chronicling Blacks' participation in every war from the War of Independence to the war in Afghanistan and proving that the civil rights movement started long before Rosa Parks sat down on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Lieutenant Taylor's saga falls neatly into this wider historical context, bringing a rich but forgotten part of American history alive in entertaining personal detail. Two Steps from Glory will be a valuable addition to any high school or college library and curriculum and an engaging read for adults of all ages.