Miracle at St. Anna

By: James McBride

Narrated by: Ted Daniel

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, and Deacon King Kong

James McBride’s powerful memoir, The Color of Water, was a groundbreaking literary phenomenon that transcended racial and religious boundaries, garnering unprecedented acclaim and topping bestseller lists for more than two years. Now McBride turns his extraordinary gift for storytelling to fiction—in a universal tale of courage and redemption inspired by a little-known historic event. In Miracle at St. Anna, toward the end of World War II, four Buffalo Soldiers from the Army’s Negro 92nd Division find themselves separated from their unit and behind enemy lines. Risking their lives for a country in which they are treated with less respect than the enemy they are fighting, they discover humanity in the small Tuscan village of St. Anna di Stazzema—in the peasants who shelter them, in the unspoken affection of an orphaned child, in a newfound faith in fellow man. And even in the face of unspeakable tragedy, they—and we—learn to see the small miracles of life.

This acclaimed novel is now a major motion picture directed by Spike Lee.

Critic reviews

Praise for The Miracle at St. Anna:

“McBride creates an intricate mosaic of narratives that ultimately becomes about betrayal and the complex moral landscape of war.” —The New York Times Book Review

"Full of miracles of friendship, of salvation and survival." —Los Angeles Times

“Searingly, soaringly beautiful…The book’s central theme, its essence, is a celebration of the human capacity for love.” —The Baltimore Sun

“A haunting meditation on faith that is also a crack military thriller.” —Entertainment Weekly

“An outstanding novel about World War II inspired by the famous Buffalo Soldiers...so descriptive that I feel as though I’m an eyewitness to everything that happens emotionally on the frontline.” —The Dallas Morning News

“A miracle in its own right…McBride’s prose is stunning. His ability to bring to life an actual historical event (the massacre at St. Anna and the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Division) is a gift.” —Rocky Mountain News

“Sweetly compelling… McBride combines elements of history, mythology and magical realism to make this a story about the little things like life and forgiveness and shared experience.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Riveting.” —Newsday

Cultural clashes

The contrasting cultures, perceptions, values, beliefs, attitudes towards war and death, and towards authority of the Italians, Germans, American whites, Americans of color and partisans, were captivating. These were sharply drawn by a the author.

Interesting take on history

This was an interesting perspective on WWII and the Black soldiers we do not hear about.

A profound piece of literature

How does he do it? How does James McBride expertly weave a forgotten part of Black American history and revision/ refashion it into a fully comprehensive account American military history? His work is so well rounded and researched you’d think he was simply reciting a story that he witnessed with his own eyes. This book is a must read for anyone looking to understand some of the important ways that the Black American and Italian immigrant experience informs the way we as a society process whiteness as a whole in modern society. The story uses the WW2 as its backdrop to explore characters that are used as avatars for all of the dead soldiers and survivors of war. McBride is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and I’m so excited to see what he has next in store!

The story has heart

The story has heart and the reader guides the listener through the hellish landscape of war-torn Italy through the eyes of those who endured it and those who perished with expert narration and voice transitions. My father was in a "colored" outfit during World War II and stationed in Naples, Italy. He seldom talked about it.

The story of 92 infantry in Tuscany Italy

Great story of historical fiction, I was a soldier stationed nearby and met a retired black sergeant major who lived in Pietrasanta and was a member of the 92d infantry in world war 2 who first told me the story of black soldiers who fought in Italy.