Last of the Conquerors

Last of the Conquerors is the debut novel by African-American journalist and editor William Gardner Smith. It was first published in 1948. The author, then aged 19, wrote the novel on the boat returning the US from Germany. The novel concerns the author's experience as an African-American GI's serving in the racially segregated United States Army in US-occupied Germany after World War II. The protagonist, Hayes Dawkins, has an affair with Ilse, a white German woman. Together, he and Ilse struggle against racist Army officers and policies to sustain a relationship that some white soldiers condemn, and respond violently toward.