We Fought the Road is the story of the building of the Alaska-Canada
Highway during World War II. More than one third of the 10,607 builders
were black; thought to be incapable of performing on a war front by many
of their white commanding officers. Their task--which required punching
through wilderness on a route blocked by the Rocky Mountains and deadly
permafrost during the worst winter on record--has been likened to the
building of the Panama Canal. Unlike most accounts that focus on the
road's military planners, We Fought the Road is boots-on-the-ground
and often personal, based in part on letters from the "Three Cent
Romance," the successful courtship via mail discovered in the authors'
family papers.