Right now I'm working on Flyboys by James Bradley. What an incredible book! I can't put it down. I went out with some friends on Halloween and we went from bar to bar downtown. I had the book with me the whole time and I just sat by myself reading while everyone else was drinking.
An exhaustively researched work of historical non-fiction, it provides a rich and detailed context before telling the story of eight Navy aviators who were shot down over the tiny island of Chichi Jima. What happened to those men, although exposed in a series of top secret military tribunals in 1946, was covered up by the government until just a few years ago because the truth was considered too horrible for the public to learn. (Especially for the surviving family members.) Thousands of pages of documents were recently de-classified, however, and that's where the author's detective efforts began.
The result is an incredible account of the days when the skies over the Pacific were filled with Avengers, Helldivers, Mustangs, Mitchells, Superfortresses and Lightnings -- days when American POWs were beaten, tortured, decapitated with samurai swords and even cannibalized by their Japanese captors -- days when the old concept of limited ground attack was being replaced by total air war.
One of the attention-grabbing moments is when a pilot bails out and is saved from the grim fate of his friends when he is rescued from the water by a U.S. submarine. That pilot was George Bush, Sr.
Overall, Bradley is surprisingly well balanced in his treatment of the subject and provides voluminous specifics. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy. It really puts a lot of things about America's place in the world in perspective.
Sometimes it's good to be vividly reminded that war isn't really about the glorious patriotic G.I. Joe bullshit. It's about rape and firebombing. It's about soldiers going home without arms and legs. Combat should always be an absolute last resort when all possible alternatives have been used up. I'm no pacifist -- I'll be the first to admit that sometimes war is simply necessary and unavoidable. But it's nothing to look forward to and certainly nothing to seek.
An exhaustively researched work of historical non-fiction, it provides a rich and detailed context before telling the story of eight Navy aviators who were shot down over the tiny island of Chichi Jima. What happened to those men, although exposed in a series of top secret military tribunals in 1946, was covered up by the government until just a few years ago because the truth was considered too horrible for the public to learn. (Especially for the surviving family members.) Thousands of pages of documents were recently de-classified, however, and that's where the author's detective efforts began.
The result is an incredible account of the days when the skies over the Pacific were filled with Avengers, Helldivers, Mustangs, Mitchells, Superfortresses and Lightnings -- days when American POWs were beaten, tortured, decapitated with samurai swords and even cannibalized by their Japanese captors -- days when the old concept of limited ground attack was being replaced by total air war.
One of the attention-grabbing moments is when a pilot bails out and is saved from the grim fate of his friends when he is rescued from the water by a U.S. submarine. That pilot was George Bush, Sr.
Overall, Bradley is surprisingly well balanced in his treatment of the subject and provides voluminous specifics. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy. It really puts a lot of things about America's place in the world in perspective.
Sometimes it's good to be vividly reminded that war isn't really about the glorious patriotic G.I. Joe bullshit. It's about rape and firebombing. It's about soldiers going home without arms and legs. Combat should always be an absolute last resort when all possible alternatives have been used up. I'm no pacifist -- I'll be the first to admit that sometimes war is simply necessary and unavoidable. But it's nothing to look forward to and certainly nothing to seek.