List Books Conducive To The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
| Original Title: | The Candy Bombers |
| ISBN: | 0399154965 (ISBN13: 9780399154966) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.thecandybombers.com/ |
Andrei Cherny
Hardcover | Pages: 624 pages Rating: 4.24 | 1258 Users | 264 Reviews
Details Out Of Books The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
| Title | : | The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour |
| Author | : | Andrei Cherny |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 624 pages |
| Published | : | April 17th 2008 by G. P. Putnam's Sons (first published January 1st 2008) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. War. World War II. Military Fiction |
Interpretation To Books The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
The masterfully told story of the unlikely men who came together to make the Berlin Airlift one of the great military and humanitarian successes of American history.On the sixtieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, Andrei Cherny tells a remarkable story with profound implications for the world today. In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of desperate people from a dire threat but changed how the world viewed the United States, and set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and to America's victory in the Cold War.
On June 24, 1948, intent on furthering its domination of Europe, the Soviet Union cut off all access to West Berlin, prepared to starve the city into submission unless the Americans abandoned it. Soviet forces hugely outnumbered the Allies', and most of America's top officials considered the situation hopeless. But not all of them.
Harry Truman, an accidental president, derided by his own party; Lucius Clay, a frustrated general, denied a combat command and relegated to the home front; Bill Tunner, a logistics expert downsized to a desk job in a corner of the Pentagon; James Forrestal, a secretary of defense beginning to mentally unravel; Hal Halvorsen, a lovesick pilot who had served far from the conflict, flying transport missions in the backwater of a global war—together these unlikely men improvised and stumbled their way into a uniquely American combination of military and moral force unprecedented in its time.
This is the forgotten foundation tale of America in the modern world, the story of when Americans learned, for the first time, how to act at the summit of world power—a masterful and exciting work of historical narrative, and one with strong resonance for our time.
Rating Out Of Books The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
Ratings: 4.24 From 1258 Users | 264 ReviewsAssessment Out Of Books The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE, ENTERTAINING.the story of when Americans learnedfor the first timehow to act at the summit of world power. (p. 6)For six years, an average of 20,000 soldiers and civilians had died every day in the war. (p. 45).Fact filled, comprehensive, and packed with personal vignettes of many of the key players, The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and Americas Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherney is a must read for all who are interested in the history of WWII andWhat I really wanted to read was the story of Hal Halvorsen, the candy bomber. I didn't realize I was going to get a LOT more than that, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, except that I didn't find much of it terribly interesting. Once I got to the story of Hal Halvorsen and how the candy bombing program called "Little Vittles" got started, which was about half way through the book, I found it MUCH more interesting.
Excellent writing, outstanding management of multiple strands of history - the actual candy drops don't begin until nearly halfway through this book, as extensive background is laid including FDR's death and Truman's presidency; Soviet invasion and assault of Berlin and its people; Berliners' emotional, psychological and physical outlook post-WWII; four-nation coalition government of Berlin and Germany; etc. This writing is packed with players and perspectives, but Cherny manages superbly. And
OK, so I know this isn't technically a WWII book. But I am counting it anyway.I enjoyed this history quite a bit. I have a few complaints though. First, I'm a bit annoyed at how relentlessly American the sources are. With the exception of sources from West Berliners themselves, this book focuses almost exclusively on the American perspective on the Airlift. Since it was published 60 years after the events it describes, the author had a good 17 years after the fall of the Soviet Union to
This is one of the best non-fiction history books I have ever read! Even though it takes many detours from the main story (and the story of the Candy Bombers makes up only a small fraction of the book,) it is interesting and well written. I laughed, I cried, I pondered. How can the actions of one man make such a difference in the lives of so many? I connected with this story in many ways. My father-in-law was an MP in postwar Berlin, and his wife was on the first boatload of family members to
This book took me my entire summer to read. It is historical non-fiction. Not the fun, comical kind of popular non-fiction that would be highlighted on NPR either. This was slogging through minutiae and tremendous amounts of background kind of non-fiction. It explains in extreme detail the events leading up to the Soviet blockade of Eastern Berlin and the subsequent airlift. I was amazed because I knew virtually nothing about any of this. I blame it on my US History AP DBQ being on the early
I really want Cori and Kimball to read this. I think Cori would really enjoy it. It's the first history book (and it's long) where I would sit and really enjoy 50-100 at a time. Even when the author goes into the lives of people that end up being involved in the airlift it's still fascinating. I am going to keep looking for books written by Andrei Cherny. I knew most details around the airlift but it was immensely interesting how people's lives were molded to make it a success. The whole book
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