Book Description
For five years during the Second World War, the Allies launched a trial and error bombing campaign against Germany's historical city landscape. Peaking in the war's final three months, it was the first air attack of its kind. Civilian dwellings were struck by-in today's terms-"weapons of mass destruction," with a total of 600,000 casualties, including 70,000 children.
In The Fire, historian J& ouml;rg Friedrich explores this crucial chapter in military and world history. Combining meticulous research with striking illustrations, Friedrich presents a vivid account of the saturation bombing, rendering in acute detail the annihilation of cities such as Dresden, the jewel of Germany's rich art and architectural heritage. He incorporates the personal stories and firsthand testimony of German civilians into his narrative, creating a macabre portrait of unimaginable suffering, horror, and grief, and he draws on official military documents to unravel the reasoning behind the strikes.
Evolving military technologies made the extermination of whole cities possible, but owing, perhaps, to the Allied victory and what W. G. Sebald noted as "a pre-conscious self-censorship, a way of obscuring a world that could no longer be presented in comprehensible terms," the wisdom of this strategy has never been questioned. The Fire is a rare account of the air raids as they were experienced by the civilians who were their targets.
Customer Reviews:
Detailed German Viewpoint of the Air War; Inadequate Contextualization .......2007-07-19
In this "encyclopedia of pain", Friedrich elaborates on Allied bombing tactics, Nazi countermeasures, civil defense, etc. He goes city-by-city, giving the reader a German-history lesson before discussing its bombing.
Consider the forced laborers: "Poles and Ukrainians were considered the most loyal workers. Poles, marked with a `P' on their clothing, showed great attachment to their farmsteads and the livestock they cared for. Near Cologne, `two Poles rescued the livestock out of burning stalls despite the flames; they had to be protected all the while by the spray of the water hoses.'" (p. 430)
Friedrich includes ironies. He comments: "The Huns returned in modern times as a slang term for the Germans. Emperor Wilhelm II, in his brash manner, even referred to himself as one." (p. 223). The Trawniki (Ukrainian and Baltic collaborators), who earlier burned the bodies of Jews in massive pyres at such places as Treblinka, now put their expertise to use in the mass cremations of German bodies (p. 379). The V2 rockets claimed more lives in their construction than in their explosions (p. 113).
The behaviors of German civilians help the reader understand comparable actions by others under wartime conditions. Much has been made of the Poles' looting of recently-Jewish properties. Yet some 15,000 German civilians were sentenced to death for various antisocial acts, including looting (pp. 392-394).
Friedrich tiptoes around the Germans' choice of Hitler by pointing to all those German children killed by Allied bombing who couldn't even know what a Nazi was (p. 483). Nice try, but it won't fly (pardon the pun). Actions have consequences. When voters go to the polls, they fully understand that they are voting not only for their own future, but also for that of their co-nationals and, of course, their children. In MEIN KAMPF, the Fuhrer-to-be planned a large war against the Slavic east for lebensraum. By voting for Hitler, the Germans were also tacitly voting for the destruction of Slavic children. The German people had a choice about the precipitation of a new war; the Poles and other recipients of German aggression had no such choice.
Friedrich also under-emphasizes the precedent-setting conduct of German aerial warfare. He cites the bombing of Warsaw, including the strategy of using explosive bombs to drive people into their cellars, followed by incendiary bombing to suffocate (or burn) the people now trapped there (p. 50). However, the bombing of Poland dwarfed the subsequent horrors at Rotterdam, Coventry, and London. Already in the predawn hours of September 1, 1939, the Luftwaffe was slaughtering large numbers of Polish civilians in wholesale attacks on obviously nonmilitary targets (including hospitals and cultural shrines). In Warsaw alone tens of thousands of Polish civilians perished in three weeks of furious German overkill. Not until some 3 years into the war did a single Allied air raid cost the lives of 10,000 or more German or Japanese civilians! Friedrich mentions the Allied strafing of Germans (p. 128), but not the fact that the Luftwaffe habitually strafed columns of fleeing Polish civilians already back in 1939.
Friedrich elaborates on the destruction of libraries (pp. 472-479), notably the painful loss of over 2,000 incunabula in Berlin (p. 478), but again without adequate contextualization. After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans systematically burned all of the libraries and archives of Warsaw, causing the loss of some 13 million volumes, including some 500,000 irreplaceable ones. That, rather than the destruction of German libraries, was perhaps the greatest book-burning in history. Ditto for architecture: The retreating Germans didn't blow up the militarily-innocent cultural cities of Krakow and Czestochowa only for failing to complete the laying of the explosive charges before the unexpectedly-early advance of the Red Army.
Interesting WW1 perspective.......2007-06-27
Rather lengthy account of the result of Allied bombing in OF Germany during ww2. Graphic and dismal,yet sheds light on the terrible consequences of war.
Astonishing and Riveting.......2007-06-14
I am a WWII buff and have read an awful lot about the war generally and the firebombing campaigns in particular. But this book takes it to a new level, a riveting, highly depressing account of the intentional targeting and slaughtering of tens of thousands of civilians in an explicit effort to "weaken the will" of the German people and thus hasten the end of the war.
Churchill really comes across as the instigator of much of the detailed destruction of historic city centers, ancient churches and steeples, dams, water mains, you just about name it. Roosevelt is described by the author as "more humane" and mostly focused on the targeting of legitimate military and industrial targets.
But according to this book, the British worked for years with fire prevention specialists to devise the best method to destroy old and largely defenseless historic German cities. Careful attention was paid by the British to which buildings would burn fastest, how it would best be spread, which fire walls and water mains to destroy, and how to stop the fire from being put out in order to maximize civilian death and destruction. The author makes no real attempt to justify any of this, other than to say that the British were desperate and being bombed themselves.
Interesting facts - Churchill ordered from the US military a large quantity of anthrax, to be dropped on German cities, but the anthrax was set to arrive after the Allies landed on the continent, so the plan was disbanded.
New facts recounted of the horrific British destruction of the massive dams protecting the Ruhr river valley, leading to massive drowning, drought, and devastation of defenseless women and children living in villages downriver. The technology of firebombing, and the effects on the civilians who retreated to cellars, are all discussed in painful detail. Attention is paid to the great likelihood of dying that the British bombers knew went along with their dangerous missions, but the pilots are hardly described here as "heroes."
The book, however, lacks a narrative structure and could have been more crisply edited. It is simply a collection of death and destruction, intentional and targeted directly at civilians, with account after account of successful bombing raids and their effect on the historic treasures there were destroyed as a result -- along with the many many thousands of civilian dead.
This is a hard read, and I found myself reaching for someone or something to help me understand the moral equivalency of what I had been reading -- something to put it into perspective so you are not left with the sense that war is hell, and many war crimes were committed by the participants with no understanding of the whys or the moral justifications for same. For this book, it is the hows that are itemized in dark deadly detail.
Tom's Review.......2007-06-13
Very comprehensive review of the bombing of Germany during WWII, but not very readable.
I consider it to be a good reference book. Anyone seeking specific information or details about the bombing will probably find it in this book, if they look hard enough. And that's the problem. The wealth of information is not very well organized, making the narration hard to follow and a difficult read, even for this died-in-the-wool WWII buff.
Recommended, but a Partial Perspective.......2007-05-19
A different type of history, not a narrative history but an impressionistic one of the terrible effects of the Allied bombing in Germany on both the German public and cultural treasures. This book must be balanced by books such as Robin Neilland's "The Bomber War" and Donald Miller's "Masters of the Air." The U.S. Eighth Air Force tried daylight precision bombing for the initial period of their operations, but in the Schweinfurt raid they lost 60 bombers (600 air crew). This loss rate could not continue, so they switched to area bombing, following the British Bomber Command example. This is the only possible strategy they could have adopted. Bombing was just not accurate enough in those days (unlike today) to be able to precisely hit military targets. The results were devastating on German civilians and precious cultural treasures like churches and books, but no other means of attack would have worked. This only emphasizes the great tragedy of war and how much it should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Another point the author makes is that at a certain point Germany was beaten, why did the bombing continue? Answer: the government would not surrender, and the fight was brutal until near the very end. After the Germans started the second world war within two generations, the Allies insisted that Germany be totally defeated, unlike the WW I armistice. Even after the WW II surrender there was armed action by the Werewolf organization. Disclosure: my father was career U.S. Air Force and served in WWII, though in the Pacific. I've worked as a civilian for the Air Force for over 20 years. I've never met anyone who hated war more than those who have fought them, the soldiers who bear the brunt of the action. But sometimes the human tragedy of war is the only choice if tyrants are not to rule the world. The author realizes that, he's not a pacifist. We can join him in mourning the loss of life and cultural treasures, but not in his unrealistic view that an alternative course of action could have been taken. Certainly, read this book, but don't stop there if you want the full history on these tragic issues.
Book Description
From sources inside the Pentagon and the CIA, Bill Gertz tracks the path of terrorists and terrorism in the United States. He uncovers information that could have prevented 9/11.
Customer Reviews:
Reads like a novel - Well done........2007-09-10
From the opening to the very end, this author writes in a novel-like style that makes this book so very readable.
There is no doubt that the author lays 9/11 at the feet of Bill Clinton - and, a LOT of the blame belongs there. Even more than I thought before reading this.
I do think that much of it lies in the bureaucracy that the FBI, CIA, and military intelligence had to deal with. And will the views of some bureaucrats.
Gertz does a great job of drilling down into some of these organizations and peeling the scab off of some of the intelligence wounds. As I read it, I kept thinking this guy must have INCREDIBLE access to sources and/or his research is just impeccable.
Bottom line - very well written and an easy read. Thank you!
Government Bungling - Again!.......2005-12-24
Gertz begins by relating how, prior to 9/11, the CIA failed to help an Afghan leader trying to rally forces against the pro bin Laden Taliban. As a result, he was captured and executed.
Lack of Coordination: In '95, Philippine police investigating a fire and explosion learned the details of plans to blow up 11 airliners over the Pacific, as well as to fly a plane into CIA headquarters. The individual involved also admitted having attended several U.S. flight schools. This information was not combined with Phoenix FBI findings that a number of Middle-East men with a hatred of America - one had bin Laden photo on his wall. another made calls to a Palestinian terrorist, still another was asking about airport security, and they had a "fatwah" that commericial airplanes were legitimate targets. Nor was it combined with the Minneapolis' finding that Moussaoui was similarly trying to learn to fly large jets, nor a like finding in Oklahoma City. The CIA did track two 9/11 terrorists to the U.S. (who had taken U.S. flight training) - but failed to even notify the FBI. Worse yet, when Minneapolis FBI agents were frustrated in their efforts to have Moussaoui's computer searched (refused because "no crime had been committed") and tried to notify the CIA - they were reprimanded.
The CIA attempted to prosecute Robert Baer (one of its top operatives) for supposedly trying to assassinate Sadam Hussein, per Iranian intelligence. It then claimed credit for stopping several Millenium attacks (actually accomplished via alert Custom's official), and for "thwarting" terrorist attacks after simply nabbing individuals entering with false documents. Also determined that a small boat attack against a U.S. warship was not possible, prior to the U.S.S. Cole bombing.
Lack of Capable Staff: In the early 1990s, the CIA had nobody in Iraq. Subsequent intelligence buildup involved adding staff attached to embassies who largely stayed inside and filed reports. Prior "housecleanings" had moved away from rewarding staff for recruiting spies, and instead focused on diversity, and avoiding recruitment of those with prior criminal or terrorist backgrounds. Clinton administration further weakened efforts by refocusing counter-intelligence on antii-abortion bombings - despite the FBI believing that Islamic terrorism was a much greater problem.
Sudan offered intelligence on bin Laden, and even to arrest him. Clinton administration did not follow-up, and the offer evaporated upon the erroneous bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant.
Former CIA Director Woolsey: Prior to 9/11, several times each year some crazy person would get into a cockpit, and the call would go out to strengthen the doors. NOTHING HAPPENED! (Was the ONE simple action that likely prevented 9/11.)
A little right biased.......2005-09-09
This was a informative book that outlined what Gertz thought was the reason Sept 11th happened. Though these were problems left over from countless decades of neglect to the intellgence community Gertz seems to protray this as the cause of failure. It is a combination af manyy things and to point your finger at one aspect of the pie is ludicris. The book does make a good point on how politics get in the way of policy. "It is what you do and not what you say, if your not part of the future than get out of the way." Stop pissing around and playing favorites and get the job done!
Excellent reminder of how 9.11 was a complete failure for .......2005-05-12
both the CIA and FBI. Mr. Gertz, the excellent correspondent for the excellent (meaning not anti-Bush/republican NY Times/Wash. Post/CNN/CBS/ABC,etc.) Washington Times does an excellent job in explaining how 9.11 could have been prevented. Examples include the lack of adequately trained translators, CIA apprehension in "penetrating" al-Qaeda, and the 1970 era of anti-CIA political machinatiions that decimated the US intelligence. Also, Mr. Gertz details the lack of attention paid to the intelligence community during eight years of Bill/Hillary/Madeline/fat Al Gore/Sandy stolen documents Berger/et al. Binny struck in 93, 95, 96, 98, and 2000 (and many aborted/thwarted attacks) and all we got from that administration was some cruise missiles and an exploded milk factory in Sudan (while cowardly running from Somalia). This all led to the tragedy of 9.11 (and now the madman Kim Jong-il.)
Mr. Gertz does offer many solutions to the problems with many quote from senior intelligence officials (thank you, James Woolsey).
Thank you for the great work Mr. Gertz.
"Breakdown" Wears Blinders.......2005-03-04
"Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11" by Bill Gertz provides an operational history of America's spy community.
While his credentials and writing ability are beyond reproach, Gertz fails miserably by simplistically concluding that politics ruined our intelligence gathering system. Without mentioning the bloody, destabilizing covert actions that compelled legislative intervention, Gertz blames congressional panels "packed with liberal Democrats who assumed that U. S. intelligence agencies posed a threat to American democracy and engaged in wide criminal activity."
To agree with Gertz, one must ignore scores of corporate-friendly coups supported by the CIA in the last half century. For a more complete examination of intelligence misdeeds, read "Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World" by Jonathan Kwitny.
By taking a partisan stance to draw a political conclusion, Gertz fails to put the blame where it belongs; on the hubris ridden, bureaucratic Boys Club that the intelligence service has become. Sycophancy and conformity cross party lines, and smother the creative thinkers in our nation's intelligence community.
Amazon.com
These days, it seems like everyone's a Friend of Bill--Clinton's buddies from Arkansas are turning up in powerful White House positions faster than you can say "Whitewater." But make no mistake, British journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is no F.O.B.: in the course of The Secret Life of Bill Clinton's 350-plus pages, he manages to connect the president to everything from 1997's Oklahoma City bombing to Arkansas's drug underworld to the mysterious death of White House aide and longtime Clinton friend Vince Foster, and, of course, to Paula Jones. According to Evans-Pritchard--who has reported for the London-based Spectator, Sunday Telegraph (where he served as Washington bureau chief), and Daily Telegraph newspapers--Clinton's "original sin" was the Waco incident, the FBI's much-criticized assault on the Branch Davidian community in Texas that led to the deaths of 76 people. From that point on, the author asserts, it was all downhill for the American people.
Evans-Pritchard's exposé of Arkansas's favorite son is indeed scathing: he documents the then-governor's drug use and consort with prostitutes (primarily in the company of ne'er-do-well brother Roger); innumerable lies to friends, staff members, and the people who empowered him; numerous infidelities; blackmail--the list goes on and on. Evans-Pritchard claims that, because he is not an American citizen, he is not "beholden to any political or financial interest in the United States," and he does not "hang on lips of official sources," nor does he "fear the loss of access in Washington, or the blackball of [his] profession"; in other words, he ain't afraid to call 'em like he sees 'em. And although many of his seemingly wild claims and accusations are substantiated by thorough notes and appendixes following the text (including copies of original FBI documents), you're never quite convinced of the author's theories. Whether or not you come to believe, as Evans-Pritchard does, that "Arkansas was a mini-Colombia within the United States, infested by narco-corruption"; that--because of William Jefferson Clinton--"you can sniff the pungent odors of decay in the American body politic"; that the president's "actions and character ... have engendered the most deadly terrorist movement in the industrialized world," you will most certainly be entertained and enlightened by the dirt this British muckraker has uncovered. You may not be an F.O.B., but after reading this book, you may not mind so much.
Book Description
An illustrious investigative reporter adds shocking new and exclusive revelations to his swelling bag of Clinton scandals.
Customer Reviews:
Incredible Work.......2007-06-23
I just read this book for the second time after having read it a few years ago. It's amazing how time dulls the memory. I had forgotten about all of the scandals and crimes associated with the Clintons and it is chilling that after all of this time the Clintons still have not been held accountable and at this time Hillary is even in the running to become our next president.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has written a well-documented and well-researched book from years of investigation and interviews. He has meticulously laid out the evidence for the Clintons association with the Oklahoma bombing, Vince Foster's death, the sad murder of Kevin Ives, the "Dixie Mafia" and even Paula Jones.
I can understand why those who are enamored of Bill Clinton will not like this book but in typical left-wing form those who have given this book only one star and complain that it is filled with lies offer no facts to refute those supposed lies.
What a McGovernite Liberal is Really Like.......2004-09-25
Evans-Pritchard reveals what America gets when it elects a new age liberal. Bill Clinton a "new democrat"? Yes, if you mean New Left.
This Clinton is a man who served under the segregationist and anti-Vietnam war senator Fulbright.
Evans-Pritchard takes you behind the sanitized snapshots. What you see is at least a third of the American voting populace who does not mind Clinton's Arkansas corruption and subsequent White House coverup. "They all do it," was the Clinton defense.
Most reporters were too cowardly to investigate the suspicious activities at Mena, Arkansas airport, or the bumbling of Clinton's handpicked stooges in the Justics Department, and the subversion of the FBI's handling of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Before the dead kids bodies in the Murrah Building were even cold, Clinton blamed conservative talk radio for creating the climate that led to the bombing. That is what a real liberal does.
In retrospect, it now becomes clear why James Carville became Clinton's most staunch defender. To paraphrase a threat from Carville, "Ken Starr is one step away from having his kneecaps busted." THAT IS THE REAL BILL CLINTON, not the easy-going good-time charlie playing the sax on TV.
Bill Clinton was a Rhodes scholar . . . with extremely poor judgment. Crafty? Yes. Wise, like Reagan? Hell No.
A must-read to any American citizen..........2002-12-30
I purchased this book after hearing review after review of it from my family members. Needless to say, they were right - this book is an absolute bombshell of information that pinpoints most, if not all of the ethical and legal faux pas raised by the Clinton Administration and the organizations under that regime. Some of the highlights include how the FBI blundered Waco, how the Murrah building was most definately more than a one-person job (but was apparently ordered not to investigate it as such), how Clinton was dealing in cocaine trafficking and how the Clintons managed to cover all of this up with the help of the liberal media.
... Ambrose Evans-Pritchard documents everything he asserts based on facts of witness testimony, comparing FBI affadavits, and other documents related to these cases. If there is any flaw with the book is that Pritchard couldn't 100% tie all of the incidents to Clinton, though 95% of the crimes mentioned in the book can be easily seen how they tie to Clinton or to someone high up in the Clinton administration.
I reiterate - this book is a must-read to anyone who is sick and tired of hearing how great the Clinton Administration is, and should be read by those people who continue to profess how wonderful Clinton was.
Partisan Revenge Tactics = Big Bucks.......2002-10-29
To the people who read this book, you really should do some research on the author, who was sure that he was going to be killed by Clinton's "Death Squads" while writing this. It's a perfect book to feed the conservative paranoia that the Clinton years cultivated. The guy couldn't even have a successful affair without getting caught, how he could have managed all that he is accused of in this book is borderline absurd. And the section regarding the advanced knowledge of the Oklahoma bombing is just plain ridiculous, especially when you compare it to the recent allegation of the Bush administration's advance knowledge of 9/11 activities. It's easy to dislike Clinton when you're a conservative, I understand, and this book certainly gives you fuel for the fire. But no one should take anything in this book as entirely factual or of any journalistic value. The elaborate footnotes and "documentation" are an almost comedic exersize in logical thinking. But hey, I'm not going to knock a book that so many people like. The only thing I object to is its classification as a "non-fiction" book.
It's time for One Term Limits for all Politicians.......2002-01-29
I just finished reading this book - on the heals of finishing Bernard Goldberg's book, Bias. It made me sick to my stomach. Not being one to swallow what someone tries to feed me without thinking for myself, if even some of the allegations made in this book are true, it's horrifying.
I'm wondering why no one in the media wants to uncover the truth about Vince Foster's death. I learned recently that his widow received a $286,000 wire transfer 4 days after his death and no one wants to account for the money trail.
What blows my mind is if Bill had a "nose like a vacuum" as the author alleges Roger Clinton stated on a surveillance tape, why isn't that front page news? Are we so gullible as a society that we tolerate such behavior from our leaders so long as it doesn't interfere with our own personal quality of life?
I admit I am no fan of the Clintons and I didn't vote for Al Gore. However, I'm having trouble sleeping at night in fear for the country my son will inherit if these allegations are true. I always knew the rich and powerful got different justice from the rest of us - I guess I always thought the press would protect us from ourselves. God help us all.
This book is powerful in its ability to "probe and disturb".
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Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case (Fire Ant Books)
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4 Little Girls
ASIN: 1881548104 |
Book Description
An insider’s story of the Birmingham church bombing.
Customer Reviews:
Page Burner.......2002-01-20
With another of the Birmingham bombers coming to trial this month for the killing of the four little girls, this book concerning the conviction of the first one is a page burner. Robert Chamblis' neice witnessed against and helped to convict him. In this book, she takes us behind the scenes of the KKK and the bombings and murders committed by the Cahaba Boys. I recommend this for anyone interested in the Civil Rights Struggle.
Book Description
When Nuremberg was scouted in 1945 as a possible site for the Nazi war crime trials, an American damage survey of Germany described it as being “among the dead cities” of that country, for it was 90% destroyed, its population decimated, its facilities lost. As a place to put Nazis on trial, it symbolized the devastation Nazism brought upon Germany, while providing evidence of the destruction the Allies wrought on the country in the course of the war.
In Among the Dead Cities, the acclaimed philosopher A. C. Grayling asks the provocative question, how would the Allies have fared if judged by the standards of the Nuremberg Trials? Arguing persuasively that the victor nations have never had to consider the morality of their policies during World War II, he offers a powerful, moral re-examination of the Allied bombing campaigns against civilians in Germany and Japan, in the light of principles enshrined in the post-war conventions on human rights and the laws of war.
Intended to weaken those countries’ ability and will to make war, the bombings nonetheless destroyed centuries of culture and killed some 800,000 non-combatants, injuring and traumatizing hundreds of thousands more in Hamburg, Dresden, and scores of other German cities, in Tokyo, and finally in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Was this bombing offensive justified by the necessities of war,” Grayling writes, “or was it a crime against humanity? These questions mark one of the great remaining controversies of the Second World War.” Their resolution is especially relevant in this time of terrorist threat, as governments debate how far to go in the name of security.
Grayling begins by narrating the Royal Air Force’s and U. S. Army Air Force’s dramatic and dangerous missions over Germany and Japan between 1942 and 1945. Through the eyes of survivors, he describes the terrifying experience on the ground as bombs created inferno and devastation among often-unprepared men, women, and children. He examines the mindset and thought-process of those who planned the campaigns in the heat and pressure of war, and faced with a ruthless enemy. Grayling chronicles the voices that, though in the minority, loudly opposed attacks on civilians, exploring in detail whether the bombings ever achieved their goal of denting the will to wage war. Based on the facts and evidence, he makes a meticulous case for, and one against, civilian bombing, and only then offers his own judgment. Acknowledging that they in no way equated to the death and destruction for which Nazi and Japanese aggression was responsible, he nonetheless concludes that the bombing campaigns were morally indefensible, and more, that accepting responsibility, even six decades later, is both a historical necessity and a moral imperative.
Rarely is the victor’s history re-examined, and A. C. Grayling does so with deep respect and with a sense of urgency “to get a proper understanding for how peoples and states can and should behave in times of conflict.” Addressing one of today’s key moral issues, Among the Dead Cities is both a dramatic retelling of the World War II saga, and vitally important reading for our time.
Customer Reviews:
A good summary, but just one part of a larger crime.......2007-09-20
For years, I have been reading about bombing and air power in the Second World War, an interest that stems from my parents meeting each other as they came to factories to create these bombers, and my own shock and horror at the devastation they created. This book is a useful place to start, even if the concentration is not on telling the story, which he does accurately, with lots of clear examples, and extremely clearly, not always a virtue of writers on this subject.
The bombing of civilians in Germany and later in Japan was one of the many criminal acts that US and British big business government carried out in the Second World War. Its aims were to demoralize the working people in the "enemy" population who would then force their government to cease the war. While at times Britain's Bomber Chief Arthur Harris and even more so American bombing commanders sugar coated the pill by claiming they were aiming at military targets, Harris was always clear talking to colleagues: he was trying to murder Germans and he considered not only other bombing efforts, but everything else in the war other than flying over Germany trying to burn down its cities to be a waste of time.
About one million people were killed in the European campaign, including nearly 100 thousand allied Bomber crew. Studies of the impact of the bombing by the US government and the testimony of Nazi leaders was that the raids had minimal impact on the German war effort. Other books on the subject show that such bombings encouraged people to believe they had a stake in the war and that it even angered dedicated enemies of Hitler.
An even more exaggerated justification has been given for the terror bombing of Japan. As many Japanese were killed in five or six months as Germans were killed in five years! The first great raid on Tokyo killed more people than either of the atomic bomb attacks. Contrary to the picture painted in Washington, this too had little impact on the war. In fact, the US Navy had to launch its own carrier-based bombing and battle ship shelling of Japanese military facilities, especially aircraft plants and air bases, because so little of the Japanese war machine was touched or limited by these bombings.
This book points out something that Japanese historians and others outside the usual US propoganda machine never tell us: that by time the Atom Bombs were dropped, Japan was trying to surrender especially through the USSR and that Stalin was slowing it down, so the USSR could invade Manchuria and Northern China. Moreover, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria which smashed the last remaining Japanese effective military force was what caused the Japanese to surrender. The fifteen years of war for Japan, after all, was an extension of the invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
It should be noted that neither Germany nor the USSR ever built a massive bomber fleet because they believed it was useless for their war efforts, although Hitler's missile attacks were of the same ilk.
For the point of view of winning the war, the terror bombing was of little use compared to the massive resources devoted to it, the murder of nearly two million people, and the massive destruction of the cultural and historic heritage of Japan, Germany, and other countries.
The author's moral judgment--against bombing as a war crime--may be justified given the abstract morality he preaches. Yet, this single condemnation masks the entire immorality of imperialist governments in imperialist wars.
Washington and London did not fight Hitler to stop the genocide of the Jews. An abundant literature exists on how these two governments were antiSemetic and indifferent to both attempts of Jews and others to escape Hitler and refused to take any military measures that would have stopped or impeded the murders.
Washington and London fought to preserve Britain's colonies, and to expand American control and dominance over great areas of Asia and Europe too. In the course of this millions of people in Britain's colonies in Africa and India died of starvation due to the monetary and food restrictions the UK imposed to finance its war with Germany.
American, Canadian, and British troops generally killed Japanese soldiers who fell into their hands, and a trade in Japanese skulls and gold teeth sent back from the Pacific grew in the US during the war. This was only limited somewhat at the end of the war when some US generals complained that the practice stiffened Japanese resistance and was the real cause of Japanese troops fighting to the death.
The whole policy of warfare in wars like World War I and World War II, Korea, and Vietnam (a small country on which more bombs were dropped than all of the sides dropped in the second world war!!) have nothing to do with morality and everything to do with crime. They reflect the utter distain that the big business rulers have for anything except their own profits, their own control over the world.
Rather than an individual crime, terror bombing is just one facet of the crime and immorality of a system humanity needs to get rid of.
Problems with Books about War.......2007-03-18
First of all, I agree with the sentiments expressed by the reviewers who found this book frustrating. The author stated that he was only going to study area bombing of Germany by the RAF and the area bombing of Japan by the US. That he wasn't doing all civilian bombing of the war. But he never even got to the Japanese portion of the discussion he'd promised to discuss, which is what I wanted to read about. And it occurs to me now that he would have made a much stronger case if he had just told the story of the killing of civilians during WWII generally, regardless of who the agent was, though that would have made a much bigger project. In a certain way, once your head's blow off, it doesn't really matter what the ideological predisposition of the nation who blew it off was.
Not the work hoped for..........2006-12-31
If you travel to London, a `must' for any tourist is Westminster Cathedral. In the apse of that famous edifice you will find a window devoted to the saviors of Britain in WW2, the men of the RAF. Most unfortunately, you find among those named one that surely needs to be effaced, Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris.
Long appalled by the muted - nay, virtually non-existent - criticism of the murderous policy of our air warfare in WW2, the `area', or `saturation', or `strategic' bombings, whatever one wishes to call that atrocious, indiscriminate attempt to annihilate whole sections of cities, I approached this work with great hope that this would, at last, be definitively addressed. Indeed, in the hands of a clearly informed and prolific philosopher (see his other works), it seemed an almost ideal combination. And, his work, in the opening chapters, in elucidating the origins of this policy is exemplary, namely: the accidents triggering retaliations that ultimately spiraled out of control; the inability to hit a target with any accuracy*; the unacceptable loss rate from daylight raids (the only ones with any chance to reliably find a tactical target); the psychological need to take the fight to the enemy when all other avenues with any public impact were inaccessible; and finally, the peculiar psyche of Arthur Harris (and, possibly, Curtis LeMay, although this is somewhat less certain), who sincerely believed, due largely to his experience in WW1 and his consequent desire to avoid its repetition at any cost, that air power alone would bring surrender without the necessity of a ground assault.
Grayling continues with an exhaustive summary of the legal framework of the rules of war. His outline of the various Geneva conventions and protocols is quite helpful, if sometimes anachronistic and tedious. Still, for a work of this sort, it cannot be avoided, and Grayling accepts this wearisome duty, offering it to us digested and distilled in one place, for which we must be grateful. In addition, he offers, as a substantial bonus, a unique 45 page appendix of "RAF bombing attacks on Germany, with civilian casualties... and RAF losses...". Unfortunately, he fails to note his source, or sources, for this monumental, and crucial, enumeration.
It is in the actual history, though, that the book fails (proving perhaps, if proof were still needed, that this profession does indeed require training, and that it is not, despite appearances, open and vouchsafed for all). The author, in particular, apparently does not understand the distinction between a war that is lost, and surrender. While it is doubtless true that, by the beginning of 1945, at the very latest, there was no possibility of either Germany or Japan prevailing, or even emerging from the war without defeat, there still remained the question of surrender and how the countries were to be governed after the war. Due to the horrific nature of both regimes in power during the war, there was absolutely no question by the Allies of retaining any elements whatever of those structures and personnel after the war - to do so would have rendered the enormous sacrifices of the war years as essentially meaningless. And, neither of those regimes, as they were constituted during the war, was ready at any point, however hopeless, to surrender - both were, in fact, geared to fight to the last man. That happened, in essence, in Germany. In Japan, it was avoided, but only by the - very belated - intervention of the Emperor (and then, only after an attempted coup against his holy personage was repulsed!). In fact, a good argument can be made, despite the very good, recent book by Professor Hasegawa, "Racing the Enemy", that the Bomb was critical in his intervention. (Professor Hasegawa's book, by the way, was subjected to serious criticism by Michael Kort, and D.M. Giangreco, among others.) You have to know what the Japanese were willing to accept for surrender, namely, the military left essentially untouched, the retention of a number of colonies, the home islands unoccupied, to understand how `unconditional' in `unconditional surrender' was not really excessive. You have to have intimate knowledge of the war, by living through it or reading extensively in it, to know from Iwo Jima and Okinawa just what would be expected from invading the homeland, and why, therefore, use of the Atomic Bomb was not necessarily contemptible (tho one can, certainly, argue with how it was initially used). Most egregious is his statement (undocumented), on page 154 (repeated, if abbreviated, on p. 260) that Byrnes was urging, on June 1, 1945, use of the bomb as primarily a tool against Russia, which does not fit with the man or the times. (I am assured by Professor Hasegawa, who has examined the minutes of the Interim Committee in the archives, that no such statement of that date from Byrnes exists - nor could it, as it was certainly far too early for such talk, and, I would add, impossible, even from belligerent Byrnes.) I can only assume that Grayling has consulted too much of the notoriously unreliable Gar Alperovitz - and, of that author, even one book is too much - and not enough, not nearly enough, of the best sources on the war.
Lastly, I cannot refrain from commenting on the author's equivalence of 9/11 and Aug 6, 1945 (p. 279). Can it really be that a man of this profound philosophical training does not see the difference between a pointless act of terror with no defined objective on 9/11, with Aug 6, which had a very specific and achievable - I would even say achieved - one?
In sum: A work of importance, but seriously flawed - the definitive treatment awaits.
* I have learned, from other sources, that the accuracy of bombing in WW2 was pathetic, despite the storied Norden bombsite, with over 50% of all bombs falling outside of a radius of 1000 feet from the putative aiming point! (Still looking for one reason we did not bomb the rails leading to the concentration camps?)
A moral conviction against strategic bombing of civilians........2006-11-15
If you are looking for a book that glorifies the civilian bombing campaigns over Europe ,dont waste your money. If you are looking for another book that is essentially "History written by the victors" dont waste your time. If are expecting a book that will say "Hell yah...we bombed the hell out of them and they deserved it.",you will be sorely disappointed.
And that is apparently what the negative reviwers of this book were looking for. After viewing some of their other reviews it seems they were essentially seeking another book that agreed with their point of view or opinion that we never, ever did anything wrong.
Admittedly, there are some chronological,and technical errors,minor in context, but this was not meant to be a reference book.
As the proud son of a American WW2 veteran ,whos job it was to difuse mines ,shells,and bombs ,i certainly am no bleeding heart anti-american liberal looking to condemn our courageous veterans.
But as in all wars, i find that atrociites start at the top, in the command structure,and there was no difference here. "Bomber Harris" gets the credit/blame for getting this ball rolling.And he is unaploigetic about it.
If you are looking for a book that presents a "relatively" unbiased view ,in courtroom case manner, then you will find it a very interesting read.
The view from both sides of the arguement is looked at, and analyzed, and judged ,aginst the statistical outcome that was achieved.
If instead we had surrounded civilian poulation centers and told the commanders to send in their troops ,and go to every 6th building and drag the inhabitants out into the streets and kill them, then blow up or burn the structure to the ground,the results would have been the same statistically. But that would have been considered a war crime. Yet somehow ,the impersonal act of strategic bombing non combatant population centers gets a pass in the eyes of many history books.
And that is the wrong that this book strives to right. Will this book change the past..no...But it can change the way this event is viewed in historical reference ,and hopfully prevent it from happening again.
Omits the Deadest City of All--Warsaw.......2006-08-26
Grayling combines factual information with dubious assertions and a very incomplete picture of the killings of civilians during the WWII air war. The only strength of his book is the existence of detailed maps, as well as a table of all bombing raids. One of the maps shows the bombed German cities as pie charts, with the diameter of the pie representing the size of the city and the blackened portion of the pie depicting the fraction of the housing destroyed by Allied bombing. Another map shows concentric circles depicting the distances to bomber bases in the British Isles. However, this ignores the fact that many bombing raids were also carried out from Allied-captured Italy in the latter stages of the war.
Among the many dubious assertions of Grayling is the one regarding German bombers. Grayling rejects the contention that massive Allied bombing at least forced the Germans to build a large fleet of fighter planes at the expense of their own bombers. He argues that the Germans' use of V-1 and V-2 rockets eliminated the need for a large bomber fleet. This seems ridiculous. The total damage done by the German rocket weapons is dwarfed by the damage that would have been caused by a large and long-range would-be German bomber force. Besides, these never-built German bombers could have been used alongside, and not instead of, the V-1 and V-2 rockets.
The current Judeocentric approach to WWII depicts Jews as the only victims of the Nazis worthy of repeated discussion. Not surprisingly, Grayling follows this trend. He exclusively compares what he considers the lesser immorality of Allied carpet bombing with the greater immorality of the Germans' murder of the Jews. He not only ignores the millions of non-Jews murdered by the Germans, but pointedly ignores the MAIN civilian victims of German bombing. In fact, another reviewer has already commented on the fact that Grayling completely ignores the Luftwaffe activities on the eastern front. What an understatement! Grayling's criticisms, on both tactical and moral grounds, of Allied bombing raids that killed considerable numbers of civilians should start with the very beginning of World War II. Already in the predawn hours of September 1, 1939, the Luftwaffe was slaughtering tens of thousands of Polish civilians in indiscriminate attacks on non-military targets. Grayling mentions Warsaw only twice, and then in a very cursory fashion. He justifies the ignoring of Warsaw compared with Rotterdam on the basis of the fact that Warsaw was far away from the west, and thus its experiences were not well known. That may have been true during the early stages of the war but it is certainly not true now--least of all for Grayling.
In Warsaw alone tens of thousands of Polish civilians perished in three weeks of furious German bombardment. Not until some 3 years into the war did a single Allied air raid cost the lives of 10,000 or more German or Japanese civilians! Grayling ignores the fact that German attacks on such places as Guernica, Rotterdam, and London were primarily tactical in nature. In contrast, German attacks against the Poles, and later other Slavs, were motivated by genocide. Hitler himself stated at the start of the war that Germans should "Kill without mercy every man, woman, and child of Polish extraction." Three million Polish gentiles were murdered by the Germans during the German occupation. In time, Warsaw became the deadest city of all, nearly 100% destroyed as a deliberate act of cultural genocide directed against the Poles. No other European capital came close to this level of devastation. The Germans did not blow up the militarily-innocent cultural cities of Krakow and Czestochowa only because they failed to complete the laying of the explosive charges before the unexpectedly-early arrival of the Red Army.
Personally, and again after having read Grayling's book, I find it difficult to feel sorry for the Germans for at least two reasons. The first is their long history of aggression against the Slavic peoples. The second is the fact that 89% of the Germans voted for the Nazis in free elections, all the while fully knowing who Hitler was and what he stood for (after all, Hitler had written his infamous Mein Kampf a decade earlier).
Amazon.com
"We must make war as we must, not as we would like," observed the great British general Lord Kitchener after witnessing the carnage of World War I. Former Royal Marines commando Robin Neillands concurs in this often grim account of a bombing campaign that devastated much of continental Europe in the cause of destroying Nazism.
In this history of the Allied air war over Europe, Neillands maintains that the use of bombers as strategic weapons aimed at the enemy's ability to wage war--as opposed to purely tactical weapons aimed at enemy troops--necessarily involved the loss of civilian life and the destruction of nonmilitary targets, however unintentional. One such target was Dresden, a once-beautiful city that, some historians have protested, had no strategic importance and merely served as an example of what would happen to the rest of Germany should the fighting continue. Those historians are off the mark, Neillands counters: Dresden produced essential war materiel, such as military aircraft engines, shell fuses, and cigarettes ("a vital product for maintaining wartime morale"), and thus it was a legitimate target. So, he continues, were cities such as Berlin, Ludwigshafen, and Hamburg, the last the site of a firestorm that killed some 46,000 civilians. Their deaths were unfortunate, Neillands suggests, but necessary in ending Hitler's regime and in inaugurating an era in which total war is unthinkable.
Neillands rightly observes that most histories of the Allied air war in Europe present either the English or the American side, and he does a good job of weaving both accounts, drawing on official histories and the memories of veterans (including some German fliers) alike. More detailed and technically inclined than recent work by Stephen Ambrose and other popular writers on World War II, his book makes a useful addition to the historical literature. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
The Bomber War is the book about the brutal war in the skies during World War II and the dedication and heroism of the airmen who paid the ultimate price for victory. The bomber campaign against Germany is one of the most contentious of World War II. Was anything achieved by the deaths of thousands of German civilians - many of them women and children? Or were all means justified against Nazi Germany?
Acclaimed historian Robin Neillands examines every detail of the Allied campaign led by British Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris: the strengths and fundamental flaws, the technical difficulties and developments and, above all, the day-by-day, night-by-night endurance of the crews flying to the limit in discomfort and danger, facing flak and enemy fire. Personal experiences of British, American, Canadian, Australian & other Allied fliers are a key part in this account, along with those of German airmen & civilians.
Though The Bomber War discusses Guernica and the destruction of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it concentrates on the European theater, on Germany's air war against the Allies - over Warsaw, Rotterdam, London and Coventry - which led to the fierce Allied raids carried out against Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and the Ruhr and - most notorious of all - the tremendous firestorm unleashed on Dresden in the final months of the war. Robin Neillands also examines the complex moral issues involved in the air war, and of the case made against "Bomber" Harris. This is an important and timely addition to the history of armed conflict; the age of free-fall bombs may have passed, but many veterans - on both sides - are still alive to state their case, and to tell a new generation what their war like.
Customer Reviews:
Allied Strategic Bombing in WWII-with all the Warts on!.......2007-06-13
Prof. Neillands does an excellent job setting the props, introducing the actors and explaining the plot of that incredibly tragic drama which was Allied strategic bombing in World War II. If there are compliments to be rendered or blame to be assessed he doesn't shirk at the task. Rich in data yet compelling in pace, Prof. Neillands kept my interest at a level I seldom reach with nonfiction.
There are those who will still castigate him for his defense of Air Marshal Harris. Having been in the military myself, I understand the limitations of command. As far as bombing Dresden is concerned, there is very little doublt but that Harris and Spaatz were following orders. Therefore, the blame must rest higher.
All in all, I would place this in the top ten of all WWII nonfiction I have ever read. If you have a choice of books on the Strategic Bombing Offensive, please consider the late Robin Neilland's book first.
Four and 1/2 Stars.......2006-11-22
I just wrote a long review & my computer crashed before I could submit it, so I'll be brief. Yes, the book is pro-Bomber Command, but theirs was a remarkable story & they did, after all, win. The first person narratives are fascinating, and the author gives due credit to the USAAF 8th Air Force. The 9th Air Force is stiffed, which is fair because the author tells you that he is going to stick to strategic bombing, but surely more could have been written about the 15th Air Force?? I also thought the Halifax and its pilots were given a bit short shrift, but the author gets kudos for being fair about the B-24, and giving its pilots their props. Neilland is not a "professional" historian, but is more or less a professional military history writer, and he writes lucidly and compellingly. Definitely recommended for the WWII buff, especially if you have not given enough due to Bomber Command. I think one of the author's theses, that he is seeking to exonerate Air Chief Marshall Harris, is successful, even on the Dresden bombing. I also think the author's criticisms and conclusions about strategic bombing are fair and well-put.
Long, interesting book.......2006-09-28
Took a bit to get through this book. The information provided regarding the tactics and technology used during the various phases of the war was well presented. It was very interesting to read how the human element played in the development of the tactics and testing of them.
The interviews and sections provided by various people was very interesting. The reports from those under the bombers, those who felt and experieneced the effects first-hand, were astonishing. These reports truely tell the tale. The crews accounts also were great, as those who were there are able to recount the sights, sounds, and experiences. We need to do more to document as much as possible of those in the skies before the generation is lost.
The ending of the book where he seeks to defend the Dresden raid wasn't really in line with the rest of the book. I enjoyed the blending of historical facts, numbers, and personal accounts throughout, but the ending didn't quite fit as he devoted an awful amount of time and effort to Harris.
Overall a good addition to anyone's collection of WW2 bomber library.
Good story, poorly edited........2006-09-21
The story was very good and engrossing. It is well written. The author starts out with a thesis and sets out to support it. It is shocking how many men went to their deaths daily in the bomber war over Europe. Given the very close accounting kept of current skirmishes, I think it would have been truely appalling, though informative, if everyone knew exactly how many people were being killed every day during World War II.
However, I do find the book to be very repetitive and I have never seen a professionally published book with more typographical errors than this one. Editing and proofreading were lacking.
Thoroughly Researched - Highly Illuminating.......2006-05-10
Four stars for this thoroughly researched and eminently readable book. It is also pleasing to note on this page that veteran flyers and relatives of such find this book to be accurate and respectful.
Neillands uses a wide variety of documents to examine the way strategic bombing developed as a tool of warfare, describes how technology evolved and likewise traces the way in which the allies constructed their policies on this aspect of the war. It is all fascinating.
One thing that Neillands always does very well is the incorporation of veterans' recollections into his work. This is accomplished without appealling to emotion and depicting images of blood & guts like in Ambrose's books, that goes without saying. Rather he simply relays the stories of men getting on with their jobs and leaves the reader to construct his/her own emotions.
Morality? Civilians died in their tens of thousands, but all war is immoral.
The late Robin Neillands does have a tendency to be a little repetitious in his books, and I do feel that a couple more maps night have been useful here - hence one star docked. Nevertheless, this book is a significant achievement and quite rightly champions the crews who died and endured.
Finally, post-war the politicians involved in developing bombing policies and directives (including Churchill) failed to put their hands up when the accounting was done, allowing the prosecutors, men like Harris and his crews to shoulder the opprobrium.........things don't change. That Churchill refused to sanction a campaign medal for Harris's men of is a black mark against his name. Fighter Command received due adulation in 1940, it is a scandal that Bomber Command have not been sufficiently honoured
Book Description
The Doolittle Raiders, as they became known, were a squadron of eighty scarcely trained young men led by the famous daredevil aviator Jimmy Doolittle. Their mission-the daring World War II bombing raid of Tokyo and other cities in April 1942-was successful until Japanese spies forced most of the squadron to crash-land in enemy-occupied China, where pilots were ferried underground across the country to safety. One plane landed in the Soviet port of Vladivostok, where the crew was eventually smuggled out of the country through Persia. Others were captured by the Japanese, confined to years of imprisonment and torture. The fact that 90 percent of the men involved came home alive was little short of a miracle.
Extensively researched, including interviews with twenty of the twenty-seven remaining survivors, The First Heroes vividly recreates America's first great victory of World War II. Craig Nelson follows the Doolittle Raiders from their secret training on a Florida airfield to their tense days in transit across the Pacific to the bombing itself and finally to their courageous accounts of survival against astonishing odds. This story of America's striking back at its enemies after a vicious surprise attack will resonate widely with the general public today and is sure to appeal to all readers of Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation.
Customer Reviews:
Poor knowledge of detail.......2007-08-30
I really, really wanted to like this book. I'd just finished Hornfischer's outstanding "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" and wanted some more inspirational reading. I'm about half finished listening to this book in its MP3 version, and have noted the following:
1) the author has no - and I repeat no - required knowledge of the US Navy. There are many, many small, factual errors that are really annoying - referring to the HMS Repulse as a "cruiser", describing the Japanese torpedoes as "two feet long", etc, etc. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of the US Navy in WW2 should have been given an opportunity to preview this book before publication.
2) Overuse of military jargon - bombs referred to as "cabbages", torpedoes as "eels" by such a rank amateur was just too much.
3) this really doesn't apply to the book itself, but the reader on the MP3 version had no idea regarding correct pronunciation of naval terms - (en-sine, indeed.)
I find that when there are so many factual errors in an area that I'm familiar with, I have a tough time accepting the new - often interesting on its face - data that an author brings up. It's too bad that such a terrific topic couldn't have been treated more professionally. I read "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" as a kid and really was looking for some new information. I blame the editors completely for this second rate attempt.
just a great historical book about an impossible mission.......2007-01-22
This book is wonderful! Gives a sense of the courage needed after pearl harbor and how it was met by young americans. Harrowing!
I can't recommend it any more than A MUST READ. I have sent many to soldiers and friends!
Great History of the Doolittle Raid.......2006-07-23
Here's a compelling and well told history of the daring Doolittle Raid of 1942. Nelson does a good job recounting America's first offensive action against Japan in WWII.
More of a morale booster for America and a psychological defeat for the Japenese, the raid did little actual damage. It did however prove to the world that the Japanese were vulnerable.
This story of the daring men who went on what amounted to a suicide mission is riveting. Nelson takes us through the training for the ultra secret mission, to the actual raid itself, and the following crash landings in China.
Nelson does a very good job of placing these events in the overall context of WWII and follows the fates of all involved up to the present. A little slow at first, The First Heroes rewards persistence. Recommended for anyone interested in WWII.
The First Heroes is a must read.......2006-03-23
The First Heroes by Craig Nelson is a must read for anyone who is interested in history, especially World War Two. It is the story of America's finest pilots getting their first vengeance after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The task seemed impossible: fly bombers off of an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, drop bombs over Tokyo and somehow land in China. The mission didn't go as planned. Only one plane made it to Allied soil and the other 15 crashed in Japanese occupied China, but not before dropping their payload over Japan. It was a daring move but it paid off in the end. The book is full of first hand accounts which bring a sixty year old story back to the present times. It was so good that I read it in about two weeks. It had me from the first page. Instead of focusing on just one main character, Craig Nelson tells the stories of all 100 men involved, giving this unique event many different angles. I only read non fiction books and this one read like a work of fiction, with lots of suspense and surprises at every turn. It shows human suffering and how humans can overcome physical and mental suffering if they have the will to do so. I was also amazed at how the Japanese treated their prisoners of war. They had little respect for anyone who was not their own, something that the western world has a hard time fully understanding. This is a must read for anyone interested in the aviation of the Second World War. Craig nelson weaves an intriguing story.
Not researched but well embellished.......2006-03-04
I was only able to read as far as page 146 before I was turned off by the author's lack of knowlege of the subject. For instance, on the page mentioned above he quotes Lt Joyce as saying "my rear gunner was firing." He did record the fact that the tail guns had been removed and replaced by broom sticks. Where was his editor? Other reviewers have also pointed out other glaring errors committed all before page 146 such as diesel engins, "Billys", and B's taxiing, and so on. The first half of the book left much to be desired, I will not read the rest of the book.
Book Description
On May 4, 1886, a bomb exploded at a Chicago labor rally, wounding dozens of policemen, seven of whom eventually died. A wave of mass hysteria swept the country, leading to a sensational trial, that culminated in four controversial executions, and dealt a blow to the labor movement from which it would take decades to recover. Historian James Green recounts the rise of the first great labor movement in the wake of the Civil War and brings to life an epic twenty-year struggle for the eight-hour workday.
Blending a gripping narrative, outsized characters and a panoramic portrait of a major social movement, Death in the Haymarket is an important addition to the history of American capitalism and a moving story about the class tensions at the heart of Gilded Age America.
Customer Reviews:
Please, someone make a movie of this book.......2007-08-01
It would be hard to find a more clear example of the importance of class conflict in American history than this book. The irony is that those unfamiliar with this concept are unlikely to read Death in the Haymarket, but they ought to. The book's narrative accelerates from the opening mise en scene to a dramatic recounting of the trial and aftermath of the seven men indicted more for their sentiments than their actions. One can almost hear Albert Parson's defiant rejection of a clemency that could have spared him from the gallows. Told in a fluid manner and an eye for detail that will make this the definitive narrative of the Haymarket tragedy.
Well Written and Accessible History Lesson.......2007-06-09
I've lived in and around Chicago my entire life and slowly I've been trying to educate myself about the important events in the city's history. To be honest, the Haymarket has intimidated me as a subject for years because it seemed to involve so many unknowns. But, when I saw this book, I finally decided to take the plunge. While Mr. Green acknowledges the unknowns and the controversies, he offers a coherent narrative, so often missing in works about historical events, that makes the event less daunting than I expected it to be. If anything, I am more curious about this event and the topic of Chicago in the late 1800's than I was before. The issues at hand are clearly stated as events build toward the riot itself and the aftermath, including repercussions to this day, are laid out in detail. It is as if this was a work of well formulated fiction rather than the narrative history of the turning point in labor history.
Interesting history lesson.......2007-03-15
Author James Green is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He grew up outside Chicago.
This book is especially important in light of recent encroachments on the rights of citizens. What happened in Haymaket Square on May 4, 1886? I would wager that many Americans do not know. After striking workers had been killed by private security guards the day before (trying to get an 8-hour work day, at that time most workers worked ten-hour days), a labor rally had included especially outraged speeches by labor leaders August Spies and Albert Parsons, among others.
During a march after the rally, police formed ranks six deep and charged menacingly towards the crowd, when a bomb exploded in the ranks of the police, killing seven, and injuring many more. Shots rang out, and those still left at the rally (it had begun to rain, and only around 500 people were left listening to the last speaker) fled in confusion. Police shot indiscriminately into the crowd, probably wounding some of their own. Hundreds of arrests and searches followed.
The speakers at the rally and well-known labor leaders August Spies and Albert Parsons were tried for murder along with "anarchists" Louis Lingg (the only one who had ever made a bomb, though it could not be proved that one of his bombs was used that night), Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Sam Fielden, Oscar Neebe, and Michael Schwab. After a long and contentious trial and appeals, Governor Oglesby upheld the death sentences of Parsons, Spies, Fisher and Engel; and commuted the sentences of Fielden and Schwab to life in prison. Louis Lingg had committed suicide while in prison a few hours before.
Was there evidence of a conspiracy? Did these men deserve to die? Or were they killed for simply speaking out against the murder of workers?
This is a well-written account of the events in the years leading up to this rally, with an epilogue outlining the labor movement and the perceptions of the Haymarket martyrs in the years up to the present day. Green brings the characters involved to life, and uses illustrations, maps, writings, and transcripts of speeches to great effect.
Armchair Interviews says: This would be an excellent selection for a book club discussion.
A very sobering account of the labor battles in early Industrial America.......2007-03-10
It is nice to see this book will soon be out in paperback making it available to a broader audience, because it is a much needed account of the early days of the labor movement in America. James Green has done a remarkable job of building the events that surrounded the notorious Haymarket bombing of 1886 by exploring the lives of the eight men who stood accused for inspiring the incident. He starts with the explosive incident, and then digs back into the archive of union organization in Chicago and the attempts to form a national labor union. While most of the figures were foreign born, one figure, Albert Parsons, hailed from Texas and became the most charismatic figure of the Chicago Eight.
Green shows how the media, police and state militia were predominantly held under the influence of the industrialists, who felt it their god-given right to set the rules for the market economy at the time. While economic giants like McCormick and Pullman attempted to create more ameniable workplaces, even they refused to negotiate with unions, preferring instead to hire scabs and use the Pinkerton Agency to break strikes. The early socialist movement preferred to negotiate with the industrialists, knowing it was a long term process to get better pay and working conditions, but the anarchists felt that stronger resistance was necessary and labor leaders like Parsons and Spies became the spokesmen for the growing anarchist movement in America.
The book chronicles the events that led up to the Haymarket bombing, illustrating the many attempts of the industrialists and indeed the city to quash the labor movements. While the mayor of Chicago, Carter Harrison, was sympathetic to the socialists, and relied heavily on their political organization, he was also cognizant of the stronghold the industrialists had on the city. One particular figure, Marshall Field, did more than anyone to harness the forces the city to defeat the unions, but nevertheless the unions flourished thanks in large part to the steady flow of European immigrants.
Green connects the labor movement in America to that in Europe and how the two fed off each other, noting the strong influence of Marx and Bakunin on American labor leaders. It was this fear of foreign influence that the media used to help sway public opinion in favor of the industrialists, despite their well noted abuses of power.
Whether you agree with the tactics of the anarchists or not, you will be enlightened by the depth of understanding that James Green demonstrates in this book. Most important is how Green links the events of 1886 with the ongoing labor struggle in the new age of globalization as industrialists take advantage of cheap labor much in the way they did 120 years ago, using every hook and crook to break labor organizations. He shows how the Chicago Eight became iconic figures in the international labor movement as a result of a bogus trial. Four were executed and one died in jail, who also faced execution. It is a very sobering account of the labor battles in early industrial America.
The first labor movement and a sham trial........2007-01-25
After having lived in Chicago for the better part of twenty years, it is amazing that little is known of the Haymarket here. It is also a shame. Of those put on tial for the murder of the three policeman, perhaps one was guilty. The rest spoke out about the grave injustices of the industrial system. What they got as a reward was the hangman's noose. What the judicial system proved was that people who spoke out but did not engage in violence were met with a violent end by a judicial system that defended the status quo.
Green does a great job of detailing the beginnings of the industrial system here in Chicago. He is perhaps a little lengthy in this respect but he shows the growth of this vibrant city. He also shows the underlying decay and how it affected the city's less affluent. On top of this system were the fat cats led by the McCormick brothers and Pullman. They were also defended by the Chicago Tribune. Below this social status were immigrant communities being exploited for their labor. When a German immigrant named Spies and a Texan named Parsons spoke out on this system, they became targets of the upper class. When the tragedy of the Haymarket happened, the judicial system blamed the speakers and not the bomb thrower. The system engaged in judicial murder.
This is a fine book. The only issue I have on it is the lengthy introduction to the cast of characters. However, the author puts alot of detail in his writing. The reader will understand why the Haymarket tragedy came about.
Book Description
During World War Two, 131 German cities and towns were targeted by Allied bombs, a good number almost entirely flattened. Six hundred thousand German civilians died—a figure twice that of all American war casualties. Seven and a half million Germans were left homeless. Given the astonishing scope of the devastation, W. G. Sebald asks, why does the subject occupy so little space in Germany’s cultural memory?
On the Natural History of Destruction probes deeply into this ominous silence.
Customer Reviews:
Not much of a book.......2007-08-23
This very slight volume consists of about 100 pages of an interesting set of lectures on the subject of why there hadn't been much written in contemporary German literature on the subject of the destruction of German cities by aerial bombing in World War II. It's a very interesting topic but the lectures pre-date the publication of "Der Brand" ("The Fire") by Joerg Friedrich which I imagine makes Sebald's earlier lectures somewhat obsolete.
The lectures are somewhat interesting read in conjunction with Gunther Grass' very disappointing and confusing "Peeling the Onion" although Sebald doesn't refer to Grass' work anywhere in this book.
The rest of the book is padded out with three short essays on two German writers and one German artist who are mostly unknown outside of the German-speaking world. I majored in German literature as an undergraduate in the 70's but don't think I had ever heard of Alfred Andersch, or if I had, I had completely forgotten about him. The essay on Peter Weiss, an artist of some kind, is particularly obtuse without any illustrations accompanying the text.
Non-fiction of as good quality as his fiction.......2005-07-31
In both his fiction and non-fiction, this writer can take
seemingly banal experiences and transform them into interesting even mysterious encounters--and he does it all without seeming pretentious and overly learned.
"On the Natural History of Destruction" is however not about
banal experiences. It's about the trauma of total warfare as
endured by Germans citizens in the Allied bomb attacks waged mercilessly againt them in the Second World War, how that trauma was dealt with or suppressed, and the unreality of never having
come to terms with that trauma.
Sebald describes the German tendency to suppress feelings of
trauma as a product of a proud, even defiant, compulsion to rebuild Germany as well as the discomfort of collective guilt which Germans ultimately shared for having brought the war on
themselves.
When a society like Germany chooses to drown out feelings of
loss in post-war materialism, the memory of all the innocents who suffered is forgotten: the Jews, the children of German cities, even the zoo animals killed and displaced in the Allied bombings.
Sebald writes graphically and sympathetically about them all.
In the desire to move past their wartime tragedy, Germans brushed aside the memory of the innocent.
Memories of past moral shortcomings and complicities were also
brushed away. Sebald writes a chapter on the post-war writer
Andersch who reinvents himself after the war as a writer of conscience when in reality he had only been an ambitious,
morally weak, opportunist--more comfortable with Nazi ideology
than he would ever admit.
Sebald sees one of his roles as a writer as uncovering and
preserving the collective memories of a society even if
it's as painful as Germany's was in 1945.
This non-fiction work is comparable in quality to Sebald's
best fiction and is no less intriguing.
Not only the Germans have gaps in their consciousness.......2004-09-10
This is one of the most remarkable books written around World War 2.
Whilst Sebald's primary subject is the lacunae and evasions in German texts around the experience of the Allied bombing campaigns of World War 2, the main essay of this collection also raises profound questions for any reader asssociated with the Allied nations of the war. The response in popular histories written from an Allied perspective is revealed in the wake of the Natural History of Destruction to be less than adequate. Am I alone in feeling a degree of shame and repulsion as a citizen of nations who also violated human rights in such cases as Dresden and Hamburg?
More honesty on our part is called for ... this book offers much food for thought especially around the human feelings at ground zero
Questions about whether this book assists the neo-Nazi cause and also the extraordinary tone (with strong overtones of Nazism)of the many angry letters received by Sebald further indicates how inadequate is later generations' response to the profound moral challenge of World War 2 - espcially now we are in the midst of another war where the goodies and baddies are not quite so easy to tell apart as they are in late night movies
3 other essays examine esteemed 20th century German literary figures in the wake of the war - these figures are less known outside of a German speaking context (with the exception of Weiss' theatre piece Marat/Sade) and serve to introduce them to a new audience
The prose is vivid and evocative - it is a tragedy that this writer was killed in a traffic accident at the height of his powers.
The aftermath of the War.......2003-12-18
In a series of essays, the longest of which on "Air War and Literature," Sebald probes the veil Germans placed over the massive allied bombing campaign that devastated German cities. He also looks at the Holocaust through the eyes of survivors like Jean Amery and Peter Weiss.
The book gets its title from a report by Solly Zuckerman, who had visited Cologne in the immediate aftermath of the war, and was overwhelmed by the devastation he saw. Sebald, many years later, tries to sift through the various writings on the subject and sort out the most trenchant observations of the war. But, he found this exceedingly difficult since most Germans tended to avoid the subject or treat it in overtly melodramatic tones. But, it was in such novels as Heinrich Boll's "The Silent Angel" and Hermann Kasack's "The City across the River," that Sebald found what he was looking for -- honest depictions of the massive bombing campaign and the impact it had on the German psyche.
In three additional essays, Sebald looks at writers who approached the subject. The first being Alfred Andersch, who he takes to task for his melodramatic depictions of WWII that seemed more an effort to compensate for his own shortcomings than in exploring the depths of the war. Andersch enjoyed wide spread popularity in Germany as a writer. Criticism tended to be muted. Not so with Sebald, who illustrates how Andersch reinvented himself, which served as a parable of sorts for the typical German after the war.
Sebald then looks at the writings of Amery and Weiss, who were survivors, and struggled throughout their lives to reconcile their feelings regarding the Holocaust. Sebald looks most closely at Amery whose writings were stripped of any heroic pretensions and gave readers an unvarnished look at the concentration camps. Weiss tried to explore the Holocaust through painting, but then turned to writing in an effort to give his experiences the full weight that bore down on his tortured soul. It is in these two essays that one sees the nexis for Sebald's more extensive book on the subject, "The Emigrants."
The essays are loosely written. The first was a series of lectures he presented in Zurich, and the others serve more as book reviews. But, in them one finds much food for thought as Sebald was one of the more probing writers of our time.
German guilt writing.......2003-08-07
In 1997, W.G. Sebald gave a now famous series of lectures at the University of Zurich in which he argued that German writers had almost universaliy neglected to document the horrors of the Allied bombing campaign against Germany. The air war, Sebald said, resulted in a national crisis of extreme proportion. Yet it was all but invisible in the national literature. He concluded that this absence was the result of an unspoken agreement among German writers to respect the taboo that had arisen in postwar Germany against speaking of the bombing, essentially a cultural conspiracy, the effects of which have lasted to the present.
He published them as a book Luftkrieg und Literatur, or Air War and Literature, two years later, in which he discussed some of the letters he received in response to provide more context to the lectures.
This is the English translation of that book. In which Sebald has called for a " natural history of the destruction," one that would comprehensively document the sheer number of the dead, the floods of refugees, the fires that caused the water in Hamburg's canals to boil, the sudden flourishing of rats and flies and other parasites that feed off corpses. The possiblity that the air war transformes a society of perpetrators into a society of victims.
Wonderful clear writing, the world will miss him
Book Description
A love story in the form of letters to the author's young wife, who died soon after the bombing of Hiroshima.
More than fifty years after the Second World War, the scars left by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima refuse to heal. This compelling account of one man's experience gives a human face to the events of August 6, 1945.
For a week after the bombing, the author, who was an assistant professor at Hiroshima University, wandered the decimated streets of the city, searching for his wife and his youngest son. He finally located them, but his wife died just days later. Grief-stricken, the author wrote her a series of
letters over the next year outlining the things he had seen and heard during her last days on earth. In 1948, the letters became the first eyewitness account of an atomic bombing ever published.
This powerful record shows how one family's future was altered in an instant. Comprised of correspondence, diary entries and drawings, Letters from the End of the World presents the events surrounding the close of World War II in terms so personal they will not soon be forgotten.
"By the time we reach the account of Fumiyo's horrifying death on Aug. 20, which we see from both Ogura's perspective and that of his 11-year-old daugther, Kazuko, who kept a diary, the sadness and anger that have been building up through the whole book are almost unbearable. . . . The
uncompromising anger toward Japan's military leaders that is expressed throughout is striking and unusual."
Elizabeth Ward, The Japan Times
Customer Reviews:
PLEASE I ask you to read this book: A father from HIroshima mourns his family which we incinerated sight unseen.......2007-01-23
Please read this book, and think Fallujah.
First published in Japanese a few years after we dropped a nuclear bomb upon Hiroshima, a previously secluded and untouched shelter for families and children, this book remains a prophetic and instructive text for us today of the necessity to do everything we can for peace and the end to all killing and warfare.
Thou shalt not kill.
This first hand account was written by a father whose family was destroyed by our bomb, including small children, home, etc.
His wife died from radiation sickness a few weeks after we bombed their small city. To confront and control his radical and permanent loss, her husband, an historian at Hiroshima University, wrote to her letters regarding all that he knew about the event and its aftermath, using all of his formal academic skill as historian and first person victim of our bombing. These are his letters to her.
For another historical source, you might also read Hiroshima by Takaki, an academic historian working in the United States. For another primary source, you might find the eyewitness chronicle entitled Barefoot Gen by an artist who as a small boy survived our nuclear atack on Hiroshima while losing his entire family as does Professor Ogura here. Barefoot Gen may be the most accessible to the American reader for its graphic nature; Professor Ogura may be the more poignant though no less powerful first person account to the mainly literate reader. It all depends upon your personal learning style; the truth is one and the same.
Please study carefully and prayerfully this work of a grieving father and husband, so dispassionately and professionally presented as letters to his dead and dying wife, and fight with all that you can for peace, that our present carnage against civilian populations may forever cease and we may live in permanent and abiding peace free of this murderous sin and the national psychosis which drives us into unjust though materially profitable warfare, which provides us permanently only the continual guilt of the suffering and death here so clearly and truthfully and painfully portrayed.
Thou shalt not kill.
evidence given: very good.......2006-08-11
there are evidences to show everything the author wants to tell. i can understand the whole project of the bombing of Hiroshima. a truely fantastic book!
Very Powerful and Haunting.......2004-05-07
This is one of the most powerful first hand accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima that I have ever read. My copy was quickly passed around from friend to friend and it impacted everyone who read it.
A very powerful Book.......2000-12-07
The book is a collection of letters written by the author to his wife who died from radiation sickness after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The letters detail the author's experiences as he wandered the city and pieced together what happened to family and friends. It is a very powerful book.
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