Review by Choice Review
The latest from the pen of prolific and popular military historian Ambrose (D-Day, June 6, 1944, 1994, and Citizen Soldiers, 1997) tells the story of the ordinary men who became US airmen and flew Liberator bombers against Germany/Austria from Italy in WW II. The book, smaller in size than the usual Ambrose tome, recounts the cramped and often freezing high-level aerial work; the danger, stress, and fatigue of missions; the aircraft; and the prerequisite training from the viewpoint of one B-24 crew led by former US senator and presidential candidate George McGovern, then just 22 years old. The future politician and his men were among the lucky 50 percent of the Liberator crews who survived their operations from the improvised fields of Italy into the flak and fighter filled skies to, from, and over such targets as Polesti and Berlin. Loaded with anecdote, illustrated with mostly unpublished photos, and based on interviews and primary and secondary works, this book might best be read as the airborne equivalent of the television series Band of Brothers. Recommended for all levels. M. J. Smith Jr. Tusculum College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Popular historian Ambrose's latest is about half the size of his usual books but much more than half as good. It focuses on former senator and presidential candidate George McGovern's experience as a B-24 pilot in the last months of World War II, when he flew 35 missions out of a base near Cerignola, Italy, during which he made three emergency landings and for which he won two Distinguished Flying Crosses. Ambrose admires McGovern pretty much without reserve, yet he hasn't written a panegyric. Nor is he uncritical of much of the rest of what he portrays. The B-24 Liberator performed better than its stablemate, the B-17 Flying Fortress, but it was emphatically less ergonomic and more vulnerable to battle damage. The Italian-based strategic bombers operated out of improvised fields, sans hangars and barracks, surrounded by a civilian population amid ruins and on the edge of starvation. And although the incompetent were few and the evil fewer in the Army Air Force, the strange were numerous. Based on an impressive array of primary and secondary sources, the book is another affirmation of the Greatest Generation, to be sure, and a tribute to a fast-diminishing band of American heroes who offered and in many cases gave their lives to save their posterity from real and gruesome dangers. --Roland GreenLate Arrival
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Brought to life by best-selling historian Ambrose (author of more than 20 books), here is one of America's forgotten workhorse weapons of WWII the B-24 bomber. Carrying a heavier payload than the glamorous B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24, nicknamed the Liberator, also filled the skies over Germany, bombing troops, oil refineries, factories and other strategic targets. South Dakota-born George S. McGovern was 22 when he became a B-24 pilot in the 741st Bomb Squadron, based in Cerignola, Italy. Though basing the book largely on McGovern's 35 missions, for which he won the Distinguished Flying Cross, Ambrose includes many other stories about the men who flew over Germany and eastern Europe. As Ambrose makes abundantly clear, the planes were not fun to fly. The crew faced inside temperatures of 50 below zero, sat in cramped seats and suffered high casualty rates. Ambrose follows pilots and crews from start to finish where they were from, their backgrounds, training, bravery and heroism as they did their part to help win the war. Today there are only four B-24s left of the 18,300 that once made up the force. While this book leans largely toward hagiography of the everymen it depicts, it also clearly refutes lies spread about McGovern's service during the 1972 presidential campaign. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.) Forecast: Any book with the Ambrose name should do a short stint on bestseller lists; this one should pick up some (largely unrelated) momentum from the Pearl Harbor anniversary and film. The book's release coincides with the airing of a 10-part Dreamworks/ HBO series based on Ambrose's Band of Brothers. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
A distinguished author whose recent works include Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers, which also focus on World War II, Ambrose prefers to tell history from the average soldier's point of view. This book follows that formula. Ironically, the main character in this war book is George McGovern, who flew 35 combat missions and won the Distinguished Flying Cross but would later become a dovish Democratic candidate for president in 1972. The book follows the training of the 22-year-old McGovern and his friends through their deployment into Italy in 1944-45. Those who made it through the demanding and often dangerous training courses would have to face the even more perilous routine of flying a B24 bomber into the heavily defended skies over Germany. Many B24 flight crews never returned. The mental fatigue of flying so many stressful missions was almost as bad as the physical danger. With books like this, Ambrose has certainly struck a popular chord. The World War II generation is thinning daily, and everyone's story should be told including McGovern's. Ambrose's narrative flows smoothly, even as he manages to cover each man's story. Recommended for public and academic libraries and subject specialists. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/01.] Mark Ellis, Albany State Univ., GA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Another paean to the "greatest generation" of young Americans, this time focusing on the B-24 bomber crews-with special attention to the crew of the Dakota Queen, piloted by future US Senator and 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern. Ambrose (Nothing Like It in the World, 2000, etc.) took over this project from reporter Michael Takiff, who had begun work on a book about McGovern's wartime experiences. Ambrose and his editor decided to broaden the scope, and the result is this highly anecdotal biography-cum-military history whose purpose seems more to celebrate than to scrutinize. The author acknowledges that he is a McGovern partisan, so seldom is heard a discouraging word about the young South Dakota pilot's 35 combat missions-or about his character. Ambrose begins with a brief chapter about the B-24 (called the "Liberator"), describing its spartan design and the rigorous physical and psychological demands it placed on those who flew and maintained it. (He notes wistfully that only one of the craft is currently flying; virtually all were recycled after the war.) He then goes on to answer one of his questions: "From whence came such men?" He describes McGovern's background (his father was a preacher), then follows him (and others) through the arduous and highly competitive training process. McGovern arrived in Naples in September 1944 and proceeded to the base at Cerignola, where the B-24s launched their assaults on the Nazi assets, principally oil refineries and manufacturing centers. (Ambrose mentions that McGovern's group once attacked very near Auschwitz but elects to summarize FDR's position rather than enter the should-we-or-shouldn't-we? debate about bombing the death camp.) McGovern emerges as a skilled, courageous pilot (he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross) who made a couple of spectacular landings in perilous situations and enjoyed the respect of his colleagues. His inadvertent bombing of an Italian farmhouse troubled him for a half-century. Ambrose, as always, finds poignant details, tells powerful stories. Much nostalgia and admiration; very little analysis; virtually no censure. First printing of 500,000; author tour
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
