A solid account of how the U.S. took command of the skies.
How the “flying battleship”—the B-29—was born.
Baime, author of The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World (2017), builds his story around Henry “Hap” Arnold (1886-1950), who was taught flying by the Wright brothers and rose to command the Army Air Force in 1938 as it greatly expanded. He writes, “Few of the eight billion people on earth today have any sense of the degree to which airpower—in peace and war—has shaped our modern geopolitical world and our quotidian lives, and the narrative of how this came to be can best be told through the story of one man and one airplane.” U.S. air power did not distinguish itself in World War I, and it suffered, along with all armed forces, during the interwar years. Many agreed that bombers were an unstoppable terror weapon that would decide future wars. Baime emphasizes the belief that precision bombing that could destroy an enemy’s industrial war-making capacity remained an American monopoly. Well before the World War II buildup began in 1934, Arnold supported development of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and, in 1939, its successor, the B-29 Superfortress—a massive aircraft whose development cost more than the Manhattan Project. By the time the B-29 entered service in 1944, there were more than enough B-17s to deal with Germany, but the B-29’s longer range was essential for attacking Japan. High-altitude precision bombing never lived up to predictions, and the climate at high altitudes over Japan proved unsolvable from the beginning. Baine writes that the change to low-altitude firebombing in early 1945 was devastating, but it did not persuade Japan to surrender. By summer, Japan was helpless to fend off the B-29s, yet it took the atom bombs and the Soviet invasion to deliver the coup de grâce. Arnold died a few years after retiring in 1946, soon after achieving his life ambition of an independent U.S. Air Force equal to the Army and Navy.
A solid account of how the U.S. took command of the skies.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780063411760
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Mariner Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus, at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.
Pub Date: April 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2
Page Count: 513
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions.
An expert on Russia delivers a crucially relevant study of a country that has been continuously “subjected to the vicissitudes of ruling ideologies.”
Wolfson History Prize winner Figes, one of the world’s leading authorities on Russian history and culture, shows how, over centuries, Russian autocrats have manipulated intertwined layers of mythology and history to suit their political and imperial purposes. Regarding current affairs, the author argues convincingly that to understand Putin’s aggressive behavior toward Ukraine and other neighboring nations, it is essential to grasp how Russia has come to see itself within the global order, especially in Asia and Europe. Figes emphasizes the intensive push and pull between concepts of East and West since the dubious founding of Kievan Rus, “the first Russian state,” circa 980. Russia’s geography meant it had few natural boundaries and was vulnerable to invasion—e.g., by the Mongols—and its mere size often required strong, central military control. It was in Moscow’s interests to increase its territorial boundaries and keep its neighbors weak, a strategy still seen today. Figes explores the growth of the “patrimonial autocracy” and examines how much of the mechanics of the country’s autocracy, bureaucracy, military structure, oligarchy, and corruption were inherited from three centuries of Mongol rule. From Peter the Great to Catherine the Great to Alexander II (the reformer who freed the serfs) and through the Bolsheviks to Stalin: In most cases, everything belonged to the state, and there were few societal institutions to check that power. “This imbalance—between a dominating state and a weak society—has shaped the course of Russian history,” writes the author in a meaningful, definitive statement. Today, Putin repudiates any hint of Westernizing influences (Peter the Great) while elevating the Eastern (Kievan Rus, the Orthodox Church). In that, he is reminiscent of Stalin, who recognized the need for patriotic fervor and national myths and symbols to unite and ensure the oppression of the masses.
A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-79689-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Metropolitan/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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