Synopses & Reviews
From Bill Yenne, author of the military histories Big Week and Aces High, comes the stirring true story of the Eighth Air Force in World War II.
Less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army formed its first air force designated to operate overseas, the Eighth. Within four months, they had set up base in England. Three months later, they were bombing German targets in occupied Europe.
The Eighth was the first bomber command on either side to commit to strategic daylight bombing. It was a major change in tacticsand the men of the Eighth paid the price in both lives and blood. But it was that very sacrifice that led the Allies to victory.
Hit the Target introduces readers to those who made the Eighth Air Force the formidable juggernaut it soon became. Men of all ranks, from General Tooey Spaatz, the hard-driving founding commander, to Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the hero who led the first air raid on Japan, to Maynard Snuffy” Smith, the irascible first airman in Europe to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Robert Rosie” Rosenthal, who survived his time with the Bloody Hundredth,” which lost airmen at a horrifying rate, and who went on to serve as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.
The story of the Mighty Eighth is told through these men, whose careers paralleled the early history of aviation and who helped to revolutionize airborne warfare and win World War II.
INCLUDES PHOTOS
Review
Praise for Big Week “The author provides a day-by-day account of what took place as German industrial facilities were targeted for attack. Yenne skillfully situates the action, pulling together various threads.…Well-written and fast-paced, this will be compelling to specialists and general readers alike.”—Kirkus Reviews Praise for Aces High “This is the greatest flying story of all time.…If there was ever an aviation tale that had all the elements of an old school Hollywood blockbuster, Bill Yennes Aces High is it. Wake up, Spielberg. This is the screenplay youve been looking for.”—Dan Roam, Author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling official companion book to the Emmy(R) Award-winning HBO(R) miniseries. Look for The Pacific miniseries, now available to stream on Netflix
Between America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, five men connected by happenstance fought the key battles of the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, their solemn oaths to their country later led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home.
In The Pacific, Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the HBO(R) miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as the Pacific and the brave men who fought.
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling official companion book to the Emmy(r) Award-winning HBO(r) miniseries.
Between America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, five men connected by happenstance fought the key battles of the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, their solemn oaths to their country later led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home.
In The Pacific, Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the HBO(r) miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as the Pacific and the brave men who fought.
About the Author
Hugh Ambrose is a noted historian and was a consultant on the documentary Price for Peace, for which Steven Spielberg and Stephen Ambrose were the Executive Producers. He was a consultant to his father on his books, and served as the historical consultant on HBO(r)'s The Pacific miniseries. Ambrose is also the former vice president of the National WWII Museum and has led battlefield tours through Europe and along the Pacific Rim.