Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Historian James M. Scott uncovers fresh material to provide an extraordinarily complete account of the 1941 Doolittle US air raid on Tokyo and its aftermath. The basic story is familiar but Scott tells it in so gripping a fashion that it will have great appeal for both World War II buffs and general readers." Terry Hartle
Review
"[A] breakthrough work of popular history." Christian Science Monitor
Review
"A fantastic story, fantastically told." Michael Giltz Huffington Post
Review
"Filled with thrilling heroism and sacrifice, is the definitive account of the amazing Doolittle raid." The Charleston Mercury
Review
"[A] brilliant tale of adventure and bravery...the telling is fresh and packs a wallop that puts it up with the best of World War II combat stories." Chris Patsilelis Tampa Bay Times
Review
"A terrific story and a cracking good read." Edward Cuddihy Buffalo News
Review
"The Doolittle raid on Tokyo was one of the most impossible, daring, and consequential missions ever taken by American military men, and James Scott brings it back to the reader with you-are-there immediacy and drama. Filled with great characters, great heroism, and great suffering, is at once thorough, realistic, and thrilling." Ian Toll, author of Pacific Crucible, War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
Synopsis
In December 1941, as American forces tallied the dead at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gathered with his senior military counselors to plan an ambitious counterstrike against the heart of the Japanese Empire: Tokyo. Four months later, on April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers under the command of daredevil pilot Jimmy Doolittle lifted off from the deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to pummel the enemy s factories, refineries, and dockyards and then escape to Free China. For Roosevelt, the raid was a propaganda victory, a potent salve to heal a wounded nation. In Japan, outraged over the deaths of innocent civilians including children military leaders launched an ill-fated attempt to seize Midway that would turn the tide of the war. But it was the Chinese who suffered the worst, victims of a retaliatory campaign by the Japanese Army that claimed an estimated 250,000 lives and saw families drowned in wells, entire towns burned, and communities devastated by bacteriological warfare.
At the center of this incredible story is Doolittle, the son of an Alaskan gold prospector, a former boxer, and brilliant engineer who earned his doctorate from MIT. Other fascinating characters populate this gripping narrative, including Chiang Kai-shek, Lieutenant General Joseph Vinegar Joe Stilwell, and the feisty Vice Admiral William Bull Halsey Jr. Here, too, are indelible portraits of the young pilots, navigators, and bombardiers, many of them little more than teenagers, who raised their hands to volunteer for a mission from which few expected to return. Most of the bombers ran out of fuel and crashed. Captured raiders suffered torture and starvation in Japan s notorious POW camps. Others faced a harrowing escape across China via boat, rickshaw, and foot with the Japanese Army in pursuit.
Based on scores of never-before-published records drawn from archives across four continents as well as new interviews with survivors, Target Tokyo is World War II history of the highest order: a harrowing adventure story that also serves as a pivotal reexamination of one of America s most daring military operations.
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Synopsis
On April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers under the command of daredevil pilot Jimmy Doolittle lifted off from the deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to pummel Japan's factories, refineries, and dockyards in retaliation for their attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid buoyed America's morale, and prompted an ill-fated Japanese attempt to seize Midway that turned the tide of the war. But it came at a horrific cost: an estimated 250,000 Chinese died in retaliation by the Japanese. Deeply researched and brilliantly written, Target Tokyo has been hailed as the definitive account of one of America's most daring military operations.
Synopsis
"Like Lauren Hillebrand's . . . Target Tokyo brings to life an indelible era."--Ben Cosgrove,
About the Author
A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard,