The candy bombers : the untold story of the Berlin Airlift and America's finest hour / Andrei Cherny.
Material type:
TextPublication details: New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, c2008.Description: xiv, 624 p. : ill. ; 25 cmISBN: - 0399154965
- 9780399154966
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 943.1550874 C521 | Available | 33111005740937 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The masterfully told story of the unlikely men who came together to make the Berlin Airlift one of the great military and humanitarian successes of American history.
On the sixtieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, Andrei Cherny tells a remarkable story with profound implications for the world today. In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of cast-offs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of desperate people from a dire threat but changed how the world viewed the United States, and set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and to Americas victory in the Cold War.
On June 24, 1948, intent on furthering its domination of Europe, the Soviet Union cut off all access to West Berlin, prepared to starve the city into submission unless the Americans abandoned it. Soviet forces hugely outnumbered the Allies, and most of Americas top officials considered the situation hopeless. But not all of them.
Harry Truman, an accidental president, derided by his own party; Lucius Clay, a frustrated general, denied a combat command and relegated to the home front; Bill Tunner, a logistics expert downsized to a desk job in a corner of the Pentagon; James Forrestal, a secretary of defence beginning to mentally unravel; Hal Halvorsen, a lovesick pilot who had served far from the conflict, flying transport missions in the backwater of a global war, altogether these unlikely men improvised and stumbled their way into a uniquely American combination of military and moral force unprecedented in its time.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [595]-603) and index.
Introduction: June 24, 1948 -- I: The banks -- Spring 1945 -- The end -- Tombstones -- Visions -- Flight -- The descent -- II: The bend -- Spring 1948 -- Chasm -- March -- III: The bridge 1948-1949 -- June -- July -- August -- September -- October -- November -- December -- Spring again -- Coming home -- Epilogue: October 1990.
The masterfully told story of the unlikely men who came together to make the Berlin Airlift one of the great military and humanitarian successes of American history. Author Cherny brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of desperate people from a dire threat but changed how the world viewed the United States. On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union cut off all access to West Berlin, prepared to starve the city into submission. Most of America's top officials considered the situation hopeless. But not all of them. President Harry Truman, frustrated general Lucius Clay, logistics expert Bill Tunner, and secretary of defense James Forrestal improvised and stumbled their way into an unprecedented, uniquely American combination of military and moral force.--From publisher description.