| |  | Books : The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour |  | | | | | | | | | |
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.1550874
EAN: 9780399154966
ISBN: 0399154965
Label: Putnam Adult
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 640
Publication Date: April 17, 2008
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Sales Rank: 22188
Studio: Putnam Adult
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
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 In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of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, and set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and to America’s 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 America’s 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 defense 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—together these unlikely men improvised and stumbled their way into a uniquely American combination of military and moral force unprecedented in its time.
This is the forgotten foundation tale of America in the modern world, the story of when Americans learned, for the first time, how to act at the summit of world power—a masterful and exciting work of historical narrative, and one with strong resonance for our time.
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating: - An Uplifting Example and Amazing Story
Reading this book is an emotional and stirring event on many different levels.It offers one of the clearest and most succient histories of the period just after the Second World War.The book also does an excellent job of providing balance between the outsized personalities who helped shape the airlift and the amazing achievement that the airlife in itself was.
One of the most touching aspects however is the human aspect of the story. Besides telling the story of the candy bomber ... Read More
Rating: - The Candy Bombers: the untold story of the Berlin Arilift and America's Finest Four
A book that I could not put down! Why? Simply wanted to know who und what will be next to help a downed nation to stay alive with an "enemy" on each side. All in all it shows as well that politicians are only people with faults and their own agendas. Too bad. The outcome was heroic but only because of the "little man" who did the work and not because of the politicians or in spite of them. That could have gone easily the other way. Thank God it did not and I was able to see for myself what became ... Read More
Rating: - My Candy Bombers Book Review
I am a Korean War veteran and somewhat of a history buff, especially during the period leading up to and including the aftermath of World War II.I cannot praise this book enough.Andrei Cherney has written the absolutely best description I have read of the events and people that resulted in the Berlin Airlift and how close we came to World War III at that time.Of special interest to me is the way he describes our great military leaders of that time, especially Generals Clay, Bedell Smith, Curtis ... Read More
Rating: - A positive bit of history
I began reading this book because my husband (Lt. Ben Knight) flew one of the first missions over the corridor into Berlin in 1948, probably before the official airlift began.I hoped to learn more about his activity during this time.What I learned was how close we came to losing Berlin and so much more, but for the efforts of a caring pilot.
It was a pleasure to meet the author and to hear that Hal Halvorsen is still a great hero to the German people.
It was a hard book to put down and ... Read More
Rating: - C-54's to the Rescue
In June 1948 the Soviets blockaded Berlin by cutting all rail and road links to the parts of occupied Germany held by the three Western powers. Food, fuel and all other necessities for the city came then only from the Soviet occupied eastern regions and were available only to the eastern portion of Berlin, the sector of the city controlled by the Soviets. Berlin was an island in the middle of the Soviet occupation zone and was utterly dependent on the outside for all of its needs. Not that many of these ... Read More
The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour | | | |
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