Hiroshima's Shadow (Writings on the Denial of History & the Smithsonian Controversy)

Customer Reviews:

A delightfully nutty perspective.......1998-11-20

I am reading this book, so I thought I'd check to see what others have said about it. As I expected, the reviews online come from cheerleaders of the revisionist camp. Personally, I find the book to be useful information from the leftist perspective. I keep thinking: yes, yes, all that is true enough, but from the information available to Truman in July 1945, did he have any alternative but to authorize the use of the bomb?

I'll post further thoughts on my website.

-- Dan Ford

Hiroshima's Shadows presents voices from all sides.......1998-08-24

Here is an extract from my review of 'Hiroshima's Shadows', that appeared in 'New Politics', no. 25 (Summer 1998):

'Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy' is an enormous, and aesthetically handsome work, bringing together nearly 50 essays between between 1945 and 1997 by scholars, military, political and religious leaders, independent intellectuals, and survivors of the atomic bombings. The book is unusual in that, though it has a strong editorial point of view, the editors unflinchingly present voices from all sides of the argument.

The contribors include Albert Camus, Dwight Macdonald, Lewis Mumford, Mary McCarthy, A.J. Muste, among others. Defenders of the bomb include Charles Krauthammer who says that we should "let the Japanese commemorate the catastrophe they brought on themselves" (rather than mourn the use of the bomb), and Paul Fussel, an English professor and ex-front line combatant, who raises the slogan, "thank god for the atomic bomb." An even wider range of ideological positions is represented on the side of the critics: Lifschultz and Bird have recovered an anti-bomb editorial from the paleo-right-wing 'Human Events' and placed it alongside the observations of Mahatma Gandhi and Norman Thomas. As the editors put it, "the usual distinctions of left and right on economic and social issues were not reliable guides which could accurately predict what people thought about Hiroshima."

A substantial section of the book contains memoirs of a few survivors. These memoirs underscore the enduring reality that it was civilians, not military objectives, who were then, and remain, the prime target of nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima's Shadows presents voices from all sides.......1998-08-24

Here is an extract from my review of 'Hiroshima's Shadows', that appeared in 'New Politics', no. 25 (Summer 1998):

The most comprehensive and balanced account to date........1998-07-31

Hiroshima's Shadow is perhaps the most comprehensive and balanced collection of essays to date on the decision to use atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

While some insist on a single interpretation of these events and label any reinterpretation as unpatriotic or unAmerican, the New York Times put it best: "The real betrayal of American tradition would be to insist on a single version of history or to make it the property of the state or any group. History in America is based on freedom of inquiry and discussion, which is one reason why Americans have given their lives to defend it."

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Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras
Hiroaki Naoi Sugiyama
Manufacturer: Kodansha Amer Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0870117432

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Interesting, but NOT an identification guide

The Birds of Japan (Helm Field Guides)
Mark Brazil
Manufacturer: Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books | Excursion Guides | Field Guides | General
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ASIN: 0713680067

Customer Reviews:

Interesting, but NOT an identification guide.......1999-08-02

This book is primarily a guide to the distribution of Japanese birds, and the historical record of their locations. Brazil lists every species ever seen in Japan and tells where and when it is found (by prefecture, island, or even more specific location if the bird is rare). Then he describes its habitat, nesting habits and seasons, and usually its calls. Finally, he lists the authorities who have described it and summarizes the large regions in which it has been seen.

Nowhere does he discuss the birds' appearances at all. There are six nice color plates and some excellent line drawings, but in total these show only about 100 birds, and are not planned with identification in mind in any case.

Brazil includes an amazing bibliography, totaling over 1000 entries going back to the early 1800s. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. In his text, however, he does not limit his citations to the bibliography but also references a large number his own personal observations and communications from other observers.

Amazon.com

Bad things come in threes for Toru Okada. He loses his job, his cat disappears, and then his wife fails to return from work. His search for his wife (and his cat) introduces him to a bizarre collection of characters, including two psychic sisters, a possibly unbalanced teenager, an old soldier who witnessed the massacres on the Chinese mainland at the beginning of the Second World War, and a very shady politician.

Haruki Murakami is a master of subtly disturbing prose. Mundane events throb with menace, while the bizarre is accepted without comment. Meaning always seems to be just out of reach, for the reader as well as for the characters, yet one is drawn inexorably into a mystery that may have no solution. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is an extended meditation on themes that appear throughout Murakami's earlier work. The tropes of popular culture, movies, music, detective stories, combine to create a work that explores both the surface and the hidden depths of Japanese society at the end of the 20th century.

If it were possible to isolate one theme in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, that theme would be responsibility. The atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China keep rising to the surface like a repressed memory, and Toru Okada himself is compelled by events to take responsibility for his actions and struggle with his essentially passive nature. If Toru is supposed to be a Japanese Everyman, steeped as he is in Western popular culture and ignorant of the secret history of his own nation, this novel paints a bleak picture. Like the winding up of the titular bird, Murakami slowly twists the gossamer threads of his story into something of considerable weight. --Simon Leake

Book Description

Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.

In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-10-18

A real trick of a book this one. A story stranger than Hell and storytelling that is plainspoken and warm. When I expected snarling dogs, I got steaming tea. When I felt calm, calamity came.

This book is an adventurous and mind-bending metaphysical take on the twin mysteries of being and believing.

adult fairy tale.......2007-09-02

I liked this book because its covers several stories, some obviously intertwined, some not. Particularly fascinating are the sections dealing with the War in Manuchuria. They are based on facts about the Japanese incursion into Manchuria during the 1930's, but some of the details are so bizarre that they blend exquisitely with the surreal atmosphere that permeates the entire book.

you want leave it even if you hate it.......2007-08-29

Over 600 pages on emotional constipation beautifully written on any subject you could ever think of: sexual relationship between man and wife, man and fantasy, man and mental prostitute, man skin peeling a life, deep well,water, hunted houses,nasty V.I.P intellectual,empty boxes and so on.
I definitely HATED THIS BOOK but never the less coudnt let it go.
The vivid wild deranged imagination of Murakami hypnotised me totaly.
He is one wacko writer...What a genius!!

Paints a surreal world..........2007-08-26

I was teetering between four and five stars. I really wish these review sites offered fractionals, or better yet, percents. Nevertheless, this book paints an interesting and engaging world. The style and application are quite unique. I would argue there is something for just about anyone here: comedy, suspense, the supernatural, you name it. If you're not sure you want to devote yourself to 600 or so pages, pick up one of his short story collections first. I know I will most certainly read more Murakami in the future.

Excellent! .......2007-08-05

This book is a complex and multi-dimensional masterpiece. It is what best-selling fiction should be.

The Yokota Officers Club: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

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Excellent example of military life
A fun read!
Yokota
Captures military "brat" experience
Best book I have read in a LONG TIME

The Yokota Officers Club: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Sarah Bird
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345452771
Release Date: 2002-10-29

Book Description

“A GEM, POLISHED AND FACETED IN A WAY THAT PULLED ME INTO THE HEART OF IT WITH THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. . . . Important, touching, meaningful, and uplifting.”
–JEANNE RAY
Chicago Tribune

After a year away at college, military brat Bernadette Root has come “home” to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to spend the summer with her bizarre yet comforting clan. Ruled by a strict, regimented Air Force Major father, but grounded in their mother’s particular brand of humor, Bernie’s family was destined for military greatness during the glory days of the mid-’50s. But in Base life, where an unkempt lawn is cause for reassignment, one fateful misstep changed the Roots’ world forever. Yet the family’s silence cannot keep the wounds of the past from reemerging . . . nor can the memory fade of beloved Fumiko, the family’s former maid, whose name is now verboten. And the secrets long ago covered up in classic military style–through elimination and denial–are now forcing their way to the surface for a return engagement.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent example of military life.......2007-08-05

I was an Air Force brat in the late 1970s, living in Germany during the height of RAF violence. My stepdad was a Major, too. The descriptions of Air Force life, the threats of getting kicked out of base housing (for things as mundane as playing my 45 records louder than a whisper), the gossipy nature of military spouses, mostly women, and the constant reminder that you are an officer's child came back to me. The vocabulary: RIF, TDY, PCS all still hold true, too.

The story is not exclusively military related, as anyone can read this story and know what is going on: an otherwise very "strat" Air Force officer committed an unmentionable act with which the entire family has to learn how to cope. Some of the family members cope better than others, because some are more willing to talk about what happened while those still suffering from the consequences refuse to even mention the event. These family secrets are all classic coming-of-age stories. Add in a Japanese background, 1968 Vietnam War, military life and you have one wonderful story.

A fun read!.......2007-06-23

I enjoyed this book. I do agree with another reader that there was times when it seemed to drag on but I wanted to know how the author tied up ends. Being in the AF and stationed on Kadena, I enjoyed reading about it. However, I think it would be enjoyed my anyone that enjoys a good coming of age story. I highly recommend it!

Yokota .......2006-07-19

Although I liked the book overall, there were more than 2 or 3 times that I wished the author would get on with it. It became a little tedious, especially during the dance tour. I related very well to the lifestyle of the big family moves, military style. It was very believable.

Captures military "brat" experience.......2006-04-23

I've lived the life both as a civil service "brat," an Army officer and a military spouse of many years. I couldn't put this book down (and couldn't stop laughing and crying in many parts). My husband and his sister (both civil service "brats") also loved it. Sarah has truly captured the experience of our lives. A must read for military families but I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love this book, military or not. Kathie Hightower, coauthor of Help! I'm a Military Spouse - I Want a Life Too!

Best book I have read in a LONG TIME.......2006-02-23

I'm not a military brat and I don't much like coming of age books, so I was stunned by how much I loved this novel. Laugh out loud funny AND heartbreaking? Never read a book that so much of both. Got to read it to understand.

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ONE BIRD = Lies?
anti-adult, anti-Christian
Not as good as Shizuko's Daughter, but a winner nonetheless!
Another great book by Mori!
The best YA book

One Bird (Edge Books)
Kyoko Mori
Manufacturer: Henry Holth & Co (J)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805029834

Book Description

"STUNNING, EVOCATIVE . . . [A] well-crafted coming-of-age novel."
--School Library Journal
Fifteen-year-old Megumi was very sad when her parents broke up. But now, with her mother running off on a "trip" to her own childhood home, Megumi is left to stay with her father (who is never around) and her cranky grandmother (who is unfortunately always around).
Just when she feels that no one cares, Megumi meets Dr. Mizutani, a smart young woman who offers Megumi a part-time job in her veterinary office helping her heal sick birds. Dr. Mizutani seems to understand Megumi without asking a lot of questions. And as Megumi finally begins to accept why her mother had to leave, she discovers a confident strength within herself. . . .
"The text gains an intensity from the discipline with which every detail of this accomplished work is orchestrated from the first page to the last."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Customer Reviews:

ONE BIRD = Lies?.......2004-03-05

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like this author very much. All of her books boil down to her past. It's understandable if she can't put down her mother's suicide but to write so much stuff on the same topic... Like "Shizuko's Daughter", this book is about a daughter growing up alone. Unfortunately, I was not in the mood for her boohooing all over again.

All I could think of while I was reading that book was "What is this?". Like the author, I am Japanese and have spent most of my life in Japan and am getting read to move back to Japan. Again, she stresses the discipline of the Japanese public school system. From reading her memoirs, I know that she personally never attended one. She simply listened to all the bad about them, and portrays them in a negative way.

Basically speaking? It's another way for her to boohoo about her past and to put down Japan. She's biased, and I don't recommend this stuff to anyone.

anti-adult, anti-Christian.......2003-07-04

As someone who used to live in Japan, I was eager to read this. I hoped to find a book that my daughter could read to give her a glimpse of the life I used to know. However, I would not recommend this to any teen. The book is disturbing, because with the exception of a young, divorced, athiest, all of the adults are portrayed as either naive, frumpy, foolish, or hypocritical. The author is especially harsh on the Christian characters, both adults and teens, but also portrays others with religious beliefs negatively. Only the atheist comes out shining. The overall mood of the book is very negative. I was glad when I finished it. I gave it 2 stars instead of 1, because it does have some literary merit, unlike a lot of the stuff teens read these days.

Not as good as Shizuko's Daughter, but a winner nonetheless!.......2003-01-03

Megumi is a high school tenth-grader living in Japan in 1975. Megumi's life is a rather hard, cold, and lonely one. Her mother has left to go live with her grandfather using the excuse that he needs someone to take care of him, but Megumi knows that this is a lie.The only reason that her mother left was because she and her father coudln't stand each other, but getting a divorce would shame the family and the family's name. Megumi is very confused in the beginning of the book, if her mother loved her then why did she leave without her? Megumi's father and grandmother aren't exactly perfect guardians to top it off. Megumi's father is almost never home either out on business or visiting his girlfriend in Hiroshima who owns a bar and doesn't have a very honorable name. Megumi's grandmother is a cranky old woman who always complains about Megumi. Megumi meets a young, inspiring veterinarian by the name of Dr. Mituzani. Dr. Mituzani has had a hard past as well, but shows a strength that Megumi admires. Megumi helps take care of the birds at Dr. Mituzani's office, and finds much joy in watching sick or wounded birds heal. Many eventful changes occur in Megumi's life; Megumi stops believing in God, she loses her close friendship with her former best friend, and she learns that when her mother left her she missed Megumi as much as she said she did, and she truly did love Megumi.

Another great book by Mori!.......2002-11-26

I personally felt that this book wasn't as strong as Shizuko's Daughter, it is however, basically the same plot. The mother is not longer with in this case, Megumi, and the father doesn't care. He had a lover on a distant island, so someone moves in to care for Megumi. This book does contain many subplots, Megumi works for Dr. Mizutani, and discovers so much more about herself, about birds, and about caring. They develop a close bond, sharing their stories, and helping eachother. With the Kato's, it is a different bond, they had once been close, when Megumi realizes what she knew all along "There was no God" after admitting her loss of faith, she realized she could no longer be close friends with the Kato's and breaks connections. Toru, moves in from Tokyo and they develop an even closer bond, maybe even further than friendship...?
Her mother lives with her grandfather and Megumi must find the courage to stand up for herself, to get what she wants, to visit her mother...

Her father seems to stand up for her, and yet neglect her. Her grandmother seems to care not-at-all, but she cares enough to make the sandwiches, and all of those stories "Grandmother is really a nice person" what does it mean?
This book is great, but lacks the tension, the strong feelings, that her first book had. but read it anyway, you won't regret it...! ^_^

The best YA book.......2002-03-03

My friend was the first to read this book and I started after her after grabbing it to do a report. Most the time I barley get litte over half way through then I'm done. Not with this book. I stayed up for hours becuase it's one of those books you can't put down. The author is so good you acually feel like you know Megumi and what she is going through.

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: Travelers' Tales Classics

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unexpected japan
Isabella Bird, Woman of Great Courage
Fascinating 19th Century Woman

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: Travelers' Tales Classics
Isabella L. Bird
Manufacturer: Travelers' Tales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Travel | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1885211570

Book Description

This classic travel book details Isabella Bird's 1878 trip, where she set out alone to explore the interior of Japan - a rarity not only because of Bird's sex but because the country was virtually unknown to Westerners. The Japan she describes is not the sentimental world of Madame Butterfly but a vibrant land of real people with a complex culture and hardscrabble lives.

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It is a mistake to arrive at a yadoya after dark. Even if the best rooms are not full it takes fully an hour to get my food and the room ready, and meanwhile I cannot employ my time usefully because of the mosquitoes. There was heavy rain all night, accompanied by the first wind that I have heard since landing; and the fitful creaking of the pines and the drumming from the shrine made me glad to get up at sunrise, or rather at daylight, for there has not been a sunrise since I came, or a sunset either.

Customer Reviews:

unexpected japan.......2006-07-04

Bird provides a view of Japan that was unknown to outsiders in that day, and is little known to us today. The scenes she descibes of the interior of Japan would scarecly entice today's traveler; which makes her adventures all the more intriguing. Her extensive knowledge of history and botany enhances the drama; however, had she incuded a glossary of terms, as well as the common names of flora it would have sped my reading as I had to repeatedly refer to dictionaries and botanic references. Her ethnocentrism is revealed as she describes the natives of the area; a pracctice that would be frowned upon today. Never-the-less I look forward to reading more of her works.

Isabella Bird, Woman of Great Courage.......2003-05-17

This is one of the great travel books of all time. First of all it is an adventure. This English woman decided, for some strange reason of health, in 1878 to go to Japan and travel from Tokyo to the island of Hokkaido, roughly 500 miles as the crow flys but much longer by her route. She went "off the beaten track" where Westerners, men or women had never been before. Japan had been opened up to the West only 10 years before her journey. Word of her coming to a village (on horseback) caused such excitement that people that wanted a better view caused the roof of a building to collapse. Changing into night clothes was an ordeal because people would poke holes in the screens to watch her every move. Then there was the bugs and the rain storms and the rivers, etc., etc. It was well written and a joy to read.

Fascinating 19th Century Woman.......2002-02-26

This book is actually a series of letters written in the 1870's by Isabella Bird, an intrepid Scotswoman,to her sister. Japan had "opened" to the west only some 10 years earlier and she was determined to visit the "untoured" areas of inland Japan, off the beaten track. I wondered to myself how many hordes of Western tourists had there already been to Japan at that time? What makes this book so interesting is twofold. First of all she describes peasant and village life in areas which were quite poor and did not conform to the picture of Japanese life in the cities of Tokyo or Kyoto at that time or now. As was true for Europe at the same period, there were huge differences in the standards of living between the different classes and between town and village. Her descriptions of the Ainu were especially vivid and interesting. The other aspect is Isabella Bird herself. She traveled by pack horse, cow, rickshaw and on foot via mountain tracks and fording countless rivers. She slept in flea infested Ryokan and endured being stared at endlessly. For weeks at a time she could speak only to her servant/interpreter since she did not know Japanese. Recommended for those with an interest in Japan or good travel writing.

Hokusai: Mountains and Water, Flowers and Birds (Pegasus Series)

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Genius Does What it Must

Hokusai: Mountains and Water, Flowers and Birds (Pegasus Series)
Matthi Forrer
Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3791330438

Book Description

This delightful selection of prints depicting nineteenth century Japan's natural beauty is a colorful introduction to the country's most beloved artist.

The Japanese artist Hokusai spent the second half of his life sketching and painting with tremendous energy nearly everything he saw, and this book focuses on one of his most productive periods, when the artist was in his seventies. This volume of full-color reproductions features fifty works of the artist's astonishing oeuvre. The book includes selections from his renowned series of woodblock prints, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, including "In the Hollow of a Wave," "Shower below the Summit," and "South Wind at Clear Dawn." Also presented here are images of flowers, waterfalls, bridges, birds, and fish, demonstrating the uniquely precise yet passionate quality of Hokusai's art. An expert on the artist's work, Matthi Forrer provides illuminating commentary on Hokusai's life and technique, offering revealing insight into his enduring popularity in Japan and throughout the world.

Customer Reviews:

Genius Does What it Must.......2007-03-20

The textural conversation concerning the Japanese print can only be resolved by looking at the prints. Hokkusai....Hiroshige...or whomever: these prints were made by men who had to make a living doing what they did. They were absolutely no different than any contemporary artist who has agents and who depends solely upon sales of their work for their survival.
It is no accident that Van Gogh wasted a lot of valuable time introducing Japanese prints to Parisians. And it is not about who is unparalleled: Hokkusai, on a one-to-one showdown of sheer visual power is one of the great masters of visual communication.
If you know what you are looking at this is a treasure trove, and if you don't know what you are looking at this is a good place to start if you have an interest in the hisorical place of genius.

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Swans

Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Disappointing
Comprehensive yet deeply personal

Birds from Hell: History of the B-29
Wilbur H. Morrison
Manufacturer: Hellgate Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1555715508

Book Description

It was powered by four Wright R-3350-23 Duplex Cyclone eighteen-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines, each with two turbosuperchargers, capable of delivering 2200 horsepower at takeoff. It could reach an altitude of 20,000 feet in 38 minutes, a top speed of 375 mph at 30,000 feet, with a maximum range of 3,250 miles when carrying 5,000 pounds of bombs. It had pressurized cabins, remote control armaments, 15,000 feet of wiring, the largest propellers ever installed on a production plane, and a price tag that eventually reached $1 million per plane.

The B-29 Superfortress was first developed in 1940 as an eventual replacement for the both the B-17 and B-24. The first one built made its maiden flight on September 21, 1942. In 1943, the decision was made to base the long-range bomber solely in the Pacific Theater where it was particularly suited for the long over-water flights necessary to attack the Japanese homeland from bases in China, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.

As many as 1,000 Superfortresses at a time bombed Tokyo, destroying large parts of the city. Finally, on August 6, 1945, the B-29, Enola Gay, dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, the B-29, Bockscar, dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Shortly thereafter, Japan surrendered.

Birds From Hell presents the facts about Japan's defeat and the role that the B-29 Superfortresses played in it. It is a fascinating history of the legendary bomber told by a man who was a part of that history from the day the first Superfortress rolled off the assembly line. Wilbur Morrison, one of the nation's foremost aviation historians, reveals the truth about the air war in the Pacific during WW II and provides insight into the personalities and motives of three influential men: Generals LeMay, Montgomery, and Hansel. Includes rare U.S. Air Corps photos.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2004-09-22

The author, Wilbur Morrison, was a B-29 bombardier from the earliest days of this airplane's operational career during WII. As such, his personal experience with the B-29 makes for somewhat of an interesting read. But that's about it for this book.

Morrison was put into a ground staff position, which meant that a) he didn't fly as many missions as other bombardiers and b) his operational flight career got stretched out for the duration of WWII. This has pluses and minuses for the book - on the one hand, he has personal tales of flying missions on the B-29, and he was there for the entire duration of the B-29's operations in WWII, but on the other hand, he was on the ground watching others fly missions (and crash and burn) a lot. It also meant that he was close enough to the higher level people like Curtis LeMay to know them on a staff level, but wasn't high ranking enough to be personally involved in the planning of combat operations.

The biggest, most ANNOYING problem with this book is that the author re-counts a great deal of the history of the higher level planning involving the B-29's operations by re-creating these very long conversations between Curtis LeMay and others. Now, in the preface, he says that these conversations really did occur and that he got this information from interviewing LeMay and other people. I do believe that he did do these interviews, and these people did give him a lot of information, but I doubt that they actually could have remembered what they said verbatim like what is set down in this book. These long conversations read like extensive stretches of exposition from a movie script. A lot of what is said just doesn't sound like people talking in real-life. It just reads like a very artificial way of setting down third-person information that could have been recounted better from a standard historian's perspective.

Finally, there is surprisingly little technical information about the workings of the B-29 bomber itself in this book. This is the biggest bummer of all about this book. This book really isn't about the B-29 bomber.

I have read a few other books about the B-29. "Superfortress" by Curtis LeMay and Bill Yenne, has LeMay recounting in a much more realistic first-person style what his thoughts and actions were all about during the B-29 campaign, and is especially good at giving you a sense of how well LeMay managed the logistical difficulties of the B-29 bombing campaign. It's a slim book, though, and the technical aspects of the bomber are glossed over and appear to have been filled in by Yenne (the switching off between LeMay's rough and tumble jargon, and Yenne's formal historian-speak is a bit jarring). "Bombers over Japan" by Keith Wheeler, a Time-Life book, has an excellent mix of the technical workings of the B-29 as well as a solid account of its operational history. There are lots of photos and drawings of the innards of the B-29. "Saga of the Superfortress" by Steven Birdsall has a thorough historical account of the B-29's operational history.

Anyway, these other books are better, but are out of print, unfortunately. LeMay's book gives a more direct insight into his thoughts and plans, and has some excellent explanations and justifications for his campaign of massive firebombing (the original reason, as it turns out, was not to crush the Japanese into submission, but because a combination of poor US intelligence, bad weather, lousy navigation, and technical problems with the B-29 all made early attempts at "precision bombing" of Japan completely hopeless. The B-29 was able to successfully take out Japanese war factories or installations only by burning down entire cities. Later on, as the deadline for the US invasion of Japan loomed, LeMay desperately wanted to end the war with Japan before the invasion, to save US casualties, and at that point he was all set to completely annihilate all of Japan with firebombing if need be. He would have, too, if the atomic bomb had not intervened). The Wheeler book is really good for the technical stuff. There are other excellent books as well, but so far these are the only ones that I've found on the B-29. It seems like a lot of the best books are out of print. After being disappointed by buying this book, I'm mostly going to go to the library for other books like this one from now on.

Reading all of these books, one really gets the sense that the B-29 was an experimental plane, and quite dangerous to its own aircrews. The engines were just so unreliable that they could just quit at any time, or worse yet, set the plane on fire, which was why so many B-29's crashed and burned. Japan really did not have any sort of a developed air defense system, like Germany did; otherwise the B-29's would have fared much more poorly.

In summary, "Birds From Hell" turns out to be just another one of the many first-person histories of WWII experiences that are proliferating out there right now, as the Greatest Generation fades into memory. It tries to be more than that, but doesn't really succeed. And it is not a technical book about the B-29 bomber itself.

Comprehensive yet deeply personal.......2001-11-16

The late Wilbur Morrison's final contribution to our understanding of the airwar during WWII is a comprehensive yet deeply personal account of the B29 Superfortress, the 20th Air Force, and General Curtis E. LeMay. Another title that could easily fit in any number of the Booklist's categories, Birds From Hell not only recounts the genesis of the B29, but elaborates in fine detail the plane's many early teething problems; notably the propensity for its Wright-Cyclone engines to catch fire! Morrison served an extended combat tour as a bombardier aboard B29's in the Pacific and CBI Theatres. His accounts of the massive, staggering destruction of carpet bombing over various Asian cities makes for can't put down reading. General LeMay is singled out for special praise due to his keen insight into air operations and his almost singlehanded efforts to improve the operational effectiveness of the B29. Often, his decisions were viewed controversially, yet, without exception his decisions appear correct granted the luxury of hindsight. Morrison contends that the war against Japan was effectively over "prior" to the B29 nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and that the latter events simply speeded the inevitable Japanese surrender. Highlights include the author's recollections of his own combat missions in the face of repeated attack by Japanese fighters and ferocious flak. His observations on life in India, and post-war Japan also bear note.

A comment on the book's jacket notes that Morrison flew "five hundred combat missions." Obviously, this should read 500 "hours". The publisher is aware of the misprint and has said that later editions will show the correction.

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