“What an exciting, inspiring, and wonderfully-written book this is….Each page has lessons for today, and it is also a thrilling narrative to read.”—Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Steve Jobs 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 … 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 In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of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.
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What a pleasant surprise this book was. I knew generally about the candy dropped to the children of Berlin by American pilots, but I had no idea of the environment in which it was done. It was pretty much American policy after the war that Germany should be punished, and that the treatment they received after WWI was much too lenient. Food levels for the German people were kept artificially low, and American servicemen were forbidden to give any food or help to German citizens, even children. LT Havorson disobeyed orders to drop candy to starving German Children, and probably would have been court martialed if it weren’t for the great publicity it was generating for the Army Air Corps. It became such a great propaganda coup that other fliers were encouraged to do the same.
Anyone who thinks the Russians can be trusted should read the section detailing how the Russians did everything possible to undermine representative government in the allied sector, and repeatedly broke promises, both personal and official. I don’t think I ever really appreciated how close we came to going to war with Russia at this time, and how woefully unprepared for it we were.
Don’t just sit there. Order this book and read it!
An excellent portrail ofhe political fevents lesding up to and including the airlift.
Learned more than I expected. Read the book because my Father-in-law was part of the ground the ground crew stationed in Berlin.
I recommend it.
This would be a terrific. Several stories at the same. Great way to read history
give perspective on wwII
My dad was in Berlin 1952-1953, shortly after the Berlin Airlift. He’s reading this now and can’t put it down. He’s learning so much about the lead up to the Airlift, and understands more about what it meant to the Berliners.
I’ll get to read it when he’s through.
Very compelling book. Gave me more insight to the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War. The richness of the background given the major players gave great authenticity to an account of a greatly overlooked and very important part of history.
This is a very informative story about a period in history that I knew very little about. The characters are well developed. You become interested in them as people not just historical characters
Well written account of an important event and how a relatively minor action (dropping candy to the Berlin children) produced a tidal change in the attitude of the German people. Also an insightful look at all of the people involved including some who took credit for things they never did.
Fills in a lot of information about the state of the world immediately after WWII. Shows what rats the Russians are.
The story of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49 has been told before, but new information available after the fall of the Iron Curtain provides a little more depth. The book bogs down in the beginning with biographies of some of the principal civilian and military figures involved, which wasn’t really necessary and which (one suspects) was included solely to make this a book-length history. The descriptions of post-war Berlin and of the Allied sector under siege were gripping, though. The details, collected from interviews with Germans and Americans, are fascinating. Anyone interested in that mission will find this book absorbing.
This is a must read for anyone interested in the period. Lots of in-depth and lots of research went in to this book. Russian meddling was going on then. Read and think, was glad we had leadership .
I thought I knew about the blockade till I read this enlightening and entertaining historical novel.
Here’s a book that will make you feel proud to be an American.
Having lived through this time, I had no idea of the scope of the operation. Amazing job of telling a wonderful story.