Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this immersive, meticulously researched history, Pulitzer finalist Scott (Target Tokyo) contends that the 1945 firebombing campaign against Japan marked a moral shift in U.S. military strategy and paved the way to the use of the atomic bomb. Drawing on oral histories and survivor diaries, Scott vividly recounts the air raid on Tokyo orchestrated by Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, which incinerated one out of every four buildings in the Japanese capital and killed more than 100,000 people. LeMay continued the campaign for 159 days, targeting Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe, among other cities, destroying homes, factories, aircraft plants, and oil refineries. Scott carefully builds up to the firebombing campaign, detailing the pressure on American commanders to bring the war to a close, the capture of the Mariana Islands to be used as airfields, challenges involved in building the B-29 bomber, and Gen. Haywood Hansell Jr.'s refusal to shift strategies from high-altitude daylight precision bombing of industries to nighttime, low-altitude incendiary bombing of civilian neighborhoods. Also profiled is Army Air Forces commander Henry "Hap" Arnold, who thought that "crush Japan" would demonstrate the need for an independent air force and made the decision to replace Hansell with LeMay. Full of vivid action scenes and sharp character observations, this riveting WWII history reveals the staggering cost of obtaining peace. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
L.J. Ganser narrates Scott's (Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila) history of the strategic incendiary WWII bombing campaign against Japan by the U.S. Air Force with flair and feeling. Each chapter begins with an eloquently voiced quote, setting the tone for the content that follows. The production opens with the creation of the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress and then segues into the life of General Curtis LeMay, the commanding officer of the XXI Bomber Command, who both planned and executed the 1945 bombing strategy. Scott details the political and logistical path of the air war in Asia and concludes just after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Ganser's voice enlivens the vindication LeMay felt during the bombing campaign; the guilt, remorse, and depression felt by some of the Americans after bombing missions; and both the overwhelming sense of loss and the horrors felt by Japanese civilians when viewing the total devastation of their homes and livelihoods. Ganser's pronunciation of Japanese names and places is generally commendable. VERDICT This harrowing narrative includes the point of view of Japanese civilians who were victims of the U.S. war strategy; a timely reminder of the human costs of war.--Stephanie Bange
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Thorough study of the B-29 raids over Japan that underscores the debate over precision bombing versus firebombing at the end of World War II. In this excellent follow-up to Rampage and Target Tokyo, Scott evenhandedly examines the controversy surrounding the firebombing of Japanese cities and offers a sympathetic rendering of the devastating effects of those bombings on the civilian population. At the core of the narrative is the development of the B-29 Superfortress, a massive, expensive new bomber championed by Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold in his advocacy for the independence of the Air Force. By late 1944, ready for action, the new bombers were assigned to the Pacific theater in an operation overseen by Gen. Haywood Hansell Jr., "one of the few leaders who still preached the idea of humane [daylight precision] bombing." As the American public clamored for an end to the war, top-level military officials made the decision to increase the use of incendiary bombs in order to break the morale of the Japanese civilian population, force surrender, and avoid a costly invasion. In the early weeks of 1945, Hansell was replaced by ace pilot and operator Curtis LeMay, who immediately instigated the firebombing system, which involved flying low at night and carpeting dense urban areas with waves of incendiaries, killing thousands. "Targeting homes was the key to societal breakdown," the generals concluded. Scott writes that LeMay's March bombing of Tokyo represented a "tremendous moral shift for the United States, which until this moment had opposed the intentional killing of civilians." This paved the way for the destruction of dozens of other Japanese cities, and after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the death toll reached 330,000, an estimate that was "likely low." Scott alternates his page-turning account of the air operations with devastating on-the-ground eyewitness reports of survivors, providing a kaleidoscopic portrait of both sides in a cataclysmic conflict. A top-shelf World War II history told with meticulous research and considerable heart. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
