Bomber Command (Pan Grand Strategy S.)
by Max Hastings
Our Price: $63.52
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Max HastingsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-11-12
ISBN: 0330392042
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Book Reviews of Bomber Command (Pan Grand Strategy S.)
Book Review: What "Bomber Command" does not say.
Summary: 5 Stars
Bomber Command is a great book if you want to know about how bad war can be, and should be read by anyone that thinks there is some glory in war. However, the conclusion drawn by Jerry Saperstein, "as Hastings notes, there was no such thing as an innocent German civilian" is not supported by the text, and is full of hate, and is obnoxious. The statement apparently relates to the rationalization of "strategic" bombing that England the USA chose as being less expensive in US/UK lives, even if more expensive in civilian lives. In fact, at the start of WWII, bombers only got 10% of all loads withing fifty miles of the target, so setting cities on fire and then bombing them made targets that the bombers could find. The rational was that people who live in cities go to work in factories that either produce weapons or produce food, or electricity; something that supports the war effort. If this means that every German was guilty of war crimes, consider these two parallels: (1) Recently Hizboallah was accused by Amnesty International of war crime for firing rockets and aiming some of them cities (Hizbollah did kill more Israeli soldiers than civilians, so they were MUCH better than the British and US in WWII), (2) in August and September (2006) Israeli troops killed 37 children under 18 in Palestinian territory (Gaza, mostly), supported my weapons made in the USA, and by a huge amount of foreign aid from the USA. If Saperstein is correct, every Israeli, every Jew, and every American is guilty of killing each of those children (one was a young boy, killed while playing his own yard. The killing was followed by a call to his parents from Israel telling them to get out of their home). If we are all guilty of shooting children, I want out. Had any number like that of Israeli children been killed, certainly Mr. Saperstein would have found all Palestinians guilty, and it would justify taking more land from them. The facts are, you are responsible only for those things that you can change, millions of Jews/Israelis want Israel to implement UN Security Council Resolution 242, and every German knew that those who stood up the Hitler were soon killed. "Bomber Command" shows, as the war in Iraq has, that a few politicians can make huge decisions without the public even being told the facts, but the public will pay the price, even when they have no control over the actions. Guilt is not something that one person (even a writer) determines, and we have rightly condemned the German army for collective punishment for shooting civilians when they could not find partisans, a lesson we all need to appreciate.
Bomber Command is a great read, full of facts that will amaze you by their brutality, but any theory of common guilt was a rationalization to support collective punishment, just as Israel has recently done to Lebanon. Just as the bombing did not work in Lebanon, it did not work in Germany. Destroying people's homes does not make them stop supporting war, it leaves them with no alternative but fighting. If you are a war buff, or just want to know why Churchill put off invading Europe for so long, this is a must buy.
Summary of Bomber Command (Pan Grand Strategy S.)
An account which traces the development of area bombing, using documents, letters, diaries and interviews with key surviving witnesses. Bomber Command's offensive against the cities of Germany was one of the epic campaigns of World War II.England Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in England Books
King Edward VIII: The Official Biographyby Philip Ziegler
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; Published: 1990-09-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.18
Court Lady and Country Wife: Two Noble Sisters in Seventeenth-Century Englandby Lita-Rose Betcherman
HarperCollins Canada; Published: 2005-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.72
Price in other shops:
Read My Heart: A Love Story in the Age of Revolutionby Jane Dunn
Harpercollins Canada; Published: 2008-10-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.94
Price in other shops:
No Graves As Yet (World War One Novels)by Anne Perry
Ballantine Books; Published: 2004-08-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.88
Price in other shops:
The Oxford History of BritainOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-06-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Nature of Monstersby Clare Clark
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2007-05-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Selkirk's Island: The True and Strange Adventures of the Real Robinson Crusoeby Diana Souhami
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2002-02-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.86
Price in other shops:
The Great Hunger: Ireland: 1845-1849by Cecil Woodham-Smith
Penguin Group; Published: 1992-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sistersby Charlotte Mosley
Harper; Published: 2007-11-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
The Professor and the Madmanby Simon Winchester
Harper; Published: 1998-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Warriors: Portraits from the Battlefieldby Max Hastings
Knopf; Published: 2006-01-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Battle for the Falklandsby Max Hastings, Simon Jenkins
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1984-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops:
Reichby Max Hastings
Pan Macmillan; Published: 2000-11-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $42.98
Das Reich: March of the Second Ss Panzer Division Through Franceby Max Hastings
Henry Holt & Co; Published: 1982-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $59.95
Winston's War: Churchill, 1940-1945 (Vintage)by Max Hastings
Vintage; Published: 2011-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.03
Price in other shops:
The Korean Warby Max Hastings
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1988-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945by Max Hastings
Vintage; Published: 2005-10-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.01
Price in other shops:
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 (Vintage)by Max Hastings
Vintage; Published: 2009-03-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.55
Price in other shops:
Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandyby Max Hastings
Vintage; Published: 2006-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945by Max Hastings
Knopf; Published: 2011-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.93
Price in other shops: