World War II Database

Full Title: Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany

Long before American troops set foot in Italy and France, American airmen brought the war to the Germans from up above. In Masters of the Air, Donald Miller discussed the technology, the training, the tactics, the comradery, the pub crawls, and all things that were impressive about the new dimension of war, told through both the perspective of a general in Washington sitting behind a desk as well as a bombardier looking through a bombsight. Meanwhile, the new form of warfare also brought new understandings in medicine and psychiatry, for better or for worse. Beyond it all, perhaps Miller's greatest achievement in regards to this book, the author made sure to push home the gruesome wounds and deaths that took place inside the bombers as well as the unimaginable massacres that German civilians suffered, reminding us that war should never be glorified. Digging past the impressive narratives and detailed research, the only minor shortcoming I could find was that the book was wide in scope, thus some of the topics were cursory at best; this observation was not meant to be a discouragement from this book, however, for Masters of the Air would form a good complement to other books about the air war over Europe.

I had reviewed this title in its audio book format. Robertson Dean had done a fine job with the reading, as he did with other audio books that he had read which I had previously reviewed.

Masters of the Air was an enjoyable title.