Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour

by Andrei Cherny Narrated by Jonathan Davis

Overview

Acclaimed author Andrei Cherny tells the gripping saga of a rag-tag band of Americans-with limited resources and little hope for success-keeping West Berliners alive in the face of Soviet tyranny, winning the hearts and minds of former enemies, and giving the world a shining example of fundamental goodness.
“[Written] with the flair of a novelist ...”-Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In 1948, West Berliners were suffering and hungry, existing on food rations transported by trucks, trains and barges primarily by the occupying American forces. The Russians, trying to control the divided city, blockaded the transports on June 24, 1948, and American and British pilots risked their lives to airlift in 4.6 billion pounds of food and supplies until the blockade was lifted in May 1949. Pilot Hal Halvorsen won Berliners' hearts by secretly dropping his and his buddies' candy rations by parachute into the waiting hands of the city's children. In the process, says Cherny (The Next Deal), Berliners became devoted to democracy, and Washington foreign policy and military brass learned that the Cold War needed to be won not primarily with bullets but by appealing to hearts and minds. This book could have been cut by a third for better effect; Cherny's prose and his references to 9/11 are manipulative, and his subject, particularly the nuts and bolts of the airlift, will appeal primarily to WWII buffs, who should still find much to savor in this exhaustive, often absorbing and lucid account of America's successful standoff against the Soviets. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Apr. 17)

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School Library Journal

After World War II, as the Cold War began poisoning international relationships, the United States had to figure out what its postwar role would be. Its greatest army had largely disbanded, an unpopular President was still struggling to articulate a world policy, and a newly nuclear-armed foe, recently an ally, was occupying half of Europe. Cherny (The Next Deal), a former speechwriter for Al Gore, spends much of this book explaining how postwar Berlin became a crisis point and the reaction of the Western Allies to the Soviet threat and blockade of West Berlin. In immense, mind-deadening detail, he recounts the successes of the Berlin Airlift (June 1948-May 1949) in response to the Soviet blockade. He covers its management by Gen. William Tunner, who had run the great Chinese airlift in the final year of World War II, as well as the experiences and concerns of some of the pilots and the technical problems that arose. The political story is interwoven with the story of Secretary of Defense James Forrestal's mental and physical collapse, the disagreements between George Marshall and Truman, and the ambivalence of the American public. Recommended for subject collections, particularly where related resources are available.
—Edwin B. Burgess Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Kirkus Reviews

Writing with the flair of a novelist, Cherny (The Next Deal: The Future of Public Life in the Information Age, 2000) tells the story of the Berlin Airlift. The author sets the scene with the dramatic meeting of Russian and American troops at the banks of the Elbe on April 25, 1945. "The forces of liberation have joined hands," announced the BBC; only Berlin remained to be subdued to end the war in Europe. The Red Army was first into the bombed-out city, which it vengefully pillaged and raped. Within three years, the Soviet Union had methodically expanded its hegemony in Eastern Europe, and relations with America were dangerously strained. In Berlin, the Russians manipulated elections in their sector and rejected the Western currency. Closing entrances into the American, British and French sectors of the city on June 25, 1948, the Soviets hoped to push out the West for good, in the process consigning 2.5 million Berliners to starvation. The U.S. airlift of coal and food into Tempelhof was initially intended to buy time during the standoff, but over the course of 11 months Operation Vittles would employ an armada of Skymaster C-54s and deliver millions of tons of cargo. Cherny dramatically weaves together the conjoined fates of numerous characters: Gen. Lucius Clay, newly appointed head of military government of Germany; Secretary of Defense James Forrestal and his nemesis, Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace, who ran against Truman in 1948; Col. Frank Howley, instrumental in managing the airlift; and pilots Curtis LeMay, Bill Tunner and Gail Halvorsen, the last-named celebrated for dropping little parachutes of candy for Berlin children. The author skillfully delineates the airlift's rolein dramatically improving Germans' and Americans' attitudes toward each other, with significant consequences for the Cold War. His account amplifies and vivifies material presented in a more bare-bones fashion by Jon Sutherland and Diane Canwell in Berlin Airlift: The Salvation of a City (2008). Lively, densely detailed and unabashedly enthusiastic. Agent: Raphael Sagalyn/The Sagalyn Agency

From the Publisher

What an exciting, inspiring, and wonderfully-written book this is! The dramatic tale of America’s response to the Berlin blockade involves a colorful cast of characters, great and flawed, who defined the way a great nation could act as a benevolent world power. Each page has lessons for today, and it is also a thrilling narrative to read. Cherny has produced a book that lives up to this glorious American moment in history.”—Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo Da Vinci
 
“Andrei Cherny’s The Candy Bombers is a gripping, suspenseful narrative history about the U.S. Cold War era pilots determined to help the freedom-strangled citizens of West Berlin survive Soviet tyranny. Written with incredible verve and vivid detail, Cherny succeeds in making those harrowing days of Berlin circa 1948-49 come alive. As a historian, he reminds me of Stephen Ambrose at his best.”—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Wilderness Warrior
 
“The early Cold War era was as tense as the days after 9/11. Andrei Cherny captures, in vivid detail, the excitement and drama of the U.S. response to the Soviet blockade of Berlin. You will have a hard time not cheering—or feeling moved—when America rescues its former enemy in the name of freedom.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times Bestselling Author of Being Nixon
 
“Absorbing and lucid.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“One of the finest narrative histories that I have read in years.”—Lawrence Kaplan, World Affairs
 
“The definitive telling of the amazing story of the airlift… Andrei Charny tells this story vividly, placing it on the border canvas of the incipient Cold War.”—Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Reports
 
“A fine eye for character and detail.”—Bloomberg News

JANUARY 2009 - AudioFile

The Americans, French, British, and Soviets shared joint stewardship of post-WWII Germany, but Stalin wanted all of Europe to himself. The Cold War had started by late 1945, and the Russian blockade of West Berlin in 1948 found a world unprepared to retaliate. As with many military histories, the author didn't write this to be entertaining, and narrator Jonathan Davis can do little to make it so. Placing unnaturally long pauses after every period gives the impression of disinterest or fatigue on his part, and the annoying silences prevent him from establishing a smooth listening experience. The audiobook's strength comes from the abundant details about Germany's reconstruction, including the Berlin Airlift, which secretly dropped candy on German kids' heads on approaches to landings. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171021405
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/11/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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