The candy bombers : the untold story of the Berlin Airlift and America's finest hour / Andrei Cherny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cherny, Andrei.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Berlin (Germany)--History--Blockade, 1948-1949.

Berlin (Germany).

United States--Foreign relations--1945-1953.

United States.

International relations.

United States--Foreign relations--Germany.

Germany.

Germany--Foreign relations--United States.

Physical Description:

xiv, 624 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2008]

Summary:

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. Author Cherny brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of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. On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union cut off all access to West Berlin, prepared to starve the city into submission. Most of America's top officials considered the situation hopeless. But not all of them. President Harry Truman, frustrated general Lucius Clay, logistics expert Bill Tunner, and secretary of defense James Forrestal improvised and stumbled their way into an unprecedented, uniquely American combination of military and moral force.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Introduction: June 24, 1948

I: The banks

Spring 1945

The end

Tombstones

Visions

Flight

The descent

II: The bend

Spring 1948

Chasm

March

III: The bridge 1948-1949

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Spring again

Coming home

Epilogue: October 1990.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [595]-603) and index.

ISBN:

9780399154966

0399154965

OCLC:

190761280

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description