The Rise of American Air Power : The Creation of Armageddon / Michael S. Sherry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sherry, Michael S., 1945- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Air power.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University, [1987]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This prizewinning book is the first in-depth history of American strategic bombing. Michael S. Sherry explores the growing appeal of air power in America before World War II, the ideas, techniques, personalities, and organizations that guided air attacks during the war, and the devastating effects of American and British "conventional" bombing. He also traces the origins of the dangerous illusion that the bombing of cities would be so horrific that nations would not dare let it occur-an illusion that has sanctioned the growth of nuclear arsenals. "A brilliant, biting and yet not ungenerous study of a momentous idea, the idea of war from the air."-Philip Morrison, Scientific American "Sherry's book demands to be read."-D. J. R. Bruckner, New York Times Book Review "A big, heroic and chilling story, and Michael Sherry tells it with style, controlled passion, and analytical sophistication. This book is the best kind of strategic history."-Ken Booth, International Affairs "Both informative and provocative."-John Gooch, Times Higher Education Supplement "Sherry describes the course of the war in brilliant detail as a tug of war between what it was felt planes should do and what, at any moment, they could do."-Garry Wills, New York Review of Books "This riveting study has a distinct significance in today's world."-Library Journal

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

1 The Age of Fantasy

2 The Age of Prophecy

3 The Decline of Danger

4 The Attractions of Intimidation

5 From Intimidation to Annihilation

6 The Dynamics of Escalation

7 The Sociology of Air War

8 The Sources of Technological Fanaticism

9 The Triumphs of Technological Fanaticism

10 The Persistence of Apocalyptic Fantasy

Epilogue

Abbreviations and Guide to Archival Sources

Sources and Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780300185591

0300185596

OCLC:

1024055512