From 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) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“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.”
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Walter Isaacson, Author of
Benjamin Franklin: Am American Life and
Einstein: His Life and Universe “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.”
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Douglas Brinkley Professor of History; Fellow, Baker Institute, Rice University; Author,
The Great Deluge and
Tour of DutyEditor, The Reagan Diaries “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, Author,
Sea of Thunder
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Andrei Cherny sent the following posts to customers who purchased The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour