Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs [Paperback]

Warren Trest (Author), Donald Dodd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2001 | ISBN-10: 1588380211 | ISBN-13: 978-1588380210

The year 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs incident and the timely reissue of Wings of Denial. After nearly four decades of government denial, the deeds of four Alabama Air National Guardsmen who died at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 were made public and their names memorialized at the CIA's Wall of Honor in Langley, Virginia. Their stories are told in Wings of Denial.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a superb account of one of the darkest tragedies of the Cold War era... describes in chilling detail the bloody impact of JFK's personal intervention." --Colonel Michael Haas, USAF, Ret.

About the Author

Warren Trest, former senior historian with the USAF Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, has authored and coauthored more than 50 military histories and studies. In 2000, his book Air Commando One: Heinie Aderholt and America's Secret Air Wars was nominated for the Bancroft Prize, offered for distinguished works in American history. Trest is also the author of the biography of John Patterson, Nobody But the People, and a novel, Missing in Paradise, both from NewSouth Books. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Donald Dodd is professor emeritus of history at Auburn University at Montgomery and the assistant director of the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: NewSouth Books (March 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588380211
• ISBN-13: 978-1588380210
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,416,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful and timely message, November 6, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs (Paperback)

Collaboratively written by historians Warren Trest (USAF Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama) and Donald Dodd (Professor Emeritus of History, Auburn University, Montgomery, Alabama), Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs is a riveting expose of the ill-fated 1961 Bay of Pigs attempted invasion of Cuba. Four Alabama Air National Guardsmen perished in the invasion, and the body of one of them was frozen as a war trophy in Cuba until 1978. Meticulously researched, and enhanced with black-and-white photographs, Wings of Denial is a powerful and timely message in view of today's rapidly evolving international conflicts about the deadly cost of unrestrained national hubris.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wings of Denial, the role of Washington in the Bay of Pigs, June 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs (Paperback)

This book started out great and I was very excited about the information being presented. Then it seemed to get a little sidetracked on the story in Washington D.C. rather than what was going on in Guatemala, and I was slightly diasapointed overall. I have been researching the air war at the Bay of Pigs and have read many books on the subject. I found several minor errors in the book. For example, the photo on page 86 identifies the man as Jose "Pepe" San Ramon when in fact the man is Major Pedro Luis Diaz-Lanz. That does not overshadow the book, but it made me wonder what else was incorrect. Never the less, I do recommend the book to anyone wanting to get an overall sense of the errors made at the Bay of Pigs on a political as well as military sense. I did find it very interesting to read the follow up on some of the principle Guardsmen after the Bay of Pigs.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wings of Denial, May 17, 2011

By 

Reed - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. It arrived in new condition. I was a member of the Alabama ANG for 15 years and actually knew 2 of the people who were involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion. I had borrowed the book from a friend years ago and read it but I wanted to have a copy for my self since it tells the story of a famous incident in the history of the US involving the ALANG. The book also shows clearly how our government threw that ALANG and Cubans under the bus and continued to do the same thing in Viet Nam. Reed