The Few: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With his customary narrative drive, Kershaw (The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice) spotlights the handful of American pilots who joined the Royal Air Force and its fighter squadrons during the Battle of Britain. They have been overshadowed by or confused with the better-known Eagle Squadrons, which formed in the autumn of 1940 with the tacit consent of the U.S. government. Kershaw's "few" were a vanguard, enlisting individually to operate the British Spitfire planes as early as May 1940, when England stood alone and her odds of survival seemed long. Crusaders and adventurers, the pilots ignored U.S. neutrality acts to fight from a mixture of principled opposition to Nazism, vaguely defined Anglophilia and sheer love of air combat at a time when it still seemed glamorous. Scattered by ones and twos among different squadrons, each had his own story, which Kershaw admirably contextualizes within the climate of the Battle of Britain. Using personal vignettes to convey the extraordinary routines of life in the cockpits, in the squadrons and in England, Kershaw evokes the heroism of these pilots, only one of whom survived the war whose tide they helped turn. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

In the summer of 1940, World War II was in its second year and Adolf Hitler was planning to invade England. The U.S. had not yet entered the war, but a few Americans joined Britain's Royal Air Force. Flying Spitfire planes, they became known as the "knights of the air." In doing so, they would break several neutrality laws and became what Kershaw terms "outlaws in their own country." Kershaw, author of The Bedford Boys (2003) and The Longest Winter (2004), tells the story of these pilots; 244 U.S. citizens eventually flew with the RAF Eagle Squadrons. Only 1 survived the war. But according to the RAF's official roster in 1940, just 7 Americans belonged to "the few." These were the Americans who fought during the greatest air battle in history, labeled the Battle of Britain. Like his other books, Kershaw has written a rousing tale of little-known heroes. With 32 pages of black-and-white photographs, The Few marks Kershaw as a master storyteller. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306813033
• ISBN-13: 978-0306813030
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #543,985 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, rivoting storytelling!!! Kershaw scores again, November 20, 2006

By	Mannie Liscum (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews

"The Few: The American 'Knights of the Air' Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain" is Alex Kershaw's third foray into the Second World War non-fiction genre, and once again he has amply demonstrated his abilities to weave a story and capture the attention of the reader.

With his first book, "The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice", Kershaw had as his centerpiece the story of National Guardsmen from the little town of Bedford, VA who comprised Company A 116th Infantry Regiment (29th Division) who took part in the initial Omaha Beach landings on 6 June '44, and lost 19 of its members KIA on D-Day alone. In the "Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon", Kershaw's sophomore effort, the historical centerpiece was the Intelligence and Reconnaissance (I&R) Platoon, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division - a small group of men whose heroic stand at the small Belgian town of Lanzerath on 16 December 1944 against an overwhelming force (1st Battalion, Fallschirmjager Regiment 9) significantly stalled one of the main German efforts of the Ardennes Counteroffensive. So what is the 'small unit theme' of Kershaw's current effort "The Few"?

From the subtitle one would assume that the story in "The Few" revolves around a group of American aviators who flew with the RAF during the Battle of Britain. While this is not an entirely incorrect assumption the subtitle oversells the reality a bit. Certainly the central characters through which the string of narrative is connected are this small group of American fliers. Yet, in reality the overall story gains its real momentum and bite from the prose dedicated to the bigger picture of the Battle of Britain as told from the perspective of RAF fliers they fought with, and Luftwaffe fliers they fought against. By using this latter approach Kershaw weaves a fabulously engaging story of the Battle of Britain. This is a book that is hard to put down. It is unfortunate that Da Capo Press has chosen subtitles for Kershaw's last two books that don't fairly represent the book's contents. Kershaw however should not take the rap for his publisher wanting to sell books. Hopefully Da Capo now recognizes that they have a winner in their stable and they no longer need to hype Kershaw's books to sell them.

Anyone with even a passing interest in the Battle of Britain should give "The Few" a chance, they may find a deeper interest in the topic and delve deeper into the plethora of books out their dedicated to this topic. "The Few" is a 5 star read as primmer to the Battle of Britain from the perspective of individual and small groups of aviators on both sides of the Channel.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, November 17, 2006

By	Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When war broke out in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt quickly issued a proclamation, making it illegal for any American citizen to join a warring power's military. Thankfully, a group of American men, committed to the cause of liberty, journeyed to Britain to do just that. And when the Battle of Britain raged, and that glorious "Few" saved Britain from Nazism, amongst them were a group of American pilots. This is the story of those wonderful young men who risked their lives, and often lost them, for the freedom of the world.

This is a fantastic book! The author does an excellent job of telling the story of the Battle of Britain, and the American fighter pilots who were a part of it. I could not put the book down, but just had to keep reading. This is one of the best books that I have read this year, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seventy years later, the story of these heroic men is still breathtaking, January 13, 2007

By	Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Eighteen months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States was at "peace", its citizens barred from joining the armed forces of any other nation. America's cowardly, anti-Semitic Ambassador to England, Joseph Kennedy, (the father of John F. Kennedy) was telling President Roosevelt and everyone else that Britain would lose to the Germans, that the Germans were invincible.

Eight Americans, however, made their way to England and joined the Royal Air Force (RAF). Some came simply because they wanted to fly Spitfires, one of the best performing aircraft of the day. A few were there to fight for freedom. All were liable to arrest and possible imprisonment at the time if they set foot in the United States.

Kershaw follows these brave young Americans and their role in the fight for freedom. Today, almost 70 years after they fought the Germans to preserve British - and the world's - freedom, you still want to suck in your breath at reading of their bravery.

To Kershaw's credit, he does not lionize these more-or-less typical American boys. Rather he presents them as young men, brave in that way only young men can be. Most were outgoing and ebullient. One of them came from a filthy rich family; most of the others were more typical of the Depression. All had flown small aircraft in their short civilian lives.

Now they were flying in what came to be known as the Battle of Britain, a part of the amazingly small corps immortalized by Churchill as the few to whom so many owed so much.

Kershaw is a marvelous writer, able to weave the stuff of ordinary life into a larger fabric of the constant fear these young men faced as their comrades spun into the English Channel or their planes dove into the ground. Kershaw captures the feeling of both sides of the conflict, spending considerable time on the German pilots. There are glimpses of the leaders: Churchill, Goring, Hitler.

But the focus is always on the "few", that handful of Americans who were first to reach out in the cause of freedom by putting on the uniform of the Royal Air Force.

It's a moving book and Kershaw is to be thanked for reminding us all that true heroism does exist and that freedom is worth fighting - and dying - for.

Jerry