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The Wild Blue | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Category: EBooks
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $9.59
You Save: $2.40 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  162 reviews
Sales Rank: 12926
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.544973
ASIN: B000FC0WU6
Publication Date: January 7, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Amazon.com Review
Long before he entered politics, when he was just in his early 20s, South Dakotan George McGovern flew 35 bomber missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery under fire. Stephen Ambrose, the industrious historian, focuses on McGovern and the young crew of his B-24 bomber, volunteers all, in this vivid study of the air war in Europe. Manufactured by a consortium of companies that included Ford Motor and Douglas Aircraft, the B-24 bomber, dubbed the Liberator, was designed to drop high explosives on enemy positions well behind the front lines--and especially on the German capital, Berlin. Unheated, drafty, and only lightly armored, the planes were dangerous places to be, and indeed, only 50 percent of their crews survived to the war's end. Dangerous or not, they did their job, delivering thousand- pound bombs to targets deep within Germany and Austria. In his fast-paced narrative, Ambrose follows many other flyers (including the Tuskegee Airmen, the African American pilots who gave the B-24s essential fighter support on some of their most dangerous missions) as they brave the long odds against them, facing moments of glory and terror alike. "It would be an exaggeration to say that the B-24 won the war for the Allies," Ambrose writes. "But don't ask how they could have won the war without it." --Gregory McNamee
Product Description
Here is the story of the heroism, skill, and daring of the young men of World War II who were the pilots, bombardiers, navigators, and gunners flying over Germany in crowded, uncomfortable, and dangerous B-24s, fighting to the death through thick black smoke and deadly flak to reach their targets and destroy the Nazi war machine.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 157 more reviews...
 Courage Under Fire August 27, 2008
One of the things I love about Ambrose's books is the personal history he brings to the subject. If you look at the bibliography of "The Wild Blue" you will notice that many of the sources are interviews he has done with many of the characters in the book, along with other primary source materials. What this does is brings a very personal style to the telling of these stories. Other so-called "oral histories" are bland and often read like a transcript. Ambrose brings other research to the stories so you can understand the context of the time they lived in. "The Wild Blue" is no exception to this.
Before he was a liberal Democratic senator from South Dakota and an anti-war candidate for president, George McGovern flew 35 combat missions over Europe in World War II. Of these 35, only a few were "milk runs." The others were deadly encounters with the enemy, and only his skill and bravery saved his life and the lives of his crew. McGovern also volunteered for this service - no one was drafted or forced into piloting these heavy bombers.
McGovern is a noted anti-war figure from the Vietnam era and was soundly defeated by Nixon in 1972 for the presidency. One of the great ironies of McGovern's political career is in aligning his anti-war stance with his magnificent and heroic service in WWII. Perhaps that experience shaped his views in ways we, or anyone who has so vocally criticized him, can never imagine.
A theme in all of Ambrose's WWII books is that of the "citizen soldier," that of ordinary (mostly young) people dedicated to their country, families, buddies, and surviving the war. One of the accounts from "The Wild Blue" is of a mission where McGovern's engine had been blown out by flak, and his efforts in bringing the crippled B-24 home safely and in saving his life and the life of his crew. McGovern was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts. He was 22 years old. What were you doing when you were 22?
Through this personal history, and other similar books and films on this theme, we pay only a fraction of the respect that is owed to these men.
Ambrose mails one in April 30, 2008
Not up to par with the classic Ambrose WWII books.
Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany
Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose seemed to mail this one in. It reads like a first draft that needs polish and upgrades.
The interesting part of the book is when it centers on George McGovern, yes the ultra-liberal Democratic candidate for President who got a mere handful of votes in the 1972 election, who was a B-24 pilot in the War!
Highly readable and entertaining, but controversial February 28, 2008
The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose is controversial because some scholars point out Ambrose has lifted the work of other authors without placing said work inside "quotation" marks. That is a tragic error. Is it an error of omission or commission? I do not know. I do know it is ethically wrong. The book tells the story of former US Presidential candidate and US Senator George McGovern. It tells of McGovern's upbringing, his journey to college, the outbreak of World War II, his falling in love and marriage, his joining the US Army Air Corps, his training as a pilot, and his combat deployment and action where he was based out of Italy bombing the Axis war machine. It is written in Ambrose's wonderful narrative style. It is highly readable and entertaining. Read in January 2005.
 Save your money unless you love Mc Govern July 20, 2007
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is not about the men and boys who flew the B 24 it is a book about Mc Govern. Reading the book sort of makes you feel like he was the only man in the war. I purchased the book to read about all the men. The author could have even shown some about other men that did basicaly the same that became famous: Kennedy, Jimmy Stewert and others. He focused only on McGovern and I certinaly wonder how much he paid to get Stephen to write this book or is Stephen that much in love with Mc Govern. I can not stand the man now and will not ever knowingly buy another book of his.
Mary Jo PottsThe Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45
The Wild Blue April 21, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Wild Blue is about the young men who flew the B-24 over Germany in World War 2 against all odds. Mr. Ambrose describes the heroism, courage, and skill with a lot of detail. He successfully makes you feel like you are in the great lumbering bomber in the hostile skies over Germany. He also describes how the Army Air Force (only after the war were the army and air force separate) recruited, trained and then chose those few that would undertake the most dangerous job in the war. The pilots, bombardiers, navigators and, the gunners of the B-24s suffered a 50 percent casualty rate.
This book follows the lives of ten men from different towns and different backgrounds and watches them come together and form a team. The trust was important because up in the skies of Germany it was good to know that someone had your back. I believe that Mr. Ambrose captures that perfectly. He takes the reader along in the crowded, uncomfortable planes as the men aboard fought to the death through smoke and terrifying flack to reach their industrial targets in the Rhineland. Their goal was to destroy the German war machine.
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