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 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: 16127
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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| Customer Reviews:
 The Heroic Tales March 30, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Stephen Ambrose's The Wild Blue: the Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany tells the heroic tales of the B-24 Liberators and their crews from the 15th Army Air Force in Italy flying over Nazi Germany in World War II. The Wild Blue begins with the stories behind each crewman who will eventually fly aboard the "Dakota Queen" and a few crewmen who will fly aboard other B-24s. The stories behind the crewmen are a very nice addition to the book as it is the crewmen who make the majestic B-24s fly and fight. The reader actually gets to meet George McGovern who eventually flies the "Dakota Queen". McGovern was born on July 19, 1922, and was attending his second year at Dakota Wesleyan when he heard that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. The combat stories are complete to the detail of what it is like to fly over Nazi Germany against flak and the occasional fighter, what it is like to be shot down, and what it is like to watch a fellow B-24 get shot down. Ambrose was able to give this amount of detail because of his interviews with approximately fifty B-24 crewmen and their families. Without those interviews, this book would be bland and very unreal. But it is enjoyable and very real. The Wild Blue is a book that I would re-read and recommend to those who are interested in history, World War II, aircraft, or to those who just want to know the feeling of being taken up into a B-24 and flown over Nazi Germany.
 More Bio than Battle January 8, 2007
6 out of 17 found this review helpful
Mr. Ambrose wrote a unabashed tribute to George McGovern, too bad he tried to pass it off as a story about something else.
 A SOLID READ - IF NOT THE AUTHOR'S BEST July 16, 2006
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
While I enjoyed this one, it certainly was not the author's best work. It did draw attention to a group of very brave men, the B-24 crew members in the European Theater, which was good as this group and this plane is often overlooked. It did seem to me though that the author, on one side was trying to write a biography of George McGovern, or if he was trying to cover the air war during the last part of WWII. I did enjoy his trade mark technique of telling the stories of different men who participated, but he would always go back to McGovern. Perhaps if he had stuck to one or the other the book would have had more of an impact. Parts of this work did drag and were rather repetative. On the other hand, the author did not try to over dramatize McGovern's part in the war. The work was well crafted and you certainy would not waste your time in reading it. I suppose it is not quite fare to compare this work with other works by this author. After all, no one bats a thousand all the time. Overall, recommend this one with reservations. It is about very brave young men and we do need to know as much about them as possible.
Almost to dramatic to be believed May 1, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
The only other Ambrose book I've read was "Band of brothers" so I really can't compare it to his other works. But I had to comment after reading the negative reviews. They must have skipped around a lot. This book was so exciting and dramatic it was almost unbelievable. McGovern shows himself to be an exceptional pilot and a true hero. The book is full of unforgetable moments and breath-taking action. After reading it I immediatly started looking up more information on line. I consider it a must read.
 Mr. Mc Govern's book. April 11, 2006
3 out of 17 found this review helpful
I have read better books by Stephen Ambrose(or his team of writers...). This one is dull, tiringsome, centered in one person. Ok the guy was supposed to be charismatic in spite of not wining a presidential election long ago forgotten.
Books of this kind, i.e. One motor , one wing and a prayer are far better. Don't waist your money and time.
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