Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Probably the quickest way to convey the focus of this history is to tell you that the author is a Professor of Media Issues and Propaganda at a British university. As you might expect, he is heavily focused on public perception and the media image of Bomber Command, and in particular on how the public viewed the campaign of area bombing of German cities (which was the only offensive option available to Bomber Command, and indeed to Britain for most of the war). Forget about any suspicions you may have that this is either a left-winger out to demonize bombing and the military or an apologist who wants to whitewash the bombing of civilians. The author gives a balanced view, and appears to be genuinely sympathetic with and admiring of the men who flew the missions, while explaining that one of his mother's earliest memories is of being shoved into an air raid shelter as a small child while RAF bombers droned overhead (in other words she was a child in Germany during the war who was placed in very real danger by the bombing). Naturally the author covers the men who lead Bomber Command and the RAF also. I believe he dealt with them fairly, and seems to understand the point of view they were working from, but he is more reserved in admiring the brass hats than the lowly pilots and gunners.
The book has the weaknesses you might expect from this. Technical detail or explanation is almost nonexistent, and even the operational details are fast and a bit glossy. This is especially true of the later years of the war. I felt like I went from late 1943 and the raids on Berlin to the end of the war almost in the blink of an eye. As compensation for this light touch, we get an exhaustive analysis of public comments on the Bomber Offensive at various stages of the war, and a fairly detailed look at how the view of bombing and the men involved changed over time after the war. This isn't limited to print media, speeches are covered and there is a fair amount of detail on cinema--Mostly propaganda or "public information" movies during the war, and conventional entertainment that contributed to the image of Bomber Command in the years after the war.
I enjoyed the unique focus of the book, and I believe that anyone who is an avid student of air combat in this period will find it interesting also. I do not recommend this book as the only history of Bomber Command that might be read, anyone but a media specialist will want more depth and information. For its unique focus, the book is readable, fair, informative, and clearly the result of a great deal of work.
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