A Real Good War

By Sam Halpert

Book Overview

Historic fiction, this novel follows a B-17 crew through WWII. It depicts their humor, despair, fear and courage while flying mission after mission, their friendships brutally "scrubbed" by mounting... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0941072304
• ISBN13: 9780941072304
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Southern Heritage Pr
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

How did they get up and fly again?

That's the question in my mind when I read this book. The descriptions of what it was like to fly B-17 combat missions will leave you wondering how they got up the next day and did it again. Thank God, guys like in this book, did. A great read grab this book today.

A great read, great history

This is not an easy book to put down! If you think you know a thing or two about the WWII allied air campaign, this book will take you there. Sam fleshes out the experience of being navigator aboard a B-17 bomber through 35 missions into enemy territory, with vivid descriptions of everything from the precarious logistics of assembling hundreds of bombers into tight formation, to the paralyzing, palpable fear brought on by German flack and Focke-Wulfs at 25000 ft, to the hi-jinks and motley characters that make up life on the ground. packed with episodes that are by turn hair-raising, humorous, and often too strange for fiction, this is an altogether great read.

Can't stop thinking about it!!!

What an amazing account of a day in the life of a WWII B-17 soldier. The details are what make this book great. You really feel what the soldiers feel. It not only covers the missions but the day to day life and thought processes of the soldier. A truly amazing book!!! Can't wait for the movie :-)

A real good book

This is one of the best WWII aviation books I have ever read. It focuses not only on the specifics of the missions, but gets deeply involved in the psycology of this navigator. Besides finishing it in two or three sittings (a record for myself), it is the first book that really scared me by revealing the true horrors of WWII aviation.

A real challenge to put down.

A Real Good War took a couple of chapters to lock me in but once it did I found the book a real challenge to put down. Halpert's "less is more" style is a refreshing pause from some of the painfully detailed (is skimming cheating?) bestsellers I've read recently. It is impossible for us to really share the living nightmare of a B-17 crew mandated to fly 35 missions ("the magic number") into Hell and back before they can go home. But A Real Good War brings me real close to imagining what it felt like for those thousands of seemingly expendable American boys.