Picture of author.

Martha Byrd (1930–1993)

Author of Chennault: Giving Wings to the Tiger

4 Works 77 Members 1 Review

About the Author

Image credit: Martha Byrd [source: Kenneth N. Walker, published in 1997]

Works by Martha Byrd

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Byrd, Martha
Birthdate
1930-09-25
Date of death
1993-06-14
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Morganton, North Carolina, USA
Places of residence
Mecklenburg, North Carolina, USA
Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Occupations
military historian
novelist
Short biography
Martha Byrd was born near Morganton, North Carolina, in 1930. She was educated in the Burke County and Morganton City school systems, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1952. She later obtained a Master’s Degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Her written works include A World in Flames: A History of World War II (published by Athenaum in 1970 and reprinted by Smithmark in 1992), Saratoga: Turning Point of the American Revolution (published by Auerbach in 1973), Chennault: Giving Wings to the Tiger (published by University of Alabama Press in 1987), and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Her one novel, A Shoebox of Violets, was published posthumously by Laney-Smith in 1995. Martha Byrd died of cancer in 1993.

[from page ix of her biography of Kenneth N. Walker, published in 1997]

Members

Reviews

Claire Lee Chennault was the colorful leader of the Flying Tigers, the famed volunteer group who served in China in the early days of America's involvement in World War II. Chennault should have been played by John Wayne in a movie. He was tough, compassionate, diplomatic, and brash, and he was a leader beloved of his men and hated or disrespected by much of the Army brass. The story of Chennault's brilliant approach to battling Japan in the air has been told in a variety of books and movies, usually focusing on the pilots and planes. But this book tells an equally exciting but ultimately disheartening story of the immense struggle Chennault underwent in trying to accomplish his task. Army and Army Air Force generals like Joe Stillwell, Hap Arnold, and George Marshall may not exactly have sabotaged Chennault's part of the war effort, but they certainly did little to help it, having little understanding and no respect for Chennault's ideas or for his close relationship with the Chinese people and their leader, Chiang Kai-Shek. While Chennault could be bull-headed and unwilling to see the larger picture, what comes across most strongly in this well-researched and fascinating book is the picture of a man forever stymied in doing what he felt was right. While the Flying Tigers material is fairly familiar to World War II students, the sections dealing with the later years of the war and then the post-war collapse of Nationalist China and Chennault's efforts to ward off the communist takeover of the country are far less well-known. Chennault comes across as a real man, a dynamo built on a very human frame. Mary Byrd has written an excellent biography, one that is frustratingly repetitive at times simply because the same frustrations kept happening over and over again to its subject.… (more)
 
Flagged
jumblejim | Aug 26, 2023 |

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Steven C. Garst Designer, Cover artist, Illustrator
David R. Mets Introduction

Statistics

Works
4
Members
77
Popularity
#231,246
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
1
ISBNs
9

Charts & Graphs