Andrei Cherny

Talk about your non-fiction books that read like a novel. I could not put this book down and I stayed up too late a couple of nights because I just lost track of time.

I'm a child of the 70's but my parents were born in the 20's and my father was a Navy fighter pilot in WWII, but his orders were for the Pacific. All this to say I grew up with no direct stories of the European half of the war, had only vague knowledge of the Berlin blockade, and had never heard of Halvorsen and his Candy show more Bombs. Seeing a BL friend's review of this book, I was immediately sold and eager to learn more about it all.

Cherny does a great job of it. The narrative he pieces together is interesting and moving. I won't strictly call it academic: he has a very comprehensive Notes section at the back with citations and sources (no footnotes though) but I can't say the book is academically objective. The author's voice and his admiration for all of these men is evident. The Republican party takes a beating, too. I'm fine with all of this - I also admire what the allies accomplished and I'm way too far removed from any of these events to have any emotional bias; someone older, who lived closer to these events and the political parties of the times might not feel like being so objective, however.

Politics aside, I'd have to be inhuman not to be profoundly moved by the events of '48-'49 and the devastation of post-war Berlin. Both the horrific and the sublime. And I loved how, of all the heroes in this tale, not a single one of them was ever considered more than adequate by the people above them before or during the Berlin crisis. Only in hindsight was it really appreciated that these handful of men changed the world.

I didn't 5-star the book because it's long. There are bios at the beginning of all the major (American) players that I didn't appreciate as much as I probably should have and it was fully 300 pages before anything was said about candy. Still, those first 300 pages were interesting and they kept me going until the candy started dropping and the events of that year completely sucked me in. I think I enjoyed this book all the more because I was coming into it fresh - I didn't know exactly what happened next, and it added an element of suspense that those who are more educated about that time and place might not experience.

If you find yourself like me - woefully let down by your schooling in history - and want to learn more about the aftermath of WWII, I recommend this book. It's one I'd like to find in hardcover for my library shelves.


[PopSugar 2015 Challenge: A book with more than 500 pages.] show less

The masterfully told story of the unlikely men who came together to make the Berlin Airlift one of the great military and humanitarian successes of American history.
On the sixtieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, Andrei Cherny tells a remarkable story with profound implications for the world today. In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the show more ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of desperate people from a dire threat but changed how the world viewed the United States, and set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and to America's victory in the Cold War.
On June 24, 1948, intent on furthering its domination of Europe, the Soviet Union cut off all access to West Berlin, prepared to starve the city into submission unless the Americans abandoned it. Soviet forces hugely outnumbered the Allies', and most of America's top officials considered the situation hopeless. But not all of them.

Harry Truman, an accidental president, derided by his own party; Lucius Clay, a frustrated general, denied a combat command and relegated to the home front; Bill Tunner, a logistics expert downsized to a desk job in a corner of the Pentagon; James Forrestal, a secretary of defense beginning to mentally unravel; Hal Halvorsen, a lovesick pilot who had served far from the conflict, flying transport missions in the backwater of a global war—together these unlikely men improvised and stumbled their way into a uniquely American combination of military and moral force unprecedented in its time.
This is the forgotten foundation tale of America in the modern world, the story of when Americans learned, for the first time, how to act at the summit of world power—a masterful and exciting work of historical narrative, and one with strong resonance for our time. show less

Seventy years ago, the first front of the Cold War opened up in Berlin, and if not for tireless work by American pilots, the entire European continent could have fallen to the Soviet Union.

“The Candy Bombers” is an amazing story about an amazing victory of intrepid pilots and stalwart Berliners in a tinderbox that almost was lit. That the Soviets never advanced an inch westward after trying to starve out the western half of the city is a testament to that victory.

As the American army show more drew down after World War II and hundreds of thousands of men went home, the Soviet Union pressed their advantage and took several Eastern European nations. America drew back into itself and was not eager to get involved.

That all had to change after the Soviets attempted to force the U.S., Britain and France out of their sector of occupied Berlin. Stuck in the middle of the Soviet zone, it looked like they’d succeed, until President Truman decided not to let it happen.

Half the military men around him wanted to send troops to break the blockade, and half wanted him to abandon the city altogether. In the background loomed the very real possibility of nuclear war.

But Truman found the middle ground, approving the greatest, most successful airlift in history.

And, in the middle of it, American pilot “Hal” Halverson dropped candy to the young kids of Berlin, showing some humanity in the middle of this inhuman situation.

It’s hard to believe that at the end of the war, both Germans and Americans were still filled with uncertainty and hate, and so didn’t trust each other. This blockade and the candy drops helped melt that ice.

Also interesting is that the late Franklin Roosevelt and his partisans wanted to throw the UK overboard in favor of befriending the Soviets. Had FDR not made a last-minute decision to switch vice presidents, socialist Henry Wallace would have been president. He certainly would have stood aside and let the Soviets do as they pleased.

This is a great story of near misses and valor, and also of hatred and uncertainty, ending with the West German people unbowed, the U.S. taking its place in the postwar world, and the Soviets stymied but still dangerous.

I recommend this book.

See more of my reviews at Ralphsbooks. show less

Just so good! I have never read a lot of history because it often comes across as boring and lifeless. Hal Halvorsen, as well as Clay and Tunner, put a human face on the Berlin Airlift for me. I learned so much about that period that I didn't know, and it was incredibly entertaining at the same time. Some larger than life personalities in this book for sure! And the more I read about Harry Truman, the more I like him. His steady hand through this period likely prevented WWIII.