Rating: 
Summary: First Heros
Review: Although this is a great subject for a book. It is one of the most poorly written books I've ever read. The authors strangely refers to the B-25 bombers as 'Billys', refers to the airmen by their nicknames which is very confusing, refers to the gunners as bubble boys which I found insulting and needs a lesson in basic aviation before he writes another book on the subject. My advice to prospective readers is to purchase any book by C.V. Glines as he is the official historian of the Doolittle Raiders.
Rating: 
Summary: Correction
Review: As I have not read this book I could not rate accurately it or comment on it intelligently.
However, I would like to correct the reviewer from San Antonio, TX who criticised the author for writing the names of the Japanese commanders backwards (ie. Yamamoto Isaroku). In point of fact, the author has it exactly correct. In the Japanese manner the surname is given first (ie. Yamamoto) followed by the given name ( ie. Isoroku).
Rating: 
Summary: History on One Wing
Review: By Bill Marsano. Craig Nelson, who would rescue the Doolittle Raid from oblivion, is an odd choice for the job. Despite parents who were both involved in WWII aviation and who "filled my childhood with stories of daring raids [and], secret missions," Nelson says, "I didn't know a thing about it." Astonishing--still, writing on a clean slate, unencumbered by what everyone else has written and said, can be insightful and fresh. That's something Nelson should bear in mind next time.There are good things here--the words of the 16 bomber crews themselves, their wives and sweethearts, and other participants. They make fascinating reading from beginning to end--the hasty, secretive training; the daring if slightly hare-brained idea itself (launching B-25 bombers from an aircraft carrier was a first, and the crews had practiced only on land); the raid itself; the crews' subsequent and usually succesful evasion of the Japanese after landing in China. There are harrowing tales from prison by crewmen who were captured and brutally mistreated, and follow-ups on the flyers' later combat service and postwar lives. Almost all of this material comes from archives or published sources. There's little new here, but 60 years after the fact that's understandable: Nelson says one of the surviving raiders died even as he was arranging an interview); Never mind: The raiders' own words tell most of the story and tell it well for those with "entry level" interest. Unfortunately, a lot of the book is written by Nelson himself, and he isn't much of a writer, what with his clunky prose style (the aircraft carrier is a "giant city of steel" and a "steel behemoth") and frail grasp of idiom (radio tubes "warmed into gear"). He often strays far from his point (really, German U-boats are not germane to this story). To push his claim that the raid was America's "first victory." Nelson prefers cheerleading to facts. First, it was a success but not a victory--it was a hit-and-run raid plain and simple. Second, it wasn't even the first raid: The Navy had been attacking Japan's Pacific bases for months before Doolittle's raid. Nelson's failure to even mention those raids is inexcusable. He adds comic-book touches--prattling about "flyboys" and "bell bottoms," calling bombers "egg layers," torpedos "eels" and ships "tin"--and a whiff of the locker room, too: Doolittle, Nelson says, had "balls the size of your head" (each? both?) and "balls of steel." The factual errors are minor technical slips, but their sheer quantity suggests ignorance, haste and poor research by Nelson, and negligence by his editor. Nelson's B-25s have "steel fuselages" and "diesely" engines that are "turbines"; a take-off run is a "taxi," and they could outrun Japanese Zeroes. Which is more ludicrous, Nelson's "Klondike mecca of Nome" or his claim that the Wright Brothers' fourth flight (852 feet) was "shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 747"? The book lists about 300 sources, but many seem irrelevant "padding" (such as "Ethnic Narcissism and Infertility in Japan"), and one-third seem woefully unauthoritative--they're nothing more than TV shows, press clippings and websites. Was Nelson concerned with getting the story right--or just getting it written?
Rating: 
Summary: There are inaccuracies, but the fact that Mr. Nelson
Review: didn't know about this subject beforehand isn't necessarily a drawback. It is still a great story seldom told. I'm not going to check the facts. I liked this book, "balls of steel" & flyboy references notwithstanding. It's not a reference book. It is about the first American sucess in WWII with all the emotion that entails.
The author digresses quite often as he talks about the Japanese
war against China since 1933, Doolittle's biography & FDR at length. All interesting subjects. If Mr. Nelson is not a avaiator he is also not a great historian. But he is a very good writer. Easy to listen to & I imagine easy to stay with reading.
Carping about its shotcomings is unfair. This isn't an over researched subject & better historian could have written it. But they didn't. "30 seconds over Tokyo" is a good flick but I could see aother movie, based on this book. Heck, Titanic & Pearl Harbor have been done numerous times. Both of those events were failures, why not do a sucess again?
Rating:
Summary: There are inaccuracies, but the fact that Mr. Nelson
Review: didn't know about this subject beforehand isn't necessarily a drawback. It is still a great story seldom told. I'm not going to check the facts. I liked this book, "balls of steel" & flyboy references notwithstanding. It's not a reference book. It is about the first American sucess in WWII with all the emotion that entails.
The author digresses quite often as he talks about the Japanese
war against China since 1933, Doolittle's biography & FDR at length. All interesting subjects. If Mr. Nelson is not a avaiator he is also not a great historian. But he is a very good writer. Easy to listen to & I imagine easy to stay with reading.
Carping about its shotcomings is unfair. This isn't an over researched subject & better historian could have written it. But they didn't. "30 seconds over Tokyo" is a good flick but I could see aother movie, based on this book. Heck, Titanic & Pearl Harbor have been done numerous times. Both of those events were failures, why not do a sucess again?
Rating:
Summary: Details, details, details...
Review: Ever since I saw "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" on TV as a kid, the Doolittle Raid has been one of my favorite American military missions. The bravery exhibited by Col. Doolittle's Raiders and Bull Halsey's Task Force 16 is an example of American audacity, ingenuity and courage at its finest.
I've read several other accounts of the Doolittle raid, and Nelson does a fairly good job of presenting the preparation, attack and evasion phases of the operation. But he distracts the reader away from the focus of the book by going off on tangents, breezing through Pearl Harbor, Midway and the German U-boat offensive.
My main compliant with this work is that Nelson clearly doesn't know much about World War II, and even less about aviation. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem, but apparently he didn't bother to let anyone with some expertise read his manuscript. That's too bad. If he had, he would have learned that no one EVER refered to North American's B-25 as a "Billy" or a "B" (since the Raider's used B-25B models). He also would have learned that B-25's were constructed from aluminum, not steel and that taxing an aircraft is not how one transitions it to flight. He also would have learned that Guadalcanal is not a coral atoll and that the cave fighting he describes there did not occur until later in the Pacific War.
All in all, I give Mr. Nelson points for telling the Raiders' story. In many sections, the book is hard to put down. But I wish he'd done more thorough research, as his errors detract from the overall effort.
Rating:
Summary: Details, details, details...
Review: Ever since I saw "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" on TV as a kid, the Doolittle Raid has been one of my favorite American military missions. The bravery exhibited by Col. Doolittle's Raiders and Bull Halsey's Task Force 16 is an example of American audacity, ingenuity and courage at its finest.
I've read several other accounts of the Doolittle raid, and Nelson does a fairly good job of presenting the preparation, attack and evasion phases of the operation. But he distracts the reader away from the focus of the book by going off on tangents, breezing through Pearl Harbor, Midway and the German U-boat offensive.
My main compliant with this work is that Nelson clearly doesn't know much about World War II, and even less about aviation. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem, but apparently he didn't bother to let anyone with some expertise read his manuscript. That's too bad. If he had, he would have learned that no one EVER refered to North American's B-25 as a "Billy" or a "B" (since the Raider's used B-25B models). He also would have learned that B-25's were constructed from aluminum, not steel and that taxing an aircraft is not how one transitions it to flight. He also would have learned that Guadalcanal is not a coral atoll and that the cave fighting he describes there did not occur until later in the Pacific War.
All in all, I give Mr. Nelson points for telling the Raiders' story. In many sections, the book is hard to put down. But I wish he'd done more thorough research, as his errors detract from the overall effort.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting book, courageous men
Review: First Heros is an exciting and complete book about enormously courageous and heroic men. It is an excellent book about a dark hour in our country's history. I was well acquainted with Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, and there was quite a bit of new information for me. I would recommend it to anyone interested in WWII or to anyone who wants to read about some real heros. There were a few inaccuracies, however, which I found bothersome: the B25 had radial engines, not diesels; the landing gear was retractable, therefore the pilots couldn't have flow so low that the "wheels almost hit the trees;" the altitude of a plane does not in and of itself determine whether it picks up ice. I, too, found it surprising that the author had never before heard of the Doolittle raid -- I guess this says something about our educational system. Also, in a serious and rigorous book I found it surprising that the author uses such colloquialisms as "Doolittle had balls of steel," and "he woke up" instead of "he awakened." Nonetheless, these are relatively minor complaints about what is, on the whole, an absorbing book.
Rating: 
Summary: This controversy of this books accuracy -
Review: I feel this is the most accurate book on the Doolittle Raid. You are not wasting your time with this book. What has happened is that most military historians read one account of an event and make that the truth. Some people get one idea in their head and that is just the way it is regardless if ten others that were present dispute that thought. This author did much research. Over 80,000 documents. Interviewed ALL the living members of the raid. He was also was able to obtain original manuscripts of the interviews of 30 additional members ( Including Doolittle) while they were living from the Military Library in Alabama ( I think that is where it is located ). The names of Japanese Military that is listed backwards is such a small arguing point but this author did it correctly. This is a prime example of others not really knowing what they are talking about. In this custom, It is proper for the sir name - the last name- to be listed first. That he lists the names in such a way is a sign of respect. I assure you anyone that can get rid of all preconceived events and do countless hours of research with over 80,000 documents and interviews and present a more accurate presentation of this event would not let in error list the names of the important players names wrong. If that is all you can pick out??? Well that should tell prospective readers something. - This is an unbiased, most realistic account of the events of the Doolittle Raid.
Rating:
Summary: Great War History
Review: I found the story to be very interesting. I enjoy all history especially our wars. I of course knew of the raid but this book brought all the detail that I was not aware of. Growing up during WW2 I remember everyone talking of James Dolittle and his raid. For some reason I had not read much on it over the years. I also found the crews and people envolved telling of their lives after the War. Their effort displayed the greatness of all our young warriors when they are called on to defend the greatest country in this world.
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