Tuskegee's Heroes: Featuring the Aviation Art of Roy Lagrone

Rating:
Summary: Valuable but not very articulate
Review: "Tuskegee's Heroes" is one of several books which have recently evolved in tribute to the achievements of the all-black 332nd Fighter Group during World War II. Unfortunately, compared to many current titles on this subject, including "Red-Tailed Angels" and "Red Tails: Black Wings", this one rates rather low in comparison. While the research is well documented, the writing style itself leaves something to be desired, being most dampened by the author's excessive use of exclamation points. Most discouragingly, the book contains a selective and misleading appendix on the Tuskegee pilots who became POW's, summarized with statements, like, "In chronicling the heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen, we must remember those who faced the added horror of being held as Prisoners of War!", and attributing their "minimally" humane treatment to efforts of the Red Cross. In reality, the Tuskegee Airmen(5 of whom I've personally spoken to on this topic) recounted the irony of being subjected to better treatment at the hands of their Luftwaffe captors than by the air force in which they served. However, this book does feature a valuable assortment of photographs, statistics, and paintings by aviation artist Roy LaGrone. This is a good read, but there are better compilations already available on this overlooked chapter of aviation history.

Rating:
Summary: A superior combination of art and history
Review: The Coopers do a fine job of taking a participant of a neglected portion of history and combining it with the facts. As a primarily visual person I enjoyed the combination of Mr LeGrone's art with the author's descriptions of the historical events. It was a rewarding read and a great book to leave out for friends to see - keeps them in touch.