Rating: 
Summary: Needs different title otherwise it is an excellent book
Review: The title of the book is miss-leading because it focuses on George McGovern and his crew. Otherwise it is an excellent book on what was involved in training to fly, fly, and enter combat in a B-24. Typical Ambrose, good easy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing flop
Review: Who would have thought that the guy who gave us "D-DAY" and "Citizen Soldier" could have cranked out a disappointment such as this? This is an autobiography of McGovern, and nothing more. Little research or effort went into this book and I actually suspect someone other than Ambrose wrote it. I've read everything else by Ambrose and this "ain't" him. For those who are looking for a good read about the Lib and the crews who flew her just check out "Log of the Liberators". There are many other good books out there on the B-24 that do the crews justice. Don't go "here" just because it's Ambrose. To be quite frank: If "he" did indeed write this book he should stop while he's ahead. Ambrose, INC. dropped the ball here.
Rating:
Summary: McGovern Revisited
Review: "The Wild Blue"
Stephen E. Ambrose
2001
ISBN 0-7432-0339-9 When I heard a radio interview with George McGovern and Stephen Ambrose about the Wild Blue, I was eager to read it. The book follows the life of George McGovern from college in South Dakota when World War II broke out, through entry into the service, through various military schools and camps, and eventually into piloting a B-24 over Germany and Austria. Although the time period and subject matter are similar, this book has little of the emotional feel of Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation". This is probably because the book is more a military history than a commentary on generational values, as is the former. For example, toward the end, there is a discussion as to whether or not air power won the war. The military tactics are not as interesting to me as the cultural and social values with which relate to the war. In fact, I have to admit that I thought I would enjoy this book a lot more than I actually did. I admire Mr. Ambrose's clean, unfettered writing style. But this book lacks the inherently interesting quality to be found, for example, in the work of the historian, Barbara Tuchman. George McGovern comes across in this book as a very admirable and courageous man, who, as Ambrose points out, made nothing at all of his exemplary service record when he ran for president as a peace candidate during the Vietnam War. McGovern seems to have had a remarkable ability to maintain his equanimity during the process of participating in thirty-five bombing raids against Nazi Germany. The crew of his plane regarded him as one of the best pilots in the Army Air Force, whose greatest concern was the well being of his crewmembers whose fate, had been placed in his hands. Stephen Ambrose's book also documents the darker side of some of the Americans who flew in World War II in Europe. One evening, McGovern encountered two American fighter pilots at an officer's club bragging about having machine-gunned two Italian non-combatants fishing from a bridge. One of McGovern's own crew reported to him that their new bombardier, instead of jettisoning his bombs in open countryside, after a failed bombing run, had waited until the plane was over a farmhouse and dropped the load on it. The man was accused of being a murderer by the crewmember, and he was never allowed to fly with McGovern again. An interesting epilogue in this book to McGovern's wartime role has to do with his learning forty years after the war that a bomb which stuck in his bomb bay doors on a mission, only to destroy an Austrian farmhouse when pried loose, did not kill the occupants as he had thought. This accidental bombing had haunted him since the day it happened. The scope of "The Wild Blue" is not broad about the air war in Europe, and it has some of the shortcomings that I have noted. However, it is still a worthwhile book to read. I would also conclude that George McGovern from the gallant way, in which he conducted himself in the war, in addition to his later political career, is a much-underrated American hero. He had learned the lessons of war and might have saved the nation a great deal suffering in the Vietnam War had he been elected president. The voters, however, chose, as you may recall, Richard Nixon.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so bad.
Review: I can't corraborate all the preceding negative reviews.
I found the book interesting and easy to read. Certainly feel it wasn't a waste of time or money.
Rating:
Summary: Band of flying brothers
Review: Finishing "Wild Blue" the same day I watched the last episode of HBO's "Band of Brothers", I was struck by the similarities between the two works. Both men served in Europe. After lengthy training, they did not enter battle until 1944. Winters fought his way from Normandy to Holland to Bastogne to Bavaria to Austria. McGovern flew from Italy, the "forgotten" front of the European air battle. But there's more. In "Blue", George McGovern plays the part of the much-admired Captain Winters in "Band of Brothers". Both men show unswerving strength of judgment, character and commitment in completing their missions and leading their men. They earn the respect of all for their skill and their leadership, McGovern in the air and Winters on the ground. Ambrose has made a remarkable career and no small fortune by tapping the memories of these heroic men. By focusing on men who did not earn fame as a war hero at the time, Ambrose reinforces Winters' comment that although he was not a hero, he served with many of them. Ambrose's clear, almost pedestrian writing style, converting interviews and some historical data into straightforward prose shows that McGovern and Winters were heroes, best proved by the fact that they didn't necessarily see themselves as such. Ambrose also catalogs the death and destruction of World War II. The rigorous training, the thousands of deaths just in training exercises and accidents, the uncertainty of life, the black walls ("boxes") of flak (McGovern notes at least times, when viewing flak, that "hell can't be worse than this"), and the daily lesson of lives instantly snuffed out by a well-placed shell or a slip of concentration. A fitting read for Veteran's Day. A nice companion to "Band of Brothers". A bit too relenting in the style and tone.
Rating:
Summary: HUGE Disappointment and con job
Review: I was estatic when I first learned Mr. Ambrose was going to undertake a project on the B-24 Liberator and her crews. Indeed, I thought if it were to be done correctly Mr. Ambrose will be the guy to do it. However, WILD BLUE is a huge disappointment and appears nothing short of a "hack" job in care of "Ambrose, INC." It is obvious Mr. Ambrose (or one of his family members) spent little time on the text. Ambrose attempts to tie in a George McGovern semi-biography into the story of the great Lib and her gallent crews, however, it makes the narrative shallow, and does not do the Lib or her crews justice. I have been reluctant to treat Ambrose in such a negative light. Indeed, I have devoured Ambrose's other books and I consider him to be one of the premiere historians of our time. Maybe this is why WILD BLUE is such a disappointment. Maybe the book should have been titled, "WILD BLUE: The Story of George McGovern in WWII." For anyone interested in the REAL story of the 8th and her crews check out ANYTHING by anyone else on the subject. Believe me, they've done a better job than Ambrose.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to par
Review: I'm an Ambrose fan, especially his vital works on World War II, but I was disappointed by this effort. It was thin, without his usual eye for detail and reconstruction of battle. And I didn't learn much, not like when I read one of his works on the infantry. It also lacked Ambrose's usual authoritative voice in which, as in Citizen Soldiers, he delved into strategic and tactical errors and who made them and why. But most of all, he just seemed as though he wasn't into the subject, like he wasn't comfortable with it because it was unfamiliar turf. He may indeed be our definitive historian on World War II infantry, and he clearly loves those guys. It comes through in his infantry works. This one seemed to lack that heart. Yes, he duly pays his respects to these remarkable B-24 crews, but he doesn't step into their boots like he did with the GIs at the Hurtgen Forest or what the Airborne troops went through at Bastogne. And the centering of the book on McGovern and his crew seemed strained. McGovern's comments, for the most part, seemed awkward and stilted, like he was giving a VFW speech instead of just talking. As a matter of fact, many of the sources quoted in the story seemed as though they wrote down their comments and read from them instead of just talking at ease with Ambrose. One other quibble ... Ambrose's publisher and editor need to get on the stick and do a better job at catching typos and grammatical errors. This book has its share, and I just re-read Band of Brothers and lost count of the typos in that book.
Rating:
Summary: Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew B-24's
Review: In my opinion Mr. Ambrose wrote two masterpieces in D-Day, June 6, 1944 and the sequel, Citizen Soldier. Everything else that I have read of his since then has been down hill. Wild Blue is particularly disappointing. If the reader wants to get a sense of the air war during WWII, and the exciting details that those heros had to endure, I suggest you put Wild Blue down and go buy Gerald Astor's, The Mighty Eighth.
Rating:
Summary: Tedious, repetitive and sometimes ridiculous!
Review: Not only do I feel cheated in that I unknowingly purchased a biography of George McGovern but this work by Mr. Ambrose reminds me of junior high history class. It is repetitive, mission after mission without anything worthwhile happening. It is also ridiculous as in the effort he makes to describe the harsh climate of 50 degrees below zero but then adds that the ground crews would hide their beer on a mission bound aircraft so that it would be cooled. If skin will freeze I can assure Mr. Ambrose that the crew's beer would certainly be frozen. This will be my final purchase of Mr. Ambrose's 'churned' efforts.
Rating:
Summary: What They Did in the War
Review: This book is about the Army Air Force members who flew
the B-24s over Germany against terrible odds: over 50%
casualties. The AAF recruited and trained the world's
largest air force. Their men had about 360 hours of
flying time before going into combat, three times more
than Germany, even more that other air forces (p.75).
This practice showed up in the results of air combat.
Any man who flew over enemy territory was either an
officer or a sergeant; that was to ensure better
treatment if taken prisoner. Pilot candidates who
washed out were recruited for flight crews. The flight
crews were recruited from all over the country, and
they saw various parts of the country as they traveled
between their stations. This mingling was reflected
in Hollywood movies. More B-24s were built than any other airplane.
Consolidated Aircraft Company designed the
"Liberator", and produced it with other companies
(p.22). After the war ended nearly all were cut up
for scrap. The B-17 was easier to take-off, fly,
land, and didn't break up or sink if crash-landed at
sea, compared to a B-24. The B-24 wing had a tendency
to fold and break off when hit by a shell; but it
carried about 50% more bomb load, and could fly
farther and higher than a B-17 (p.80). World War II was the greatest catastrophe in history:
the most people and buildings were destroyed. This
was caused by airpower, which was developed to escape
the slaughter in the World War I trenches (p.105).
This book tells the history of one B-24 crew. For one
account about the civilians on the ground read the
story on pages 262-3. Strategic bombing of the armaments industry and oil
production led to shortages for the enemy. While the
AAF suffered heavy losses, the Luftwaffe losses were
even higher. The fuel shortages caused the Wehrmacht
to abandon motorized vehicles and revert back to a
horse-drawn army. It also reduced the training time
for pilots, and lowered their effectiveness. Only
anti-aircraft guns could be relied upon for defense. Pages 247-251 discusses the strategic bombing campaign
issue. Could the time and effort have been better
spent on fighters, ground troops, and the Navy? Would
it have avoided killing hundreds of thousands of
civilians and destroying historic buildings,
factories, and residences? The bottom line seems to
be that it damaged or destroyed European industry,
while strengthening American industry for the future.
War is the continuation of diplomacy, and the commerce
that drives both. The "Lib" had a 110 foot wingspan, the fuselage was 66
feet long, 18 feet high. Unloaded it weighed 32,500
pounds, and 60,000 pounds fully loaded. Ten .50
caliber machine guns: twin in the nose, tail, top and
bottom turrets; one on each side of the waist. The
gunners in the cramped tail and ball turrets could not
wear parachutes (p.95).
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