Book Description
Few, if any, industrial phenomena have been as dramatic as the United States mid-20th-century shift from peacetime manufacturing to wartime production. While the years 1939 to 1945 saw explosive growth in the manufacture of every type of armament imaginable, none was more emblematic of the industrial climate than the proliferation of aircraft factories.Zeroing in on the crux of the American military-industrial complex at a critical moment, this volume documents the production of fighters and bombers by legendary companies like Boeing, North American, Curtiss, Consolidated, Douglas, Grumman, and Lockheed.Illustrated with 175 period photographsincluding 50 rare color photos never before seen in printThe American Aircraft Factory in World War II conveys the incredible acceleration of aviation technology that took place during this period.Author Bill Yenne considers the various prewar governmental acts that got the ball rolling, as well as the notable gender shift that occurred on factory floors.He also describes the construction of megafactories like Willow Run, factory-design considerations, and the postwar conversion back to peacetime production.
Customer Reviews:
A MUST HAVE.......2007-09-03
THIS COFFEE TABLE BOOK IS SO WELL PUT TOGETHER, THAT I THINK SOMEONE WOULD
HAVE A DIFFICULT TIME FINDING ANY FAULT WITH IT. THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH
INFORMATION AND THE PHOTOGRAPHS APPROACH FINE ART.
The American Aircraft Factory in World War II.......2007-07-12
The fledgling U.S. aircraft industry's meteoric rise is a wonderful history and it's covered thoroughly in this book, both by words and pictures. Easy reading, extensive researched subjects, this book should be in all aviation enthusiasts' library.
The American Aircraft Factory in WWII.......2007-06-27
I saw this book in a gift store for $40 and even tho I really wanted it, I waited and purchased it on Amazon for about $26. It was worth the wait and to get it cheaper. I enjoyed reading this book and looking at the pictures of the WWII manufacturing processes.
Virtual Journey to By-Gone Patriotism.......2007-05-25
If you ever felt the thunder of a World War II aircraft engine. If you relish the thought of a generation of Americans rising to meet the Herculean task of Freedom's preservation. Then, this book, in pictures alone, will ignite your appreciation of past efforts, and their successes.
Beautifully done book.......2007-05-13
One of the best of it's kind, full of beautiful glossy photos of airplanes and people. Captures the era, with many public relations type photos.
Customer Reviews:
Nicest aircrafts book I've never seen........2007-03-09
I think that everything has been said if you read the other reviews but it was not possible for me not to tell my happiness when I discover it in reality. I was relly surprised about the beautiful illustrations and the size of this book, it's simply HUGE !
A must-have for any aircraft enthusiast.
Best of the best..........2005-02-23
I bought this book new from the Smithsonian Museum bookstore when I was just a kid. Now some 20-odd years later it still sits on the shelf right behind my desk, and I still frequently comb through its pages with the same enthusiasm I had when it was new. I will never let this book out of my possesion.
It's so valuable to me I had to find another copy for my business partner and fellow R/C fanatic so that he wouldn't have to keep borrowing mine! ;D ...that's why I decided to drop my 2-cents in here.
If you are an airplane buff, or more importantly, if you have any passion for the top planes of WWII, this book is not optional. You MUST have it. Period. Once you open it, you will understand what I am saying.
Must Have for WWII Aviation Enthusiasts.......2001-11-08
If you enjoy WWII aircraft, and appreciate the breath taking detail and accuracy of Rikyu Watanabe illustrations, you must have this book. I found my copy 3 years ago at OshKosh, and have been offered (...)for it - no way was I parting with it. It is, without question, the finest piece of reference / art work on these 12 aircraft I have ever seen. Vet, IFR Priv. pilot, R/C aircraft modeler.
Incredible!.......2000-12-15
I'm a WWII airplanes enthsiast, and this book has filled all my expectations. The text, the scaled drawings, the fold-out panels, everithing is exceptional in this complete guide of WWII airplanes. The drawings of this book are incredibly detailed, and if you're meticulous, you'll never find a book like this. My grandfather was a WWII pilot and became nostalgic when he saw the plane he had flown.
Lots of nostalgia.......2000-07-04
In my opinion, the most beautiful book of WWII aircraft which has ever been published.
I have flown the F4U-5NL Bu.No. 124511 found in the picture on page 253 with Ens. Cawley's name on the side. He was one of our squadron mates in VC-4, NAS Atlantic City in the early 'fifties.
Brings back many fond memories. Highly recommended to all aviators and aviation enthusiasts.
J.D. Williams Lcdr. USNR (Ret)
Amazon.com
The facts speak for themselves. In 1857, the Central America, a sidewheel steamer ferrying passengers fresh from the gold rush of California to New York and laden with 21 tons of California gold, encountered a severe storm off the Carolina coast and sank, carrying more than 400 passengers and all her cargo down with her. She then sat for 132 years, 200 miles offshore and almost two miles below the ocean's surface--a depth at which she was assumed to be unrecoverable--until 1989, when a deep-water research vessel sailed into the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia, fat with salvaged gold coins and bullion estimated to be worth one billion dollars.
Author Gary Kinder wisely lets the story of the Columbus-America Discovery Group, led by maverick scientist and entrepreneur Tommy Thompson, unfold without hyperbole. Kinder interweaves the tale of the Central America and her passengers and crew with Thompson's own story of growing up landlocked in Ohio, an irrepressible tinkerer and explorer even in his childhood days, and his progress to adulthood as a young man who always had "7 to 14" projects on the table or spinning in his head at any given moment. One of those projects would become the preposterous recovery of the stricken steamer, and the resourcefulness and later urgency with which the project would proceed is contrasted poignantly with the Central America's doomed battle in 1857 to stay afloat.
Thompson, who spent nearly a decade planning and organizing his recovery effort, emerges as one of the great unsung adventurers of these times (the technical innovations alone required for such a task produced a windfall for the scientific community and defined a new state of the art for deep-sea explorers and treasure hunters), and the story of the steamer's sinking is compelling enough to make any reader wonder why the Central America sinking isn't synonymous with shipwreck in this Titanic-happy age. --Tjames Madison
Book Description
"White knuckle reading...with generous portions of adventure, intrigue, heroism, and high technology interwoven."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
This enthralling true story of maritime tragedy and visionary science begins with a disaster to rival the sinking of the Titanic.
In September 1857, the S.S. Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying passengers returning from the gold fields of California, went down during a hurricane off the Carolina coast. More than 400 men--and 21 tons of gold--were lost. In the 1980s, a maverick engineer named Tommy Thompson set out to find the wreck and salvage its treasure from the ocean floor.
With knuckle-biting suspense, Gary Kinder reconstructs the terror of the Central America's last days, when passengers bailed freezing water from the hold, then chopped the ship's timbers to use as impromptu liferafts. He goes on to chronicle Thompson's epic quest for the lost vessel, an endeavor that drew on the latest strides in oceanography, information theory, and underwater robotics, and that pitted Thompson against hair-raising weather, bloodthirsty sharks, and unscrupulous rivals.
Ship of Gold is a magnificent adventure, filled with heroism, ingenuity, and perseverance.
Customer Reviews:
What an Adventure !.......2007-09-21
This is an appealing book on many levels. 19th century sea adventure, heroes, tradegies, great survival stories, heart stopping excitement, 20th century high tech recovery adventures, interlopers and bottom feeding lawyers and insurance companies, it's got it all. Why 4 stars rather than 5 ? I found it a tad long after they found the boat and began that part of the story. But, that is a small point. Well worth the reader's time.
Ship of Gold is a good story with excellent details about the recovery of the gold........2007-08-28
Ship of Gold is a good story with excellent details about the recovery of the gold.
In my next recovery book I will look for more diving experience. The ROV's do not have the same adventure value as the human diving experience we have on the North Sea but then again the North Sea is maximum 40 meters deep. We don't need ROV's at these depths.
I liked the sonar specialist story and the systematical scanning of the area's with the best values in the probability matrix.
Hands down one of the best book ever! .......2007-08-20
This is by far the best book ever. I have purchased more copies then I can count and I have given it to all of my family members and most of my friends. All of them loved it. Even my mom told it was one of the best books she had ever read. Being she reads a book every two weeks that's a pretty good compliment.
This is a short book, but it takes a long time to read. It's not that it's a hard read; it's just that it's so good you will take your time to read it. Almost like savoring a great wine.
I don't recommend many books, but this one should be on the top of your reading pile. Once you read it you will understand why and I'm willing to bet you will recommend it to all of your friends.
Good modern day treasure hunt.......2007-07-04
I liked the way the author took the reader back and forth from the past to the present. It was interesting to see how much planning and inguenuity it took to accomplish the recovery of the gold. Once the treasure was found, I have to admit to having a mild case of 'gold fever' due to the vivid descriptions provided by G. Kinder. The only reason I didn't give it the full 5 is because of the Tommy (the technical mastermind of the recovery) praising!!!! Alright already, he certainly must walk on water, and if he doesn't, he'll surely invent a way to. Inspite of the Tommy factor, this is a good book.
Also recommended: In the Heart of the Sea
Fantastic Nonfiction.......2006-12-28
When the Central America sank in 1857 she took 21 tons of gold and more than 400 souls to the bottom of the sea, including one of my ancestors. Kinder's incredible book weaves the tale of the shipwreck together with the story of the thrilling recovery more than 130 years later.
Ship of Gold is a fantastic book from historic and scientific perspectives. If you read this book, you will gain new insights about the Gold Rush and 19th-century sea travel; better yet, you will be amazed by the technological and biological advancements which were a direct consequence of Tommy Thompson's recovery.
I read Ship of Gold to fill in the details of an old family legend. I was pleased to discover a truly amazing work of nonfiction.
Book Description
The F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, variable sweep wing, two-place strike fighter manufactured by Grumman Aircraft Corporation. Its primary missions include precision strike against ground targets, air superiority, and fleet air defense. Those are the facts. But, behind the facts are the reality of thirty-five years of active naval service as the foremost air superiority fighter of the cold war with continuing service as a fighter-bomber in the Gulf Wars. Over two hundred thousand sailors, officers and enlisted men, pilots, and ground crew served in F-14 squadrons with the Tomcat over the years.Now, as the Tomcat flies off into its sunset and the scrapyardno flyable F-14s will be allowed to survive for fear that Iran, the other operator of the aircraft, might be able to obtain spare parts for their Tomcat fleetGrumman F-14 Tomacat: Anytime Baby . . . ! is a fitting tribute to this still potent old man of the sky. The photography is amazing and the stories are exhilarating.
Customer Reviews:
Cops and robbers.......2007-08-10
Ive always believed cops and fighter pilots shared something in common. You dont know how it feels unless you've felt that trickle of sweat running down your back during a high speed pursuit or chasing boogies over foreign skies, the chase is the name of the game.From running up stairs in the projects to flying at night with ghosts you never know whats going to happen. This book is beautiful to flip through or read the raw, undiluted tales from the pilots themselves. One pilot said " he waited till his knees stopped shaking before he got of the plane after a hop". Ive waited too. Its nice to hear that.
Grumman F-14 Tomcat: Bye-Bye Baby!.......2007-01-16
A great source of information and memories on the F-14. Great pictures, human interest from pilots and air crew, a book to treasure.
Tomcat Tales.......2007-01-09
I used to work at Grumman in 1969, so I have a deep feeling for the aircraft. The book is a compilation of comments from a variety of sources. Some comments are really funny and I enjoyed reading every one of them. Since I a small part of its history, I'm glad to have this book in my library forever.
Grumman F-14 Tomcat: Bye-Bye Baby.......2007-01-05
For those interested in the history of one of America's classic, high
performance, fighter jets and the 14 squadrons of men and women primarily
based out of Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach that flew them,
this is a great illustrated volume. As the parent of a "cat driver" from
the USS Enterprise who flew the first missions in Afganistan, the work was
well done showing many of the maneuvers this wonderful aircraft was capable
of doing. The Tomcat is gone from service but she will not be forgotten by
the men and women who flew her during her long distinguished career.
Lots of flash, not much substance.......2006-11-18
Dave Parsons has been one of the most prolific and talented photographers of the F-14 Tomcat for many years. There is no shortage of his excellent work throughout this book.
However, those looking for some substance to go with the pictures will be disappointed. At the retirement of the venerable Tomcat, there are so many stories and tales of heroism, adventure and just plain fun that are somehow absent in this volume.
The pictures are tremendous, but some text to support and enhance the images would improve this book a great deal. A book that has the retirement of the Tomcat in its title should have some coverage of the retirement inside.
Book Description
Aviation technology progressed at a blindingly fast pace during the first half of the 20th century. Aircraft were asked to fly higher, fly faster, carry heavier loads, take off and land on shorter runways, fly greater distances, and consume less fuel with each new generation, and with perfect dependability. Pratt & Whitney's R-1340, or Wasp as it was known in the commercial marketplace, was a relatively large engine, displacing 1,344 cubic inches. Somewhat akin to the steam age, when triple-expansion engines the size of cathedrals ruled the waves, the R-4360 at one time represented the largest and most sophisticated of its breed. Nothing else in the late-1940s marketplace could boast what the R-4360 did·3,000 to 4,000 horsepower. By the end of the piston-engine era, Pratt & Whitney had placed into mass production the largest and most powerful engine ever built in mass quantities. In addition to owning a Pratt & Whitney R-4360, Graham White is the author of several books including R-2800: Pratt & Whitney's Dependable Masterpiece and Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of World War II. White uses a large collection of data on the R-4360 gathered from the National Archives & Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Leaving no stone unturned, this book provides a detailed account of the inner workings of the R-4360. Also covered is the engine's development history, variations, and its military, commercial, and racing applications.
Customer Reviews:
WOW, what a book!!.......2007-08-09
Wow, what a book!! I wish all engines had this much technical data and pictures.
R4360 book review.......2007-05-13
This book is incredibly detailed, with many rare illustrations.
Graham White has done a thorough and interesting history of this
fabulously complex engine. Plus, his history of Allied Aircaft
Engines of WW2 is highly recommended.
Thumbs up for P&W's Major Miracle.......2007-03-23
I would recommend this book unreservedly. If you are at all interested in the history, development, production and usage of these amazing engines and the aircraft they powered, this is an investment you won't regret. I'm on my second read through and still being amazed at the info.
A Major Work for a Major Engine.......2007-01-12
Graham White's book on P&W's R-4360 is a fine and thorough study of one of the greatest aeronautical piston engines ever produced. If you are at all interested in the general subject of aircraft engines, or even engines generally, you should obtain a copy to read and enjoy studying and savoring it slowly over the months after you first go through it. The text is clear and it is well illustrated, all that a book on an aircraft engine should be. My only quibble, and it is a quibble, is that the down-draught inlet ports, a distinct feature of the R-4360, have a much longer history than Mr. White seems to indicate, having been used by BMW in sportscar engines in the 1930s and by Miller in racing engines even earlier; however, since these examples are drawn from outside his field of study, Mr White may be excused, and even were this not the case, the general quality of this work would win him praise not criticism.
A good read.......2007-01-11
A very detailed book on not only the R-4360 but a range of other engines
and engineering designs. It is not a light read as it is aimed at the
more technical minded, but it is a thorough and interesting book
Customer Reviews:
WHAT'S MOST AMAZING IS HOW THIS BOOK KEEPS IMPROVING.......2006-08-10
THE ANSWERS TO SO MANY NAVAL REFERENCE QUESTIONS
ABOUT THE NEW EDITION: #18 - E-Z TO SUBMERGE ONESELF INTO FOR THE DAY
Though much of the text is the same or almost the same as in the last editions, this edition has almost completely updated the photos used and has enlarged appendixes. This volume has over 900 photographs, almost half are new, 60 line drawings and 5 appendixes. Also, many weapons systems that were in development in recent editions have been updated along with new photos and operational histories.
NOTHING HERE IS STILL CLASSIFIED SO READ THIS EDITION TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT - JUST DON'T MAIL THEM OUT OF THE COUNTRY,
IN A NUTSHELL: REAL DETAILS AND AN INVENTORY OF ORDNANCE TOO!
Want to find out details about standard U.S. Naval defense systems? This is the book. Ideal for defense enthusiasts, analysts, historians and academic researchers, this volume has very hard to find data and info about virtually everything the U.S. Navy can float, submerge, haul, shoot, or fly.
Frankly in most countries the material here would be restricted, and in fact there is warning in the inside cover that states that; this is to be "sold in the United States, Canada and American possessions only".
A new edition comes out about 3 times per decade and includes everything but the latest, still classified, U.S. military hardware.
STILL HERE -- OKAY THERE'S MORE:
If you save the older issues, you will have a rather comprehensive chronicle of the nuts and bolts of the U.S. Navy - real interesting stuff. For instance, if you go back to say the thirteenth edition, you can find a full description of the Iowa Class Battleships and the compositions of a variety of their 16" projectiles. Want to know about the jets used in the Vietnam War? Look at the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th editions, and you'll find cool aircraft and helicopters as well as Crusiers that still fired artillery. Would you like to see and read about the add-on, stand-off weapons from the Gulf-War era. You'll find them in editions 13-16 listed under "WEAPONS SYSTEMS". How fast or far do our missles fly? How large a warhead do they carry and what type of guidance system do they use are all included for countless systems in each and every volume of this text.
BOTTOM LINE: If this type of stuff is interesting too you, this text can take the place of counting sheep at night, as it does for me.
The good news is that NOTHING IN THIS TEXT IS STILL CLASSIFIED SO YOU CAN READ THESE VOLUMES TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT - JUST DON'T MAIL THEM OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
BOTTOM LINE: INCLUDES EVERYTHING EXCEPT ARMOR SPECS & SUBMARINE DIVING DEPTHS
About the only kinds of information you won't find here have to do with armor protection and the maximum depth that submarines can dive to. For some reason this kind of stuff is considered much more sensitive than the operational workings of advanced fired control systems and missle launchers.
An only - in - America look at the U. S. Navy.......2005-07-22
The evolution of the U. S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard since September 11 gives one an insight into the U.S. military culture and reflects values of the U. S. culture in general. I have all of Polmar's Ships and Aircraft books, from pre - Reagan to post 911, showing a fascinating evolution from a blue water anti - USSR force to todays smaller, more flexible force.. Required reading for military history buffs.
A most thorough review........2005-03-27
Ordinarily, either a complete review of the ships "or" the aircraft of the US Fleet would provide sufficient material for such a book as this. To include both, however, provides the reader with a complete description of just about every single aspect of the ships and aircraft in service in the US Navy at the time each edition of this book is published. What surprised me, in fact, was the detailed descriptions of some items of sensitive equipment which much surely have been "classified." For example, whilst it may be fair to say that a picture of a particular type of antennae does not reveal exactly how it works, a photograph showing the "Reverse side of a SPY-1A antennae during assembly" might appear to show too much...
How strange that in most (if not all) countries, the perimeter fences of their military airfields proclaim "The taking of Photographs is prohibited" as though secret equipment might be frequently on display. When it comes to Naval ships and Aircraft and the equipment they display, however, it's as though the sign reads "Hey Buddy, go get your camera and see what I've got!"
Those comments, however, are not a reflection of the author's work, on the contrary, they simply reinforce the simple fact that this is a most thorough review of the subject in hand.
NM
Book Description
Why did almost one thousand highly educated "student soldiers" volunteer to serve in Japan's tokkotai (kamikaze) operations near the end of World War II, even though Japan was losing the war? In this fascinating study of the role of symbolism and aesthetics in totalitarian ideology, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney shows how the state manipulated the time-honored Japanese symbol of the cherry blossom to convince people that it was their honor to "die like beautiful falling cherry petals" for the emperor.
Drawing on diaries never before published in English, Ohnuki-Tierney describes these young men's agonies and even defiance against the imperial ideology. Passionately devoted to cosmopolitan intellectual traditions, the pilots saw the cherry blossom not in militaristic terms, but as a symbol of the painful beauty and unresolved ambiguities of their tragically brief lives. Using Japan as an example, the author breaks new ground in the understanding of symbolic communication, nationalism, and totalitarian ideologies and their execution.
Customer Reviews:
"Many people would sooner die than think -.......2006-06-24
- in fact, they do so"
--Bertrand Russell
So it turns out that these were good guys after all, were they?
Right on.
If only the (not so?) Yamato People had prevailed.
Peace and harmony, and rule by "fluency in Marxism
and Western Philosophy" might have reigned throughout
Asia, the Pacific, portions of Oregon, The Bay Area,
Southern California, and the Near West Side of Madison, WI.
I dare say that there might have been, and still even remain,
some benighted line of resistance from Tacoma to Anchorage.
College sophomores from D.C. and Oconomowoc might
have, in bashful but bold transgression, held hands
with Kamikaze pilots at coffee shops on State Street,
and rest assured, 'pro rege et patria NON mori' on the
part of Japanese Imperial Forces would have most certainly
been immediately, decisively, and finally demonstrated,
'Primus Post Laurus.'
I might be impressed if these nutters had been reading
The Federalist Papers, James Joyce, or Freud.
But Nietszche and Marx? Sounds like a more or less
predictable fixation with the concerns of The Third
Reich to me. At least the Nazis made a few good movies.
When will they ever learn?
When will they ev-ver learn.
La la.
Japan was and remains, in some ways, a catalog of caricatures --
this perhaps owing to its remarkably unique historical circumstances.
It can be sometimes mesmerizing and sometimes unsettling
in its general intensity and amplitude. Every imaginable
quality of human nature and creativity are brilliantly displayed.
Barring, that is, just those that are taken most for
granted in the West: unfettered individuality and the
casual exercise of personal judgment in the public realm.
One must keep this in mind in order to take in its
extraordinary tapestry without becoming overly
charmed by any of it in its details or particulars.
The contemporary wish, where sincere, to extend the
principles and values of democracy to the sphere of
international relations is to be encouraged.
The attempt to wish any such attributes onto a past
that simply was not so, is suspect.
Call it 'The Cosmopolitical Fallacy,'
or, maybe, 'Fantasy.'
Historical parallels to current events
must, as a rule, be made and taken with
all care and judiciousness.
Excellent Book.......2005-12-01
From my experiences in reading historical non-fiction, there are generally two types of books. One of these simply tells you what happend, while the others, while also accomplishing the recount, also provide an analysis of perhaps why soemthing happend.
This is a must-read and an incredible in depth look at the japanese culture and the pride they have for their country and history.
Excellent.......2005-04-27
I read this book this semester in Professor Ohnuki-Tierney's class on Political and Cultural Symbolism. A must for any undergraduate student of symbolic or political anthropology. The book traces the use of the cherry blossom as a symbol throughout history, eventually arriving at the tokkotai (kamikaze) pilots of WWII.
EOT does a great job dispelling the myth that tokkotai pilots died for the emperor and committed suicide. Instead, she shows the lives of five young men, all highly intelligent university students fluent in Marxism and Western philosophy. These young men joined the Navy to herald a new age for Japan, they did not believe in the pro rege et patria mori ideology American media has assumed.
Don't watch the History Channel specials on tokkotai pilots. Read this book and learn about the harsh reality of war, the cruelty of government manipulation of symbol, and the brilliance of the Japanese men who lost their lives in WWII.
Highly Recommended.......2005-03-08
Exceptional book, I took a class with this professor. The western conception of "suicide pilots" is completly wrong.
Average customer rating:
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Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation: Revised Edition (Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation)
Studio Editions Ltd.
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
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ASIN: 0517103168
Release Date: 1993-08-15 |
Book Description
The aircraft were colorful and their crews were often courageous - but virtually unknown beyond the South American Continent. With drawings and a detailed text this volume offers a remarkable historical bonanza for students of aeronautical history and aircraft modellers craving something new.
Customer Reviews:
Latin American Air Wars 1912-1969.......2007-07-21
Fantastic Book, as a matter of fact I would say that it was a labor of love for the author.
Great Aviation History of Latin America.......2007-04-04
This latest book from Dan Hagedorn covers various Air Wars in Latin America during the period of 1912 to 1960. Lots of photos and aircraft profiles are included to enable the reader or the modeler to understand the aircraft that were involved in the events. Good basic summaries of the events are included in the book and additional, much more details narrations can be downloaded from the publisher. This is a great method of providing full information while maintaining good cost control of the published book.
This book is well recommended.
Excellent resource for modelers on Latin American aviation.......2007-03-04
This book is an excellent source of photos and scale drawings for Latin American warplanes for modelers. A plus for the book is that even though there isn't much text in the book, Dan Hagadorn provides a link to his text suppliment for those who do want to read up the history of the battles listed in the book (If you plan to print the text, make sure that you have plenty of paper and printer ink!). This book is an excellent source for me due to the fact that I was able to find rare pictures of planes that I would like to build such as Cuban P-38, T-33, B-26 and P-47 aircraft, Honduran P-38, F4U-5, and T-33, Argentine Meteor, F4U-5 and F-86 and Costa Rican P-38 and P-51 aircraft. There is also a chapter on US operations in Latin America during WWII along with Mexican and Brazilian operations with US Forces in the Phillipine and European theaters. If you have an interest in Latin American air combat, this IS the book to get.
amazing book .......2007-01-09
This is a fine book of 35 chapters covering Latin American wars from 1912 to 1969 with attention to the air component. There are many original photos of unusual planes or familiar planes with unusual markings and many profiles. Although the book is short of printed words, there is a pdf supplement available through the publisher at no cost. The pdf contains 548 pages including 118 on Mexico, 72 on World War II, 62 on the Chaco War (Mr. Hagedorn has published on the Chaco War), 32 on the Bay of Pigs with the other 31 chapters ranging from 2 to 37 pages. I downloaded the pdf documents onto a cd and put it inside the cover of the book as it will take me quite a while to read all the information. I think this is a real winner with extensive coverage of little known conflicts in Latin America.
Great Book!.......2006-12-31
This is an excellent book, as you would expect from Mr. Hagedorn. The illustrations, both photos and profiles, are fantastic.
There are 35 chapters, each covering one conflict, except for one on the Caribbean Legion. Each chapter varies from one to twenty pages, mostly illustrations, plus an online PDF file you can download.
As an example, the first chapter in the book, the Mexican Revolution, is about twenty pages, only two of text. The illustrations include nine color profiles. The online PDF file is 118 pages, text only! If you've read Dan's letters to Small Air Forces Observer, you have some idea how precise his research is.
Buy it.
Book Description
The most successful and influential rock band to emerge from San Francisco during the 1960s, Jefferson Airplane created the sound of a generation. Their smash hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" virtually invented the era's signature pulsating psychedelic music and, during one of the most tumultuous times in American history, came to personify the decade's radical counterculture. In this groundbreaking biography of the band, veteran music writer and historian Jeff Tamarkin produces a portrait of the band like none that has come before it. Having worked closely with Jefferson Airplane for more than a decade, Tamarkin had unprecedented access to the band members, their families, friends, lovers, crew members, fellow musicians, cultural luminaries, even the highest-ranking politicians of the time. More than just a definitive history, Got a Revolution! is a rock legend unto itself.
Jann Wenner, editor-in-chief and publisher of Rolling Stone, wrote, "The classic [Jefferson] Airplane lineup were both architects and messengers of a psychedelic age, a liberation of mind and body that profoundly changed American art, politics, and spirituality. It was a renaissance that could only have been born in San Francisco, and the Airplane, more than any other band in town, spread the good news nationwide."
Customer Reviews:
Meticulous Chronicle.......2007-09-04
Other than 'Surrealistic Pillow' and 'Volunteers,' I passed on most of the Jefferson Airplane's 60s and early 70s output. I never felt I missed that much since the classic Pillow remains head and shoulders above all the rest of the somewhat self indulgent stuff that came after. But this history finally makes clear this band's long and confusing journey, in both music and personnel. The author is a dedicated fan, but his writing, while a bit worshipful, is not too fawning, so the interested reader comes away with a fairly objective sense of where the Airplane stands in the history of rock. I saw Paul Kantner a couple of years ago at a free show in Clearwater, Fla., and his performance was far better than it had any right to be, demonstrating this creator's always superior musicianship and dedication to his art, even now, long after Grace Slick's retirement and the band's demise. Well worth reading for 60s afficiandos.
Wild Tyme.......2007-08-25
I was not a child of the 60's, so I'm a latecomer to the Airplane. The content of their albums are hit and miss I think, and they're clearly a much more impressive band live than what was often caught on record. They've never come across to me as being particularly likeable people (the book doesn't do much to alter that perception), but they interested me nonetheless. The book is fairly detailed, but perhaps too much so at times to the point of coming across as a cold history lesson rather than creating any attachment to the band. While a thorough book, the end seemed rather rushed - lacking the minute details that permeated the rest of the book. It's also hard to tell whether what a person "thought" or was "feeling" is the author's own interpretation of the situation or something that was conveyed to them in an interview.
For the obsessed JA fan, I'll give it four stars as its details will probably enthrall them. For the more casual fans, it's information overload. The book could be tightened up - in particular the "miniature biographies" and other vignettes the author delves into that do little to enhance the story of the band.
Janis Was Fire - Grace Was A Terrorist.......2007-06-11
I laughed when I read the quote in the title space, from Big Brother & the Holding Company guitarist Sam Andrews comparing the two singers. There is plenty of information in Jeff Tamarkin's excellent Jefferson Airplane biography to substantiate that remark. Bad behavior by celebrities is not a new phenom. Tamarkin places the group in the context of its times. So in addition to an intelligent analysis of their music, and chronicles of their lives, there is an overview of what's going on socio-politically in the US from the '60's to the '90's. How the musicians did, or didn't adapt, to the changing times. To paraphrase the opening remarks by Jann Wenner, they could jam AND they could sing! It was exactly that dynamic that made them a great band, a cultural force, and tore them apart. In addition to the facts, Jeff Tamarkin doesn't spare the gossip, tales, urban legends, drama. The combination makes this a great read. I didn't stop reading until I was done! I loved reliving the experiences - I was at nearly all their paid and free gigs in New York City from Hunter College in '67 to the topless Grace Slick performance in Gaelic Park, Bronx, in '72 during the band's death rattling last days. As much as I tried to keep up with the members many incarnations, I eventually lost track of them and simply stopped caring. It's a great read, about a great band. A worthy investment of your time and money.
Jefferson Airplane Loves You--It's Each Other They Can't Stand.......2006-12-29
There's a blurb on the back cover of Jeff Tamarkin's collective bio of Jefferson Airplane/Starship excerpted from Fred Dellar's review of same in MOJO Magazine. Dellar observes how certain rock histories are so good, so evocative of their era, they make you dig out your old records (or actually go out and buy the CD versions) in order to re-experience the music and the mind-set one more time. I can certainly relate. Call me nostalgia, call me hungry for REAL music, just don't call me late for the "Be-In."
Jeff Tamarkin's history of Jefferson Airplane is a case in point.. While reading this book, I dragged out at least a couple of my classic Airplane albums, (the ones I have on CD anyway, since I don't have a working turntable anymore), and I even dug out a cassette version that I once bought of the LAST Starship album LOVE AMONG THE CANNIBALS and finally listened to the damn thing. Cost me all of 99 cents as I recall, and y'know, it wasn't half bad. Not anywhere near great, you understand, but if the Mickey Thomas Starship were hacks, they were at least pros. But I didn't really get into the mood till I found my new copy of BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD, the live album which is, in some ways, the definitive Airplane record. It showed just what they were capable of when they were ON (musically speaking, that is, not necessarily pharmacologically).
If you were any kind of Airplane fan, you know that the love and peace thing didn't really take root among the members themselves, at least in their relation to each other. Some may find the pettiness of these young idealists disturbing. Others will chock it up to human nature and just enjoy the music. But that famous bumper sticker and their hometown's love rep notwithstanding, the Airplane never REALLY did qualify as members of what Hendrix called the "Love Crowd." Marty, maybe--when he wasn't badmouthing everyone else in the band, and to some extent Paul, who loved the idea of community and being together, as long as it was on his terms.
Well, almost 40 years on, it hardly seems worth worrying about now. So the Airplane could be jerks at times. They also made some great, daring, sometimes downright astonishing music. And that's what they should be remembered for.
Tamarkin does an excellent job of conjuring up those memories for those of us who were alive at the time--and his text serves as a good history lesson for those who weren't around but are curious about the music, the(counter)culture and general history of the 60s and early 70s. He demonstrates how all those good vibes and tumultuous times morphed into something much tamer and less interesting by the mid-70s. And shows that it was all pretty much inevitable.
The soap opera that was the Airplane spun off in so many directions that it was almost impossible to tell the players without a program. Tamarkin provides us that. If at times, it seems a little sketchy, well, that's unavoidable too. If every group member, hanger on, friend or relative were permitted to tell his or her tale in toto, you'd have a five volume cultural history that almost no one could digest.
But give Tamarkin credit. He paints a much broader, but still more accurate picture than either of the two Grace Slick bios out there. He does so by focusing on the MUSIC and devoting as little space to the gossip as possible. I really did not want to have to read that tired old tale about Grace showing up at the Nixon White House with Abbie Hoffman in
tow for the umpteenth time. Come on, if she really intended to spike Nixon's tea with LSD, she wouldn't have gone there with someone like Hoffman. It was, at best, a bit of street theater (literally, since she and Abbie never got past the gate). Tamarkin includes this and other obligatory bits of Airplane lore and legend, but he doesn't sensationalize any of it. Unlike Grace and ghost writer Andrea Kagan did for her SOMEBODY TO LOVE? tome a few years before.
As a fan, there was quite a bit of stuff that I already knew, and I was delighted to see that Tamarkin's book was well researched and quite accurate. I have a quirky memory, and I can actually recall interviews with, reviews of and articles about the artists I care about. I was surprised at how many of my favorite quotes were included in the volume. Grace, upon being asked how she wrote "White Rabbit," responding, "With a pencil and paper," for instance. OK, OK, so it isn't an Oscar Wilde quip, but it was cute. Even better was her oft quoted (in many variations) dismissal of all the attention she received, "...if you have four goats and one pig, you're gonna look at the pig." I liked it better when it was five ducks and a cow, but you get the point. Hey, I even remembered ol' Lester Bangs calling the band's last studio album LONG JOHN SILVER "one churning vat of fury after another" (in the context of what was actually a pretty negative review), I guess that was because at least someone else realized what fiery, ANGRY music this hippie band was producing toward the end of their brief tenure.
But like many fans, I did lose track of at least some of the band members over the years. Some of the side projects intrigued me still, and I remain one of the few champions of Grace's solo work stil standing. Marty's too. But as much as I loved Jack and Jorma in the Airplane, I did not follow their post-Airplane careers for long. Apparently, I missed out. I had checked out the first few Hot Tuna albums hoping for something as turbulent as "Spare Change" or "Bear Melt," and finally decided that--like everybody else, it seemed--they were going mellow on me. Now I find out, they were soon thereafter doing all-night sets and were burning up the stage. And some of this was captured on tape and may even be available on Amazon. I know what I'll be doing with my next tax refund.
Tamarkin, in fact, includes a fairly exhaustive discography at the end of the book. Even non-fans would have to admit that this was one band this was one band that soldiered on both individually and collectively. This despite the fact that, after having been critical darlings for about four years, they suddenly became critical poison as early as the BARK era. Actually, there was a lot of dissension even around the time of VOLUNTEERS. Rolling Stone Magazine made its name off the San Fran groups, but by the early 70s they had largely written them off--especially the Airplane.
If they Airplane cared at all, they didn't let it show. Years before Paul Kantner actually articulated it, their attitude was "F@#$ You! We do what we want."
THE AIRPLANE HISTORY THAT FANS HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!.......2005-09-28
I had waited impatiently for many years for someone to tackle a complete history of one of my favorite bands, Jefferson Airplane, and when I finally saw the book in my local store, and then the author's name on the book itself, I knew right away that all would be well. I had enjoyed Jeff Tamarkin's wonderfully well-written, impeccably researched, enthusiastic and informative liner notes for various Airplane and Hot Tuna CDs for quite a while, and sensed that he was the perfect man to handle this job. Happily, that indeed turns out to be the case, and his Airplane history, "Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane," featuring all those qualities that made his liner notes such a joy, is the volume that I and many others had been waiting for. Tamarkin not only gives us a thorough history of this seminal San Francisco group--starting in 1965, when Marty Balin (nee Martyn Buchwald) decided to put a new kind of band together--but also follows it through its dissolution in 1972 and on to its various offshoots (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, KBC Band, etc.). Covering the pre-hippy days of the mid-'60s, through the Nixonian years and right on to J.A.'s reunion in 1989, Tamarkin also gives us a concise primer of a fascinating period of recent history. The book is replete with details of the band's principals but not exhaustingly so; that is, it never gets bogged down with excess back story, but rather gives us all the info we need to understand all the band members as fully fleshed-out people, limiting their back biographies to quick 10-page chapters. I have been a fan of Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Spencer Dryden and especially Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady for almost 40 years now, and still found an incredible amount of unknown information about them in this fast-moving history. (Spencer Dryden was Charlie Chaplin's nephew?!?! Who knew?) With chapters arranged in cliffhanger fashion, with a fascinating cast of characters and with many astounding stories, this book really does pull a reader in. And yet, Tamarkin does not yield to the temptation to sensationalize his tale. Indeed, to his credit, he admits right up front that there remain many "Airplane mysteries," and lets it go at that. Yes, there are many juicy stories (I love the one about Jack sitting in the mud puddle on DMT, and Grace's escapades in Germany...not to mention that Reality D. Blipcrotch episode!), but many readers, I suspect, will be surprised that this book remains fairly levelheaded, with a minimum of wild sex and drug anecdotes. The anecdotes ARE there, but only enough to give us a feel for the time, place and characters. (One gets the feeling that Tamarkin could regale us with even juicier tidbits over a few drinks one evening.) The author has been given access to virtually every principal character in the Jefferson Airplane story, and the hundreds of hours of insider interviews have helped make this history practically definitive.
On another note, I myself work as a copy editor and proofreader, and thus am happy to report that the book has also been put together virtually faultlessly. I only counted four typos in its entire 400+-page length, and all those were of the punctuational variety. The rare photographs on display are truly special (I just love the one of Jorma in his Cub Scout uniform!), and the book's index is perfectly composed and quite handy when keeping track of the history's large cast of characters. If there is one complaint that I would lodge--and it is a very minor one--it is that in the book's final third, more space has been given over to the exploits of Jefferson Starship than Hot Tuna. As a fan who has seen Tuna some hundred times in concert at this point, but who has never had much use for post-"Dragonfly" Starship, I would have wished for a little more parity here, but I suppose it could be argued that Starship was composed of more JA members than was Tuna, so I'm willing to let the point slide. Besides, this is a mere personal quibble. The fact remains, Jeff Tamarkin has done all fans of Jefferson Airplane a tremendous service with his wonderful book. I have read it twice already, and will surely refer to it often in the years to come. Thanks, Jeff!
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