David Fairbank White

OMG, is this really what history writing has become? EVERY American is "heroic." EVERY Nazi is "dastardly." Even the machines have adjectives that glorify (American) or denigrate (Nazi) them. The whole book is filled with this overly purple prose style of writing that makes it hard to get through. There are some good details related to the development of the P-51 Mustang, but the reader really has to wade through a lot of (stuff) to find them.
I admit I was nervous when it says right on the cover, "The WWII fighter plane that saved the Allies..." There is much here that is rah rah Air Force and it gets old fast for someone who prefers a more balanced view of the war. The Whites talk a lot about Bombers and how they sustained many casualties, but there is little-to-no mention of the civilian lives lost on the ground, or even a cursory examination of the morality/necessity of strategic bombing at all. Their interest in key figures who had a hand in the development of the P-51 is obvious, but the writing is so hagiographic that it becomes a slog to read through. Just overly disgusted overall with what could have been an interesting book.… (mer)