From Publishers Weekly
Following up the acclaimed The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Frontlines of Broadcast Journalism, the authors offer a solid addition to WWII aviation history. The first all-Polish squadron in the Royal Air Force, the Kosciuszko Squadron was formed from experienced Polish Air Force pilots who had fled their fallen country by way of Romania and France to England. Its members, according to the authors, needed little instruction in combat flying but some in the English language. When they took to the air, the squadron's pilots, along with Poles serving elsewhere in Fighter Command, made a large (possibly indispensable) contribution to victory in the Battle of Britain. That battle is the dramatic high point of the book, which from 1941 on shifts its focus to the sorry fate meted out to Poland as a nation and Poles in particular, especially in the infamous Katyn Massacre and the Warsaw Uprising. The authors document how this mistreatment took place with the acquiescence of the Western Allies, grossly misjudging Stalin's ambitions in Eastern Europe. Despite the same extraordinarily fluent writing and thorough research found in The Murrow Boys, readers might still be left wanting to know more about the fate of some of the Polish aviators after the Battle of Britain. Even so, the political balance they bring to telling the political story is noteworthy.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
Booklist
Poland's lot at the hands of Hitler and Stalin has been exhaustively examined by historians. But Olson and Cloud's book shows that the topic merits further consideration. Their sure lure is the Battle of Britain and the crucial role played by Polish fighter pilots. Without bogging down in aviation minutiae, the authors dramatize the seemingly reckless romantic dash of five Polish pilots, which transformed them into temporary celebrities and captivating figures. After tracking the fate of the pilots for the rest of the war, Olson and Cloud then ascend to a different plane, Big Three diplomacy, from which issued a Sovietized Poland. These sections are necessarily a synthesis, but a skillfully composed one for the warplane-oriented reader whom the authors have hooked with their opening cast. Libraries may expect the average interest exhibited in new WW II titles to double for the authors' good work. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
