Joseph Pearson's The Airlift is a thrilling portrait of the Berlin Airlift as seen through the eyes of those who lived through it, from pilots to photographers and ordinary citizens. Pearson weaves together his meticulous new research and his in-depth interviews with a prodigious gift for storytelling. This is history that unfolds like a great documentary film - I could not put down this book! -- J. M. Tyree, Editor of Film Quarterly Praise for the author:
Literary non-fiction at its best - NORMAN OHLER, author of Blitzed
Astonishing detective work JULIA BOYD, author of Travellers in The Third Reich
Historian Joseph Pearson masterfully offers a close reading of the metropolis in all its brutal immediacy - PATRICK DONAHUE, Bloomberg News
Joseph Pearson has discovered a unique and exciting way of telling history - PETER MANSBRIDGE, author of Off The Record 'Pearson takes an illuminating, up-close look at the Berlin Airlift and the kicking off of the Cold War. Through probing interviews with those who were present, Pearson reveals how the airlift, more than just a successful propaganda campaign by the Westerners, was a viscerally felt moment of political realignment, which engendered doubt among some Americans (who didnt want to ally with former Nazis) and hope among Berliners (who wanted to rehabilitate their image in the West). This adds complexity to a major historical turning point.' -- Publishers Weekly A revisionist scrutiny of a humanitarian mission. Pearson reminds readers that three years after their defeat, Germans were still hungry and their cities in ruins. The dawn of the Cold War through a gimlet eye. -- Kirkus Reviews 'These stories of real people help bring the crisis to life, giving the reader a real feeling for what it was like to be there.' -- History of War 'Blending archival depth with narrative grace, the author dismantles comforting myths of heroism and exposes the uneasy transactional alliances that shaped the era.' -- The Booklist
