Description
Book SynopsisThe unprecedented fire raid that incinerated Tokyo, helped win the war and marked a major shift in American military policy
Trade Review"
Black Snow brilliantly vivifies the horrific reality of the most destructive air attack in history, against Tokyo on the night of March 9-10, 1945. James Scott deftly employs sharply etched portraits of individuals of all stations and nationalities to survey the global, technological, and moral backdrop of the cataclysm, including the searing experiences of Japanese trapped in a gigantic firestorm. This riveting account illuminates an historical moment of profound contemporary relevance." -- Richard B. Frank, author of Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War: July 1937-May 1942
"The firebombing of Japan is one of the most gut-wrenching and controversial chapters in modern history. James M. Scott’s
Black Snow is a brilliant, fast moving, utterly absorbing, and devastating account of the full price of victory in the Pacific." -- Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of Against All Odds
"James M. Scott brings to life with painstaking detail and humanity the terror and plight and hopes of Japanese citizens in their cities, and US pilots in the air—their duties, their misgivings, their conflicted reactions, their sense of victory, and their moral survival off that victory. You realize you’ve never read this story before in this way, with these long views of history and such collar-grabbing intensity.
Black Snow raises profound questions about how peace is made during one of America’s most turbulent periods on the world stage, and it speaks clearly to us today. You won’t put it down." -- Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times best-selling author of In Harm's Way and Horse Soldiers
