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A review by justabean_reads
Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of World War II by Philip Handleman
1.5
Oh, boy. It's been a while since I've read a WWII biography written by a white dude historian of a certain age, and I'd forgotten how dreadful the prose tends to be. This one is an absolute standout when it comes to terrible writing! I'm glad it was on audiobook, so I could march forward with it as background noise. Though I didn't ixnay the final chapter, which was Iraq War apologia for some fucking reason, and I have regrets there.
However, I've read enough of these things that I'm resigned to putting up with the writing for the sake of the information presented, and that was pretty good. Handleman alternates historical context chapters with the life of a Black kid from New York who really wants to be a pilot at a time when that was largely a whites-only occupation, and joins the U.S. Army Air Force to get his chance. There's some nice detail around what the training was like, as well as a general history of the Tuskegee Airmen. It covers his war-time service, and his struggles post war (the U.S. Military racially integrating really seems to have ended up with separating a lot of the black servicemen), when the airlines were not hiring non-White pilots. There's also what I felt like was an excessive emphasis on acts of kindness from random white people.
I bought this on sale, and am not sorry to have read it, but I suspect there are better books on the topic.
However, I've read enough of these things that I'm resigned to putting up with the writing for the sake of the information presented, and that was pretty good. Handleman alternates historical context chapters with the life of a Black kid from New York who really wants to be a pilot at a time when that was largely a whites-only occupation, and joins the U.S. Army Air Force to get his chance. There's some nice detail around what the training was like, as well as a general history of the Tuskegee Airmen. It covers his war-time service, and his struggles post war (the U.S. Military racially integrating really seems to have ended up with separating a lot of the black servicemen), when the airlines were not hiring non-White pilots. There's also what I felt like was an excessive emphasis on acts of kindness from random white people.
I bought this on sale, and am not sorry to have read it, but I suspect there are better books on the topic.