Book Revew: "Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team" by John Steinbeck

Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon Book Description

A magnificent volume of short novels and an essential World War II report from one of America?s great twentieth-century writers

On the heels of the enormous success of his masterwork The Grapes of Wrath?and at the height of the American war effort?John Steinbeck, one of the most prolific and influential literary figures of his generation, wrote Bombs Away, a nonfiction account of his experiences with U.S. Army Air Force bomber crews during World War II. Now, for the first time since its original publication in 1942, Penguin Classics presents this exclusive edition of Steinbeck?s introduction to the then-nascent U.S. Army Air Force and its bomber crew?the essential core unit behind American air power that Steinbeck described as ?the greatest team in the world.?

For the purpose this book was written for, it was extremely insightful. My father served in WWII as an aerial tail gunner in a bombardier group and it was extremely fascinating to get a glimpse into what he went through in terms of selection and training. The book was considered propaganda when it came out, before the term had such a negative connotation. The definition of propaganda is information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause. There had been much talk about the mortality rate of a bombardier crew member and the intent of the book was to correct some of the misconception about the death rate, especially in comparison to infantry men. Steinbeck actually spent time going through the entire process of selection and observed the specific training for each of the members of the newly formed Army Air Force Bombardier Group. His hope was that the expose would help family members better understand what their son would be going through, beginning with the psychological and personality assessments that helped determine if the candidate was a good fit for a bombardier group. Steinbeck then observed the training each member would receive once they were selected. The training was intense and he wanted the family members as well as a potential candidate to have an idea of what the program would be like. This is not a novel and was not intended to be a novel. One insightful piece that Steinbeck mentioned was that even as he was writing this, things in the war were changing so rapidly that some of the information would already be outdated by the time it got to print. He still felt it was important to proceed. A very informative book and Steinbeck's writing style takes something that could have been dry reading and adds the human element.