This book is written to argue the author’s belief that the current American desire to wage war without suffering casualties, derives from a carefully nurtured image of air combat in World War I being far removed from the sordid realities of ground fighting. Aptly subtitled World War I Flying Aces and the American Imagination, I cannot agree that this is the reason for America’s current thinking. It is a fact that American casualties on the ground in World War I were disproportionately higher at the time than those of other combatant nations; there were also huge losses in World War II. The former was because the Generals would not listen to their experienced allies, the latter because for the first time ever the United States was itself directly involved in a global conflict. In my opinion, the current American desire to be a global ruler without getting its hands dirty, stems from its unwillingness to get too involved in what it perceives to be other people’s business.

There are 435 closely written pages about the aces – from all nations – and 46 pages of notes references and index. I could find nothing new in either the narrative or the pictures. If you want to debate the proposal, read the book. I feel it is a fairly typical academic’s book written to justify the grants which helped to pay for it, and to keep the author’s CV looking good.