Too Few Too Thin | The Few

Not Exactly America's Finest Hour... | The Few | Alex Kershaw

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	• The Few Alex Kershaw Da Capo Press, 2006 - 344 pages average customer review:based on 31 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Comprehensive but still a good read

I thought that I knew quite a lot about the Eagle Squadrons and Battle of Britian before I read this book. The author does a very good job of providing a comprehensive account of the very first (pre eagle Squadron) Americans who flew for the RAF during this epic battle. He covers their motivations and aspirations in a very interesting fashion which keeps the book at a good pace. Considering the subject matter this book could have very easily come off like a text book. Thankfully that's not the case here, the author makes vital facts and details flow in such a way that even non WW2 enthusiasts would likely enjoy this book. My only criticism is that the author seemed to end the book too soon (time period wise), but I guess he had to end it somewhere.

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Too Few Too Thin

I just did not think there was much here in this book. It felt like a puffed up magazine article. The book focuses very tightly on the Americans who fought with the RAF before America entered the war, and I think that was too tight a focus. The book stays tightly on the scene in England, but it would have been better if we had learned more about the other foreign pilots who fought for a country other than their own. If it had to focus on just the Americans, than maybe taking the scene back to the home front would have been a good idea. I am sure each dogfight is a little different but reading about one aerial combat after another got to be too much for me.

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Not Exactly America's Finest Hour...

This outstanding narrative reads as more like a novel than a piece of researched non-fiction. I mean that as a complement as this is anything but a dry historical essay on the Battle of Britain. Although the story of the individual Americans is placed well into the wider context of the battle, some knowledge of this period is very useful. The title "The Few" has a double meaning...it not only refers to the handful of initial American volunteers that joined the RAF, but also relatively few pilots of RAF's Fighter Command who fought off the Luftwaffe during those critical weeks and months.

Why the "America-bashing" title? Well, in this case, it's the truth. While Hitler overran Western Europe in the Spring and very nearly defeated Great Britain in the Summer / Fall of 1940, America sat on its hands. The US Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's father), was very much against providing ANY assistance and repeatedly warned of Britain's impending defeat. The American people themselves were very much against involvement in another European war. Joseph Kennedy, along with the American people, were very, very wrong. Further, the Neutrality Laws passed by Congress and signed into law by FDR actually criminalized any US citizen who traveled to a warring nation and joined its armed forces. These eight undertook an incredibly perilous journey that eventually cost all but one of them their lives. They, along with the rest of the RAF were the ONLY ones fighting NAZI Germany during this very dark period. Only through the chance mistake of a lone German bomber crew did the dynamics of the battle shift in the favor of the RAF. Only through the RAF's valiant defense of Great Britain did the mood of the American public begin to change, see the reality of the threat, and start providing much needed assistance. Still, it would take Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, combined with a declaration of war by Germany on the US, to finally get the US fully into the fight.

As I finished, I thought this book would be a great subject for a movie. After searching IMDB.com, it looks like one is now in production. Finally...a movie I can actually look forward to seeing!

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One of the Best

To date, this is the best book I have read about The Battle of Britain. As an American, it holds special interest as we had 'dogs in the hunt'. It is a story of exceptional courage told by an excellent author, Alex Kershaw. "The Few" may be the only history book you just can't put down.

My Book Review

For a WWII history buff, this book gives the reader an insight to what lengths Americans went to in order to help allies prior to the US entry into WWII. Also gives an idea of the dangers and short life span of a fighter pilot during the "Blitz".

By the summer of 1940 World War II had been under way for nearly a year. Hitler was triumphant and planning an invasion of England. But the United States was still a neutral country and, as Winston Churchill later observed, "the British people held the fort alone." A few Americans, however, did not remain neutral. They joined Britain's Royal Air Force to fight Hitler's air aces and help save Britain in its darkest hour. The Few is the never-before-told story of these thrill-seeking Americans who defied their country's neutrality laws to fly side-by-side with England's finest pilots. They flew the lethal and elegant Spitfire, and became "knights of the air." With minimal training and plenty of guts they dueled the skilled pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England. They shot down several of Germany's fearsome aces, and were feted as national heroes in Britain. By October 1940, they had helped England win the greatest air battle in the history of aviation. At war's end, just one of the "Few" would be alive. The others died flying, wearing the RAF's dark blue uniform-each with a shoulder patch depicting an American eagle. As Winston Churchill said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

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