Free Download Napalm: An American Biography, by Robert M. Neer

Free Download Napalm: An American Biography, by Robert M. Neer

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Napalm: An American Biography, by Robert M. Neer

Free Download Napalm: An American Biography, by Robert M. Neer

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Review

“Napalm is a brilliantly conceived, masterfully executed, and deeply disturbing book. Robert M. Neer offers a vivid examination of the military-technological partnership that drives the evolution of warfare, with moral considerations lagging far behind.”―Andrew J. Bacevich, editor of The Short American Century: A Postmortem“No one else has told so deeply and compellingly the story of how 'Napalm was born a hero but lives a pariah'―a terrifying weapon associated with America's Vietnam War whose history went back much further, as did the dishonest efforts of leaders to cope with its reputation.”―Michael S. Sherry, author of In the Shadow of War: The United States since the 1930s“Napalm is a revelation. In a story that takes us from Harvard Stadium to Vietnam, Robert M. Neer retells the past 70 years of American history through a single extraordinary and terrible invention. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the American way of war and its humanitarian dilemmas.”―John Fabian Witt, author of Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History“In this engrossing study, historian Neer recounts the prodigious youth and reviled old age of an iconic weapon...Neer's thoroughly researched, well-written account mixes lucid discussions of chemical engineering and the law of war with gut-wrenching depictions of napalm's nightmarish effects. More than that, it furnishes a thought-provoking lesson on evolving attitudes toward military means and ends.”―Publishers Weekly“Readers expecting a polemic may be pleasantly surprised at this lucid account of the technical, political and ethical features of a notorious symbol of American inhumanity in war...Napalm receives an overdue but thoroughly satisfying history.”―Kirkus Reviews“The author details napalm's creation by Louis Fieser (1899-1977) at Harvard and its pre-Vietnam use, wreaking mayhem in Japan during World War II and later in the Korean War. Neer's coverage of napalm's toll on thousands of Vietnamese citizens and the growing American awareness of these atrocities, which sparked the antiwar movement against Dow Chemical, napalm's largest producer, is gripping... [A] concise, often fascinating, story of this weapon's place in warfare and American popular culture.”―Karl Helicher, Library Journal“[Neer has] a brilliant eye for the horrible detail...Neer constructs this early narrative with exceptional skill and intelligence, vividly tracing the path that connects gleeful scientists on Cambridge soccer fields to streets and basements choked with human ash in Europe and Asia.”―Chris Bray, Bookforum“Neer recounts in rich detail the extraordinary evolution of napalm from hero in the gilded age of post-WWII American power to pariah in the aftermath of Vietnam...Neer ultimately moves beyond the protests to examine how antiwar grassroots activism, art, journalism and politics during and immediately after the Vietnam War radically reshaped cultural attitudes about napalm and the United States.”―Warren Wilkins, Vietnam Magazine“Napalm: An American Biography is...meticulously researched and vitally important...Napalm came to be employed the world over. Neer's chronicle of its use by American allies and client regimes against opponents in the Philippines, Greece, Cuba, Egypt, Peru, Bolivia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Algeria, Kenya and Angola, among other nations, is a revelation and one of the most enlightening portions of Napalm...Napalm: An American Biography is a fascinating and long-overdue study of one of modern warfare's signature weapons. Neer has provided a valuable book that fills in historical gaps and sheds much-needed light on a history that many would rather forget.”―Nick Turse, San Francisco Chronicle“[This] is the first comprehensive history of napalm, and tells the story of how a weapon deemed so useful in World War II and Korea hit a turning point in Vietnam. During that time it became the target of antiwar protestors, who mounted a nationwide campaign to stop Dow Chemical Co. from manufacturing it.”―Gal Beckerman, Boston Globe

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About the Author

Robert M. Neer is an attorney and Core Lecturer in the History Department at Columbia University.

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Product details

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Belknap Press; Reprint edition (November 16, 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780674088085

ISBN-13: 978-0674088085

ASIN: 0674088085

Product Dimensions:

5.8 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

3.7 out of 5 stars

12 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#1,004,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

I'm sure I wouldn't be bothered by his "agenda"- I'm of the mind that napalm is a war crime period- but I couldn't get past the first few chapters. It's the kind of history writing I just don't get, jam packed full of extraneous facts, names, and dates I'm sure have something with napalm, but most in a miniscule unimportant way. Trudging through it was very unpleasant. I skipped ahead to see if it got better, it didn't. I gave up. I read Kill Everything in Sight instead, very well written, and fits with my agenda that the United States has a much higher war crime body count in the past 50 years than the Holocaust.

This is another book that brings me to tears. Well worth reading. If you read this, you might also try Nick Turse's KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES. Both of these books provide a necessary, if heartbreaking for some of us, insight into America's way of making war.

great book

wow

It is misleading to say that the 5 stars I give this book mean "I love it": the content of the book is too horrifying to love. That it was enlightening is embarrassingly true. Read it and find out who you are.

I have to agree with one of the other reviews, this is a book with an agenda. I wanted a conventional history of napalm. The author did a creditable job listing the history of napalm, its origins such as Greek fire etc., as well as its different formulations and deployments. Beginning with its mass use in WW II the author explains how the allies arrived at its use against German and Japanese cities. The author, with justification, shows the debate in Allied high commands about the morality of fire bombing civilians in cities that were considered military targets.The author makes the argument, as others have, that napalm fire bombing of Japanese cities caused far more casualties than the two atomic bombs. This is indisputable.He then asserts that the atomic bombings were unnecessary and that Japan would have surrendered without their use. This is his opinion not factual. The period of time between the two atomic bombings showed that Japan was going to fight on. Indeed, a military coup was attempted against the Emperor when he told his cabinet of his intention to accept surrender.The Cold war sees the book deal with napalms deployment in Korea and by various nations during the period leading up to American Vietnam war use. It is here that the book swings over to leftist and communist propaganda. The author quotes numerous communist sponsored and anti-war movement material and in many cases with obvious bias while scarcely giving the arguments for its continued use as a weapon to save American and ARVN lives. The book addresses the iconic photo of young Kim Phuc running from a South Vietnamese Air Force napalm strike which severely burned her and became one of the most well known images of the war. There are multiple versions of this photo in the book as well other burned victims but no picture of communist fortifications or military casualties showing the military use/results of napalm.The anti-war use of napalm as a symbol gets much coverage especially the protests against Dow Chemical. Although the author mentions that these protests are organized by communist sponsored groups it gets scant mention as the gist seems to be that this was a grass roots movement. The descriptions of the battles between Dow and the protesters clearly leans toward admiration and justification of leftist tactics we see today i.e. rioting, vandalism, assault etc.Alternatively, few quotes by U.S. veterans are used, and those seem to be picked for shock effect rather than being explanatory. I personally have heard veterans say that without the use of napalm that they and their comrades would have been overwhelmed by a fanatical enemy who otherwise would not have been defeated.Napalm is indeed a grim weapon. Human nature gives us a revulsion to suffering or inflicting a fiery death. The idea though that being blown to pieces by high explosive,suffering gunshots,being bayoneted or strangled is somehow more moral or humane is ludicrous.Agreement can be made that innocents should never suffer any of these things. Military weapons, to include even atomic weapons are designed with the idea that lives lost now will save more later. Although its scarce, the author mentions instances where just the enemy's knowledge that napalm was going to be used against them caused their surrender, in at least one situation where conventional attacks had just failed. This saved the lives of both sides. Military men are not heartless monsters. They, more than many, understand the value of life and death. They want any conflict to end quickly, with as little loss of life as possible and in victory. Political correctness has attempted to rob us of that attitude.As in the American gun control debate demonizing the weapon misses the point. War should be a last resort. Once in it though, everything that is effective should be used to end it quickly.

What the reader wants to see is what it is like to be roasted alive. What does a poor simple Vietnamese peasant look like roasted alive in his or her bamboo hut. It does not do this.

Full disclosure: I flew three tours as an F-4 Phantom pilot in Vietnam. I've dropped a lot of napalm. It's good stuff. Yes, it IS a terror weapon; that's one of its pluses. Face it, if the bad guy's buddy in the next spider hole has just become a "krispy kritter", it's probably going to knock his combat effectiveness way down. Which means fewer casualties for the good guys. And, quite frankly, the idea that there are "nice" ways and "not-nice" ways to kill people seems ludicrous to me.This NOT to say the book is not worth while. It is well worth your your considered perusal. There are, however, some areas which should have been covered, could have been covered and weren't.First, the book's good points. The story of napalm's development and its history in World War II/Korea is very good and the author dispels a lot of myths along the way. He also does an excellent job of covering the history of attempts to limit armament types. Much worthwhile reading here.Where the book fell down for me and the reason I only give it two stars is he apparently never talked to any aircrews who dropped the stuff, nor to any ground troops who received close air support (he just sticks to published memoirs). There is no real discussion of napalm's advantages or limitations (some of which are pretty severe) as a weapons system. For instance, the necessity of dropping very low to the ground. Napalm cans have no ballistic characteristics whatsoever, so if you're not very close to the target when you release, you have no idea where it's going to go. If there's a quad-mounted 12.7mm in the vicinity, that's suicide. Finned napalm was used a bit in 1972, which took care of that problem, but the trade-off was a much reduced splash pattern, so it was never popular. There are a lot of other pluses and minuses - it covers an area the size of a football field so precise accuracy isn't required, BUT that means it can't be used too near friendlies. Always tradeoffs.He also - and this is the real two-star reason for me - apparently never talked to any VC/NVA who were on the receiving end. If napalm were really the ultimate terror weapon, we would have won the war in 1967 as all the bad guys who weren't fried would have skedaddled. Obviously this wasn't the case. Quite obviously the bad guys had means of dealing with it. How did they do that? What were the experiences of VC/NVA when hit with a napalm attack? I'm sure there are a lot of ex-VC/NVA around who could answer that question. Not covering that base is a serious, serious omission.I think he also should have recognized that the protestors were groups in favor of a communist victory - he never mentions this. While it's possible some were motivated by moral concerns, that wasn't the case for the organizing groups. They were all pro-Hanoi. A minor quibble: he quotes a Time magazine story of a flight of F-4 Phantoms being rearmed and the crews being given a beer. That never happened - court martials would have rapidly followed any such incident. We got coffee, water and some truly excellent pastries. No beer until after the last flight of the day.The author does correctly point out that the Trang Bang village incident involved a South Vietnamese aircraft who was not dropping anywhere near the target marker.I wish I could have rated this book higher - there's a lot of good meat here. But the holes - the areas the author could have covered, but didn't - are just too big. Get it anyway.

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