Eugenie Buchan

Eugenie Buchan has in her book A Few Planes for China turned upside down the up till now established history of that group of American fighter pilots known as the Flying Tigers or American Volunteer Group(AVG) who early in World War II challenged the Japanese assault on China. She has successfully challenged established World War II history and forces us to reconsider the broader story of just how America got enmeshed in the corrupt, incompetent regime of Chiang Kai-shek. . . . Destroying that myth, plus her very well-written history of the AVG’s origins makes Ms. Buchan’s book an must read study of how American foreign policy in the 1930’s was entangled more in commercial motivations and political maneuvering in the wartime era affected the growth of Chiang Kai-shek’s air force.… (altro)

What a disappointing book.

I hesitate to say “boring,” but I don’t know any other word to use.

To be sure, this author’s take on the birth of the Flying Tiger program is a challenge to the orthodoxy. She says the oft-told tale that Claire Chennault and the U.S. were the driving forces behind the establishment of the program is not true, but that Winston Churchill was instead.

That may be, and I’ll let others wrestle with her assertion (save one comment below). But the tale, as told here, is really a drag.

The author sources a couple of autobiographies plus reams and reams of recently-found documents. And she uses them, seemingly page by page, for the account. But it goes too deep for me.

For instance, did you want to know the serial numbers of the airplanes built in the U.S. and delivered to Britain and then China? Well you have them here. Want to know the dates that memos were sent and then commented on with hand-written notes? You’ve got them here.

What’s missing is interviews – and I realize that many, if not most, of the players are gone now, but maybe other experts could be brought in to give us real quotes. But since the story challenges history, I imagine there are few historians who would agree with her central thesis.

Here is another fact to weigh with this account: The author’s great-grandfather is now portrayed as having an “early and crucial” role in the creation of the Flying Tigers. Take that for what it’s worth.

I want to read about the squadron and its history, but instead we get a deep account of the government red tape surrounding it.

Others gave this book a higher rating than I did. That’s fine by me.

I received this book through Library Thing’s Early Reviews program.

For more of my reviews, go to Ralphsbooks.… (altro)