Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb
Published September 6th 2022 by W. W. Norton Company, Hardcover 432 pages
Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed.
Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we’ll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later.
Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for accepting my request to audibly read and review Black Snow.
Author: James M. Scott
Published: 09/06/22
Genre: History -- Nonfiction (Adult)
Narrator: L.J. Ganser
At 13 hours, I found this as an incredibly long audiobook. The narrator did his job. He read the text. I was struggling to focus and stay there. The text with full respect to the author and all those this book represents is dry.
I've come to realize that I like a story. Black Snow is a book, that resembles a textbook. I refer you back to the synopsis. While this includes documented world history, the line is thin between spoiler and known facts. This is written following a dark day in history, March 10, 1945 (Tokyo). The question posed in the synopsis will stay with me forever. "Should civilians be considered legitimate targets?"
I would recommend this for history buffs, someone who enjoys reading and does not need entertained.
I'm rounding up to 4 stars from my 3.5. This is written for smart people.
Rating: really liked it
I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The description above pretty accurately describes the subject matter of the book, so I won't go into plot details here.
Although the beginning of the book dragged a little bit, the pace picked up speed when America starting bombing the Japanese. The description of the animals and people, especially children, being burned to death was so heart wrenching that I nearly broke down in tears several times. I would even go so far as to provide a trigger warning here, as at times it was really hard to listen to. People being burned alive, boiling to death in super heated rivers, or drowning to death while trying to escape the flames. Yikes. It is the stuff of nightmares -- and this really happened.
If this were fiction, it would be classified as a horror novel.
It is unfathomable to me that after seeing all this death and destruction, humans CONTINUE to do engage in war, death, destruction -- right now we are amidst a war that is decimating an entire people and culture. WHY DO WE NEVER LEARN???
The book is immensely well researched and well written and is regarding a subject that I had not known about previously. Yes, everyone has (surely) learned about the atomic bomb in school, but I do not remember ever learning about prior incendiary attacks on Tokyo.
My emotions on the subject are so torn. On the one hand it is shameful that America was responsible for such atrocities. On the other hand, the Japanese were not saints, and they were also guilty of their own atrocities for which they should feel equally ashamed. That is not to say that anyone "deserved" it -- especially not the innocent children and babies who were killed in the air raids. I hugged my daughter a little tighter after hearing some scenes.
I think war is ugly and stupid and that there must be better ways to resolve conflict. It is for this reason that books like this are important to make people SEE / HEAR / LEARN about what the impact of war is, in the hopes to avoid the same in the future.
I highly recommend this book.
Rating: really liked it
This was a well-constructed telling of this period of history. The book didn't stay focused on the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, this was a very small portion of the book. It focused more on Curtis LeMay and the firebombing of Tokyo (as mentioned in the title). The author not only told this history, but also weaved in what was going on in Europe and America at this time. The author showed the horrific devastation of the firebombing and the thought processes of the various leaders that led up to their decisions. Sometimes historical books can just tell a straight chronological tale of events, but this one added details from other areas that enriched the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for giving me an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
“Black Snow” details the development of the B-29 bomber and its deployment against Japan in World War II. At its core, the book deals with the ensuing strategies from strategic bombing to the large scale firebombing of major Japanese cities. To his credit, the author James Scott details the frustrating efforts to develop both an effective weapon as well as successful military tactics to defeat Japan. The development and manufacturing off the B-29 was viewed as “the perfect weapon to bring the war home to the Japanese people.”
The book centers on the careers of three individuals, Hap Arnold, the father of the B-29 as well as the early advocate of an independent Air Force branch; Haywood Hansell, the military leader of the early efforts to deploy the B-29 against Japan; and lastly, Curtis LeMay, the dominant figure in the air war against Japan.
Scott portrays the Japanese citizen as constantly being buffeted from war with increasing privations in daily life as well as the daily fears of American bombing. On the other hand, the Japanese record of wartime atrocities, led the American public to view the Japanese as “barbaric”. Therefore, bringing the war home to the enemy was justified in the minds of the American public.
The central figure of Curtis LeMay emerges as an individual who rose from poverty to becoming a leader in the military who personally flew on missions to evaluate for himself the outcomes of strategic bombing as well as its effects on men and material. It is LeMay whose knowledge of the effects of incendiary bombing against German cities, would now propose the same tactics against Japan. The utilization of home industries in Japanese cities validated for LeMay the use of incendiary bombing.
Scott’s portrayal of the March 1945 bombing of Tokyo is quite horrifying with his effective use of oral histories and the author’s interviews from later survivors. The casualty figures of over a hundred thousand killed for the March 9-10 Tokyo bombing would exceed the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. LeMay’s positive evaluation of incendiary bombing led to its further deployment against more and more Japanese cities. Ultimately, by June, 1945 the Japanese emperor asked of his wartime council for ways to end the war. But it would be 159 days from the March Tokyo bombing to Emperor Hirohito’s order to surrender in August 1945.
Scott is able to demonstrate the seamless way the United States had moved to the combination of the B-29 and atomic weaponry in order to end the war. The moral question of bombing civilians had been answered in the affirmative with the incendiary bombing of cities as an approved tactic. Ending the war before an invasion of Japan became the supreme guiding principle for American military leadership. Scott shows that for some military veterans, the use of incendiaries plagued their consciences for years afterwards.
Scott’s volume is disturbing reading. Few Americans at the time questioned the morality of wide scale bombing against Japanese cities. As Scott accounts, one letter to a Connecticut paper asking fellow citizens to temper wartime jubilation considering that it was innocent civilians who were mainly the victims of wartime bombing, was an exception to the American mind set.
James Scott writes well in a good narrative style that moves the reader to understand the development of wartime policy as well as the impact of certain individuals had on such evolving wartime strategies. Scott combines a depth of research and a writing style that makes “Black Snow” an excellent volume that asks troublesome questions of past policy.
Rating: really liked it
This was a great read. I really learnt so much from reading this book. It was a well wrote history book following the lead up to and during the 10th of March 1945 attack on Japan. It was a fascinating account of this event in history that used lost of different accounts to tell. It was a very shocking read. It definitely opened my eyes to the horror of war. Also how bad these events effected the people living there. I listened to the audiobook and liked the narrator his voice was perfect to the book genre. This book is rated at 3.5 rounded up as it is better than a average rating. This book seemed a little long winded although it did use plenty of sources to tell the story. I think it would of been better if it was more concise and to the point. The books main focus is surrounded fire bombing residential areas of Tokyo which to me was more horrific than the dropping of the atomic bomb. It might seem hard but at least it would of been fast death with that atomic bomb rather than fire. I'm just thankful all this is in the past and not today. I do recommend reading this as it's very eye opening.
Many thanks to the author and publishers for bringing us this history book so people know just how bad war was.
Rating: really liked it
A very well written narrative history that looks at the evolution of the American strategic bombing campaign based in the Marianas against mainland Japan. Scott examines the decision making at the highest levels; the economic, political, and strategic factors that drove it; as well as the experience of the bomber crews and the Japanese civilians. The centerpiece of the book is the March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, and the book covers the run up to the decision on the strategy for this raid, and then looks at how it shaped American bombing doctrine for the rest of the war.
Scott is a very clear and evocative writer, and he vividly describes the decision making process, the experiences in the B-29 bomber, and the experiences on the ground for Japanese civilians.
Rating: really liked it
Black Snow is pure revisionist propaganda. It is extremely unbabanced abd provides a naive unrealistic view of the Pacific War. Scott believes that the air war against Japan shoiuld have reduced.
Since Japan spread smal factories throughout cities, it was impossible to target industrial centers.
Scott forgets that World War II was an unlimited war and that both sides used every means at thier disposal. Scott does not provide enough information on how hard it was develop the B-29 which cost more than the Manhattan project.
Scott provides to many grueling details of how people died in Tokyo. Such details are unnecessary. The book shows the horrors of war against the Japanese but does not celebrate the victory of democracy
Rating: really liked it
Black Snow is a meticulously constructed history of the people, machinery, and events that led up to the horrific firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. The content was thoroughly researched and I enjoyed most of the audio reading, however it could be dry and tedious at times. I think this is a great book for people particularly interested in history and don’t need that extra level of entertainment/engagement that some non-fiction books incorporate. Overall, this is a straightforward recounting of a devastating part of World War II history.
3.5 Rounded up.Thank you to NetGalley for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to author James M. Scott for this ARC of
Black Snow.
I liked it. Well written and edited, with a nice catchy cover design. The book reads very well, pulling together archival documents and interviews into a concise narrative. Source material is well documented. The atrocities of the human animal are brought to life between the covers. A good read.
Rating: really liked it
Good but i prefer the book whirlwind. More aspects about air campaign against the Japanese homeland. Covers much of the same ground but also more about long range fighter patrols and the naval campaign
Rating: really liked it
Excellent book!!!
Rating: really liked it
Are you ready to talk military bombing strategy? It’s towards the end of World War II and the U.S is preparing for the final push to the home Japanese islands. The question becomes, how badly can the U.S. bomb population centers without seeming like villains at the end? One general would lose his job trying to be as precise as possible. The other would bomb all of Japan into oblivion.
Before you say, “military strategy bombing is boring,” let me assure you that it absolutely can be. This book, however, is not. James Scott knows how to write about the Pacific Theater of World War II. There is philosophy, there are character studies, and there are harrowing tales of bombing runs from both on the ground and in the air. There is no slow part to this book because Scott keeps the story moving forward while revealing facts you never knew before. His ability to also describe what life was like in Tokyo around this time is especially moving. You won’t be disappointed.
