{"product_id":"9781324074601","title":"Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e\"Riveting.…This book is required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in World War II and the Pacific Theater.\" —Bob Carden, \u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeven 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlack Snow\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Norton, W. W. \u0026 Company, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47917929627888,"sku":"9781324074601","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781324074601_p0.jpg?v=1763707790","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781324074601","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}