The age of airpower

 by Martin van Creveld. This landmark study chronicles both the technological and the strategic evolution of combat aircraft from the Italo-Turkish War (1911-12) to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Van Creveld (history, emeritus, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem) insists that airpower's golden years ended after 1945 owing to the growing costs of manned aircraft and personnel training. Other deterrents he points to were the dawning of the nuclear age and the displacement of piloted warplanes with ballistic missiles, earth-circling satellites, and drones. Yet such advances have known only moderate success in 21st-century engagements with insurgents and terrorists. In a final nostalgic lament the author decries the culture of social correctness imposed by Washington, the unsatisfying nature of asymmetrical warfare, and the passing of the combat pilot's sense of self-worth, as onboard technical advances have denied pilots personal mastery of their aircraft. VERDICT A brilliantly formulated, exhaustively researched, and engagingly written critique of America's once vaunted military service, this is sure to arouse much controversy among interested parties, so most libraries should have it on hand. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)