THE FIRST HEROES

Just four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a flight of brave aviators led by Jimmy Doolittle launched B-25s from the aircraft carrier HORNET to drop the first bombs on Tokyo. Against horrible odds, the surviving pilots faced torture, imprisonment, disease, and death upon landing in occupied China. The author tapped the memories of 20 living crew members and surveyed thousands of documents to compile the most complete and riveting account of the raid ever written. Raymond Todd’s clear words, comfortable pace, and vocal inflections maintain an aura of patriotic excitement throughout the story, in which brave men and women, just doing their jobs, change the course of history. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]