The Flying Tigers: The Untold Story of the American Pilots Who Waged a Secret War Against Japan: By Sam Kleiner
The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma. In the wake of the disaster at Pearl Harbor, this motley crew was the first group of Americans to take on the Japanese in combat, shooting down hundreds of Japanese aircraft in the skies over Burma, Thailand and China. At a time when the Allies were being defeated across the globe, the Flying Tigers' exploits gave hope to Americans and Chinese alike. A dramatic story of a covert operation whose very existence would have scandalized an isolationist United States, The Flying Tigers is the unforgettable account of a group of Americans whose heroism changed the world and who cemented an alliance between the United States and China as both nations fought against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Sam Kleiner is a historian and lawyer based in New York City. He was raised in Tucson, Arizona and holds a B.A. from Northwestern University, a doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy and The Atlantic.