The Wild Blue
The B-24 crews over Germany, told through the squadron of a young pilot named George McGovern.
The Verdict
Stephen Ambrose turns to the airmen of the Fifteenth Air Force — the boys who flew B-24 Liberators through the flak over southern Europe — and tells their story through the squadron of a young pilot named George McGovern, later a senator and presidential candidate. It is Ambrose in his familiar mode: accessible, admiring, focused on the ordinary young men in the unheated aluminium boxes at twenty below. A readable tribute to a punishing job, though it arrives shadowed by the sourcing controversies that clouded Ambrose's late career.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The B-24 crews over southern Europe
- The airman's war at the personal level
- George McGovern's wartime service
- Accessible, admiring popular history
Look elsewhere if you want
- The strategic bombing debate
- The RAF or the Eighth Air Force
- Rigorously sourced scholarship
Why We Rated It 4.0
Historical Context
The Wild Blue (2001) follows the crews of the Fifteenth Air Force's B-24 Liberators flying from Italy against targets in Europe, centred on the squadron of the future senator George McGovern.
Criticisms & Debates
Published near the end of Ambrose's career, the book was among those caught up in allegations that he had plagiarised passages from other historians and, more broadly, questions about his sourcing. The stories it tells are real, but it is best read knowing that cloud over its author's late work.
Events Covered
Read It Alongside
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0743203395
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Other Books About the Same Events
More by Stephen Ambrose
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is The Wild Blue about George McGovern?
- He is the central figure — the book follows his B-24 squadron — though it is about the wider experience of the bomber crews.
- Why the note about sourcing?
- Ambrose faced plagiarism allegations late in his career, including around this book; the events are real but the caveat is worth knowing.