BETRAYED SKIES
Prix régulier 35,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
Book cover finish | Hardcover ( square back binding ) |
Special features | Dust jacket |
Condition | Used acceptable |
Number of pages | 366 |
Published date | 1978 |
Language | English |
Collection / Series | Luftwaffe: The German Air Force in World War II |
Author | Rudolf Braunburg |
Editor | Doubleday & Company, Inc. |
Translation | English by J. MAXWELL BROWNJOHN |
Description
In 1944, there were moments when the war seemed to stop, when one of the youngest Luftwaffe pilots could glory in the sheer exhilaration of flying alone in the quiet skies. However, there was also an eternity when those skies spat death and terror-betraying not only the people below but the essence of flying even the skies themselves. That betrayal caused Michael Braak to make a discovery and a decision, each more dangerous, perhaps, than the war itself.
For BETRAYED SKIES is virtually an aerial All Quiet on the Western Front in which the hero of this memoir-like novel confronts the daily horrors of World War II: During the day, he studies the enemy at a dogfight range; he is forced to watch a trapped friend burn to death in a cockpit; and, at night, he broods over BBC’s American jazz from a hidden radio. Soon his contempt for German leadership and their betrayal of people such as himself causes him to rebel in the only way to be can: he flies every mission but refuses to kill.
Speaking of Braunburg’s abilities to merge, clearly and sensitively the temperaments of both a fighter pilot and a poet, James Dickey describes the intent of BETRAYED SKIES: ‘There have been few finer reminders that whether men are friends or enemies, whether they kill or survive killing, they are still men. They are worth our effort to understand, if we are.
The result is a novel filled with the personalised drama of war-particularly war in the sky-creating vividness of battle scenes which, ironically, help to make BETRAYED SKIES a compelling ‘anti-war’ novel.
Rudolf Braunburg is a highly respected author who has written nearly a dozen novels in German. Although his short stories have appeared in Playboy, this is his first full-length work to be published in English. During World War II, Mr. Braunburg flew with the Luftwaffe, and his life encompassed many of the experiences detailed in BETRAYED SKIES.
J. Maxwell Brownjohn has been widely acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic for his seventy-odd translations of bestselling novels such as The Night of the Generals, U-Boat, and Mrs Kitty.
Source: Publisher's summary printed on cover