In the book The First Heroes, Craig Nelson crafts a wonderful book about the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo shortly after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The book is a very spirited account regarding the bravery and the sacrifices made by the flyers who risked life and limb so soon after Pearl Harbor to make a statement that America was not a beaten nation and that it would rally towards victory. I highly recommend the book. It illuminated the lives of the flyers just as the wonderful book Flags of our Fathers did for the men who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima. There were many surprises for me reading the book but one area did not surprise me: the New York Times' reporting on the Doolittle Raid. The government wanted details of the mission to be kept secret. For example the number of bombers, the extent of the damage, and the number and destination of the bombing crews once the mission was executed were never meant to be published, according to the preferences of those fighting...(Read Full Post)