on James W.

on James W. Vernon. Annapolis Md: Naval Institute Pres 2003 Photographs. Index. Pp202 $2895 ISBN: 1-55750-865-8

When told of the prosperous strike on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto supposedly said he feared the Japanese had awakened a sleeping giant and "filled him with a terrible resolve" Yamamoto's fear was well landed While a peacetime United States built solely about 2000 aircraft in 1940 the war-aroused nation produc a staggering 96000 airplanes in 1944 In The Hostile celestial expanse Vernon provides a highly readable description of the scheme that produced thousands of well-trained pilots to man