Black Tulip - The Life and Myth of Erich Hartmann, the World’s Top Fighter Ace (Paperback)

Black Tulip is the dramatic story of history's top fighter ace, Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann. It's also the story of how his service under Hitler was simplified and elevated to Western mythology during the Cold War. Over 1,404 wartime missions, Hartmann claimed a staggering 352 airborne kills, and his career contains all the dramas you would expect. There were the frostbitten fighter sweeps over the Eastern Front, drunken forays to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, a decade of imprisonment in the wretched Soviet POW camps, and further military service during the Cold War that ended with conflict and angst. Just when Hartmann’s second career was faltering, he was adopted by a network of writers and commentators personally invested in his welfare and reputation. These men, mostly Americans, published elaborate, celebratory stories about Hartmann and his elite fraternity of Luftwaffe pilots. With each dogfight tale put into print, Hartmann’s legacy became loftier and more secure, and his complicated service in support of Nazism faded away. A simplified, one-dimensional account of his life – devoid of the harder questions about allegiance and service under Hitler – has gone unchallenged for almost a generation. Black Tulip locates the ambiguous truth about Hartmann and so much of the German Wehrmacht in general: that many of these men were neither full-blown Nazis nor impeccable knights. They were complex, contradictory, and elusive. This book portrays a complex human rather than the heroic caricature we’re used to, and it argues that the tidy, polished hero stories we’ve inherited about men like Hartmann say as much about those who've crafted them as they do about the heroes themselves.

General

Imprint:	Casemate Publishers
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	March 2023
Authors:	Erik Schmidt
Dimensions:	229 x 152mm (L x W)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	240
ISBN-13:	978-1-63624-303-0
Categories:	Books > Fiction > True stories > War / combat / elite forces > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political ideologies > Fascism & Nazism Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Battles & campaigns Books > Professional & Technical > Transport technology > Aerospace & aviation technology > Aviation skills / piloting Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Books > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War
LSN:	1-63624-303-7
Barcode:	9781636243030

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