In the late 1930s interwar period, Japan began to invade China. America, officially neutral, aided the Allies in covert ways. Into this murky gloom stepped Claire Lee Chennault, a nearly washed up pilot. Scholar Kleiner unlocks the secrets of the First American Volunteer Group (AVG), commonly known as the Flying Tigers, using newly discovered pilots' diaries and combat reports. The last work about the unit was Jack Samson's Flying Tiger (2011). Here, lawyer and writer Kleiner tells the story of the AVG as led by Chennault. The pilot's military career included setting up the army's flight demonstration teams, which influenced his tactical training of the AVG. In 1937, Chennault went to China under a three-year contract with the Chinese government, working closely with leader Chiang Kai-shek and wife Madame Chiang to survey and modernize the Chinese air force. Chennault's persistent lobbing of Franklin Roosevelt and his aides led the unit to receive their signature Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, painted with a shark face to strike fear to enemies. VERDICT Kleiner illuminates the battles, personalities, and personal lives of the Flying Tigers, a band of rag-tag pilots sure to enthrall general readers and military history buffs.-Harry Willems, Great Bend, KS © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This is a well-told amalgamation of the best stories about the American Volunteer Group (AVG), pilots who flew combat missions against the Japanese as contracted civilians under the authority of the Chinese government during World War II. In 1937, Col. Claire L. Chennault is recruited away from an unsatisfying Army career by Mayling Soong, the wife of Chinese political leader Chiang Kai-shek, to consult on the development of the Chinese Air Force. When the Second Sino-Japanese war breaks out in 1937, he recruits other talented American pilots, such as David Lee "Tex" Hill and Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, to fight for the Chinese. Thus they're all in place to take on the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and their victories give hope to the Allies. Though it's a stretch to claim this story is "untold," given the profusion of other books and a John Wayne movie about the Flying Tigers, this account is informative, action-packed, and easy to read. It is a good introduction to the subject for readers not familiar with the Flying Tigers story, but those who already know their aviation history won't find anything new here. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.