No Sense in Dwelling on the Past? The Fate of the US Air Force's German Air Force Monograph Project, 1952-69 - Hardcover

Ryan Shaughnessy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585662062 ISBN 13: 9781585662067

Publisher: Air Force University Press, 2011

Synopsis

This book examines the German air force monograph project known as the Karlsruhe project where the US Air Force employed former Luftwaffe generals to record the history of World War II from the German perspective. The Air Force monographs have proven useful to historians because of their high quality. The Karlsruhe monographs writers were insulated from outside pressure, and produced studies immediately useful to the military. The Air Force ignored the monographs and failed to benefit from the experience of the Luftwaffe. The author illustrates the inherent tensions in writing official military history and uses the Karlsruhe project as a lens to examine problems plaguing the Air Force during the early Cold War. Still, cooperative historical work proved to be an inexpensive and unexpected way of cementing the critical West German-American military alliance, and both air forces came to value this aspect of the project more than the historical studies it produced.

Edition details

• Publisher: Air Force University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1585662062
• ISBN 13: 9781585662067
• Binding: Hardcover