{"product_id":"black-snow","title":"Black Snow","description":"\u003cp\u003eSeven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eBlack Snow\u003c\/em\u003e is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: \"If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.\" James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight \"precision\" bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48836046684365,"sku":"9781324074601","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0557\/1529\/9533\/files\/imageloader_cf314dc1-8378-4683-bc86-138b2166d3e5.jpg?v=1790991874","url":"https:\/\/booksatmidnight.com\/products\/black-snow","provider":"Books At Midnight","version":"1.0","type":"link"}