Napalm

Robert M. Neer

“In this engrossing study, historian Neer recounts the prodigious youth and reviled old age of an iconic weapon… Neer’s thoroughly researched, well-written account mixes lucid discussions of chemical engineering and the law of war with gut-wrenching depictions of napalm’s nightmarish effects. More than that, it furnishes a thought-provoking lesson on evolving attitudes toward military means and ends.”—Publishers Weekly

“Readers expecting a polemic may be pleasantly surprised at this lucid account of the technical, political and ethical features of a notorious symbol of American inhumanity in war… Napalm receives an overdue but thoroughly satisfying history.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Napalm is a brilliantly conceived, masterfully executed, and deeply disturbing book. Robert M. Neer offers a vivid examination of the military–technological partnership that drives the evolution of warfare, with moral considerations lagging far behind.”—Andrew J. Bacevich, editor of The Short American Century: A Postmortem

“No one else has told so deeply and compellingly the story of how ‘Napalm was born a hero but lives a pariah’—a terrifying weapon associated with America’s Vietnam War whose history went back much further, as did the dishonest efforts of leaders to cope with its reputation.”—Michael S. Sherry, author of In the Shadow of War: The United States since the 1930s

“Napalm is a revelation. In a story that takes us from Harvard Stadium to Vietnam, Robert M. Neer retells the past 70 years of American history through a single extraordinary and terrible invention. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the American way of war and its humanitarian dilemmas.”—John Fabian Witt, author of Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History

Related Links

• Visit Robert Neer’s website for Napalm: An American Biography