The stunning investigation into America's top-secret war against the communist bloc - and its cost in human lives.
Throughout the Cold War, a relentless and deadly battle of wits took place as the United States flew secret reconnaissance missions along the periphery of the Communist bloc, and occasionally deep into enemy territory, to collect information that would be used in the event of all-out nuclear war. During the course of this shadow war, American airmen risked their lives in the search for vital military intelligence.
The clandestine missions were cloaked in the utmost secrecy. The only hint of their existence came when a plane was shot down. Hundreds of Air Force and Navy crewmen were killed, wounded, or imprisoned and tortured. More than 130 disappeared altogether. But the US government, needing to protect the reconnaissance operations, made no real attempt to recover the crewmen who were lost. Even today, government denials continue.
From the Cold War era to the recent US-China stand-off about the so-called Navy spy plane, Burrows provides an incisive, comprehensive and deeply human account of the secret air war in international skies.
