Douglas
Waller latest book in bookstores September
7, 2004.
A Question of Loyalty: Gen. Billy Mitchell
and the Court-Martial That Gripped the
Nation
Douglas
Waller’s latest book, published
by HarperCollins Publishers, is a ground-breaking
biography of General William “Billy”
Mitchell, the controversial World War
I hero many have called the father of
the modern Air Force, who was court-martialed
in the most spectacular trial Washington
ever saw during the Roaring Twenties.
For A Question of Loyalty: Gen. Billy Mitchell and the Court-Martial that Gripped the Nation, Waller uncovered extensive
diaries, confidential government documents
and more than 150 family letters, all
of which had never been seen before by
previous biographers and historians. This
trove of new material enabled him not
only to capture in detail the drama of
the celebrity trial but also to build
a revealing portrait of the flamboyant
Mitchell. The general “springs to
life in this candid personal biography
as a colorful, complex trailblazer,”
says historian Douglas Brinkley. “Douglas
Waller has researched Mitchell’s
flamboyant life meticulously.”
Though
set in the 1920s, the issues A
Question of Loyalty examines—such
as how far a senior military officer can
go in questioning the decisions of his
superiors and his president—are
just as current today. Military officers
still intensely debate Mitchell’s
airpower theories. Reading Waller’s
book, says TIME Magazine columnist and
Primary Colors author Joe Klein, “is
not just great fun, it’s also—literally—as
fresh and relevant as this morning’s
paper.”
Billy Mitchell returned from World War
I a heroic and dashing young Army general,
who had led the largest air armada ever
assembled against an enemy up to that
point. Then in 1921 he proved that aircraft
could sink a battleship--his rickety bi-planes
sending a surplus German dreadnought to
the bottom of the ocean--which made him
a worldwide celebrity.
Douglas
Waller’s latest book, published
by HarperCollins Publishers, is a ground-breaking
biography of General William “Billy”
Mitchell, the controversial World War
I hero many have called the father of
the modern Air Force, who was court-martialed
in the most spectacular trial Washington
ever saw during the Roaring Twenties.
Though
set in the 1920s, the issues A
Question of Loyalty examines—such
as how far a senior military officer can
go in questioning the decisions of his
superiors and his president—are
just as current today. Military officers
still intensely debate Mitchell’s
airpower theories. Reading Waller’s
book, says TIME Magazine columnist and
Primary Colors author Joe Klein, “is
not just great fun, it’s also—literally—as
fresh and relevant as this morning’s
paper.” 
