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Book Review of Duel of Eagles: The Struggle for the Skies from the First World War to the Battle of Britain

Duel of Eagles: The Struggle for the Skies from the First World War to the Battle of Britain
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I had a mass-market paperback copy of this book for years and never got around to reading it; last year I ran across a used but very clean hardcover copy. I read a lot of military history, and got into the Battle of Britain recently. Went through five or six books on the subject, and this was the worst of them.

Peter Townsend was surely an excellent and much-decorated RAF pilot, but, in my opinion, not much of a writer. The book was the only autobiography I read on the subject, so I guess you need to cut him some slack.

The book has inscribed on both the dust jacket, and on the hardcover: "The greatest book on the Battle of Britain ever written". Talk about blowing your own horn!! I suppose that was the publisher's idea...

Try Michael Korda's book "With Wings Like Eagles" for a really great and inspiring read.