You thought we were just kidding when we named the company that operates Blue Mass Group “BMG Media Empire,” right?
Well, think again! We’re pleased to announce that BMG co-editor Bob Neer’s new book “Napalm: An American Biography” is now available on Amazon and elsewhere. It’s published by Belknap Press, which is an imprint of Harvard University Press.
Napalm, incendiary gel that sticks to skin and burns to the bone, came into the world on Valentine’s Day 1942 at a secret Harvard war research laboratory. On March 9, 1945, it created an inferno that killed over 87,500 people in Tokyo—more than died in the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It went on to incinerate sixty-four of Japan’s largest cities. The Bomb got the press, but napalm did the work.
After World War II, the incendiary held the line against communism in Greece and Korea—Napalm Day led the 1950 counter-attack from Inchon—and fought elsewhere under many flags. Americans generally applauded, until the Vietnam War. Today, napalm lives on as a pariah: a symbol of American cruelty and the misguided use of power, according to anti-war protesters in the 1960s and popular culture from Apocalypse Now to the punk band Napalm Death and British street artist Banksy. Its use by Serbia in 1994 and by the United States in Iraq in 2003 drew condemnation. United Nations delegates judged deployment against concentrations of civilians a war crime in 1980. After thirty-one years, America joined the global consensus, in 2011.
Robert Neer has written the first history of napalm, from its inaugural test on the Harvard College soccer field, to a Marine Corps plan to attack Japan with millions of bats armed with tiny napalm time bombs, to the reflections of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a girl who knew firsthand about its power and its morality.
Today’s Globe has an interview with Bob in which he expands on some of his book’s high points. The book is getting lots of attention, so we can look forward to hearing quite a bit more from Bob about napalm in the coming weeks.
And while I’m discussing BMG’s adventures outside the cybersphere, I cannot resist a modicum of shameless self-promotion: I am one of the featured soloists on a CD that will be released in two days (available for pre-order now) on the Naxos label entitled “Native Informant.” The CD is a collection of works by the Arab-American composer Mohammed Fairouz. Meanwhile, Charley has been tearing it up across the pond, serenading Londoners with his sweet lyric tenor.
If you’re interested in reading Bob’s book or listening to my CD, you can buy them through Amazon and support BMG at the same time – if you click through to Amazon using the links supplied in this post and then add the item to your cart from there, a portion of your purchase price will go to us. (Your purchase price is the same.) Thank you!
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
I sent you a congrats. Full o all sorts of good stuff.
But it bounced back. Said your in-box was full.
Forgot what I said.
But it was good. I’m sure.
David says
you can forward your note to me. I’ll see that Bob gets it.
Bob Neer says
I look forward to reading it. Bob@BlueMassGroup.com should work. I’ll write a post about my book and have an online discussion in a week or so. It’s publication date, impressively, is April 1st.
Ryan says
Bob — a hearty congratulations. Sounds like a fascinating book. I’ll definitely be reading it.
johnk says
impressive