[VIETNAM WAR] KRUEGER, CarlBiblio.com
Wings of The Tiger
196662733New York: Frederick Fell 1966. First Edition. First Printing. Special Limited Edition number of copies unknown. 8vo. 21cm x 14cm. Publisher's full black leather titled in gilt to spine with decorative gilt ruling to the front board. Clean and handsome. In a black cloth slipcase duplicating the design of the dustjacket for the trade edition. Inscribed on an inserted handmade paper limitation page with some a rather lavish gold ink limitation statement by the author and his wife:<br /> "Mimi and Marguerite with the deep love and affection of The Kruegers Dec. 4 1966 Carl Krueger Ida Krueger"<br /> Billed as "The First Novel of The Vietnam War" and definitely early although according to Newman's bibliographical survey of Vietnam War fiction this rather showy and gung ho novel ranks as the 12th published novel although only 3 novels were published in 1965 whilst the next 25 or so all made na appearance in 1966. This limited presentation issue of the first edition seems completely unknown. Krueger was a decidedly old school author and screenwriter from the post WW2 adventure cinema genre he has writing credits on "Comanche" and "Sabre Jet" both scorching technicolour action movies. He produced the Wyler/Sturges wartime propaganda documentary "Thunderbolt" in 1944 and seems to have had a leaning towards spectacular aircraft movies where the machines occupied as much if not more screen time as the human actors. That certainly seems to have been the intention here it's very aircraft heavyobsessed with the Phantom II and the Vietnamese characters are portrayed as either Machiavellian or offensively stupid. The trade edition dustwrapper bears the statement: "Mr Krueger will personally produce Wings of The Tiger as the greatest air spectacle ever filmed." As far as can be established Mr. Krueger did not. Regardless of anything else it's an interesting illustration of the fact that going into Vietnam with a WW2 mindset was not something exclusively limited to armchair strategists and DC pundits it was also prevalent among those writing and filming accounts of the conflict. Frederick Fell unknown
Lorne Bair Rare Books · États-Unis250,00 $US≈ 211,52 €
