Review of A Higher Call

This book offers something unique among the volumes written about WWII. It tells the story of the air campaign over Germany from the perspective of a German pilot.

Review of a Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of combat and chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of WW II by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander

Rating *** 1/2

The genesis of this book concerns an incident where a German pilot approaches a badly damaged B17 and instead of shooting it down the German pilot escorts the B17 and its crew out of German airspace. That’s the story hook that interested me. That part of the story takes up about one chapter of a very long book. The rest of the book tells the alternating stories of the German pilot and the B17 crew.

For the most part, the book works as you come to realize that the German pilots were just doing their jobs just like the American fighter and bomber pilots were doing theirs. There were needless deaths on both sides.

The story lacked a cohesive narrative for me. There was no beginning, middle, and end. It was more of a compilation of anecdotes. The lack of a clear goal made the book a little slow for me.

By the end of the book, the two pilots meet decades after their encounter in the skies over Germany. The unlikely meeting makes for a satisfying conclusion.