C-17 Globemaster III: McDonnell Douglas & Boeing’s Military Transport (Legends of Warfare: Aviation, 49)

Very well written, the pictures are very good. Information is concise and relevant. The author has worked on the C17 design and development, this gives him an unique perspective.

Needless to say, I'm a little hooked on Schiffer's "Legends of Warfare" series. Although none of them have been masterpieces so far, I find their blend of rare historical imagery, color walk-around photos, descriptive captions, hardcover binding, and fairly low price hard to resist.Like most of the series, this is essentially a blend of Squadron/Signal's "Walkaround" and "In Action" series, a simply-formatted photo book with each chapter having a brief introductory text. Where it falls flat in comparison with the better books in this series is the overall level of detail. While there are some excellent close-up views of the cockpit, cargo bay, loadmaster's station, a few interesting exterior close-ups, and a number of unposed shots of aircraft being loaded and maintenance personnel in action, there's an excessive number of full-aircraft exterior views. I wasn't expecting the same level of detail found in, say, a Jake Melampy title, but after the 30th distant shot of a big gray airplane, I started to wonder if Mr. Neubeck wasn't actively TRYING to make the Globemaster III as boring as possible. The photo captions tend to be rather sketchy or obvious, usually just giving a basic description of what the reader is seeing, rather than providing much in the way of real insight.It might seem unfair to criticize what's essentially an introductory book, but I've also been reading "The Huey in Vietnam" in the same series, and despite having a smaller page count and poorer quality photographs, it's much more engaging on a visual and factual level. There's a certain clinical detachment to the imagery and descriptions that make it hard for a casual enthusiast to enjoy. If you're a huge fan of the C-17 you might enjoy it, but as someone who's bought about 20 books in this series, I was somewhat disappointed.

My son has been obsessing over the c17 and this is perfect for his age (9). It has many pictures and some cool facts.