All you can ask for in a book like this. Scott tells the story in a fairly evenhanded way although you are in no doubt as to who the bad guys and who the good guys were. The story is peppered with lots of very intimate details to bring the take to life and illicit empathy for the characters. Well written account of an amazing feat. ( )

On shelf

First off, I have to say it's a very good history of the Doolittle raid. Great place to start if you know nothing about the subject. I like how Scott includes what happened to the Chinese after the raid and found documents in Japan that actually described the damage done by the raiders. The sections covering Jimmy Doolittle himself are well done and extensively researched. The parts I didn't like: maybe because I just finished a very good WWII book that challenged some long held assumptions, there really wasn't anything new in Target Tokyo and that disappointed me. I wish Scott would have included a crew list for each plane as an appendix, along with the job of each individual, and more pictures (of the raid, the damages, the planes, the raiders - not just the same portraits of Halsey and King that we've seen a million times) would have been nice. ( )

This 2019 Pulitzer finalist is a detailed, skillfully written accounting of the Planning and execution of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo in 1942 and the consequences of that raid. The narrative reads like a popular, best-selling mystery novel and I was always eager to find out what happened next. Scott's carefully documents his narrative using information gleamed from diaries and official records.

It is a tale of skillful planning, courage in the face of seemingly certain death, heroism, and sacrifice. ( )

Target Tokyo offers up a solid accounting of the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. The raid was conducted in 1942 as a response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While inflicting minimal damage and little loss of life on the city of Tokyo, it was a major psychological blow to the majority of Japanese who firmly believed that their homeland could never be attacked. As World War II ground on they would learn how tragically wrong they were.
The book spends much of its time covering the fate of the raiders, which was actually more incredible then the bombing itself. All the American pilots and crew survived their initial mission and most made it to China. One crew was forced to divert to the Soviet Union due to fuel shortages. They internment and eventual escape from the U.S.S.R into Iran is the stuff movies are made of.
Most of the other crewmen were able to make it to Chinese controlled territory and returned somewhat quickly to the United States. Tragically a few were caught by Japanese troops. Their torture and long imprisonment is carefully recounted in the book.
Also covered was the Japanese's brutal revenge against the Chinese peasantry who either helped the Americans escape or who just had the bad luck to live in the same general areas where the Americans traveled. The horrible fallout for the Chinese is an often overlooked but necessary aspect of the Doolittle raid.
For those interested in World War II, Target Tokyo is certainly worth a read. ( )