Praise for The Few

“Rousing story of idealistic Americans who fought against the Nazis with Britain’s Royal Air Force long before the US entered World War II…. A delight for military buffs.”
― Kirkus

" This is a book about uncomplicated men and motivations…Their voices emerge in the keep-your-chin-up stoicism and God-and-country faith of diaries and magazine articles of the time …The American fliers are vividly rendered yet somehow still remote; introspection doesn't seem to be a defining quality of fighter pilots. Kershaw, the author of The Longest Winter, has written a book that often reads like the screenplay of a reverential Hollywood blockbuster with periodic cameos by Churchill and Hermann Göring…But in the end, the power of the story -- the Battle of Britain really was a hinge of history, and the Luftwaffe really did come within a hairsbreadth of eliminating the RAF as an effective fighting force – redeems…You mourn the losses as the pilots fall, one by one, to combat, bad weather and accidents.”
— Washington Post

“With his customary narrative drive, Kershaw (The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice) spotlights the handful of American pilots who joined the Royal Air Force and its fighter squadrons during the Battle of Britain… Using personal vignettes to convey the extraordinary routines of life in the cockpits, in the squadrons and in England, Kershaw evokes the heroism of these pilots, only one of whom survived the war whose tide they helped turn.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Kershaw has written as rousing tale of little-known heroes…The Few marks Kershaw as a master storyteller.”
— Booklist

“The adventures of the handful of known pilots who volunteered to help Britain before the United States entered the war are recounted in depth and with great humanity. The book hums along, telling richly detailed stories, from the pilots’ Atlantic crossing to their wartime careers…They come alive on the page, making the experience of sharing their adventure wholly satisfying—and eventually sad, as the war claims them, one by one.”
— Smithsonian Air & Space

“Fine study of this titanic aerial struggle and the Americans who participated…Aviation specialists will find Kershaw a master of such details as the flying characteristics of the British Spitfire and the German Me-109 and the contents of Göring's obscenely lavish hunting lodge, Carinhall. His history hits the mark in Call respects; his annotated endnotes provide a virtual second volume. Recommended for all libraries…”
― Library Journal

“Kershaw’s account is fascinating, moving at a rapid pace, particularly in the harrowing combat scenes. Yet for all the action, Kershaw does not sacrifice the factual record; his combat passages are derived from pilots’ reports, with results that are both compelling and uncompromisingly real. Kershaw skillfully moves between the danger in the sky and the strategy in the rooms of state, giving the reader an excellent feel for the precarious situation, both for the pilots and the world.”
— BookPage

“A vivid, well-researched story”
— San Antonio News Express

“One of the most affecting short histories…a rare combination of objectivity concerning what happened and tribute to its subject, the brave fighter pilots.”
— St Petersburg Times & Denver Post (syndicated reviewer)

“a thoroughly researched, deeply touching, and compellingly well-written account of the unofficial entry of Americans into World War II…Kershaw's account makes palpable the beautiful and desperate fortitude of the British and their handful of American recruits, as they defended the British Isles, knowing that their personal chances of survival were slim to none. Kershaw's descriptions of dogfights above the Channel are breathtaking, and his portrayal of the unselfconscious valor of these young men "supports the troops" of all wars most tellingly.”
— Provo Daily Herald (UT)

“[Kershaw’s] tight focus on real people makes war, and war's inevitable sacrifice, more real, more personal”
— Roanoke Times

“What sets Kershaw's book apart from others written about the plight of fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain is that he balances the accounts of the American and British pilots with the exploits of their German counterparts…Kershaw does a great job describing the tension felt both in the air and on the ground…you find yourself getting into the heads and the hearts of these pilots, wondering how they found it within themselves to go up every day with the knowledge that they or perhaps several of their friends would not be coming back.”
— General Aviation News

“Kershaw tells the grand take with the same style that made his The Bedford Boys a bestseller.”
— Southwest Spirit Magazine

“[A] little-known jewel of a war story.”
— Military.com

“engrossing history… Anyone interested in the air war during World War II would find The Few very entertaining and enlightening.”
— Collected Miscellany (website)

“Alex Kershaw succeeds brilliantly… In Kershaw’s skilled hands, the seven young Americans are portrayed in lively, exciting prose and with a minimum of melodrama… Kershaw’s book serves as a winning tribute to the “Knights of the Air.’”
— MSNBC.com

“With a novelist's cunning, Kershaw the historian sparks our interest…[and] at the same time, The Few succeeds admirably as a history book…It's a story worth telling, at a time when "gripping" could well be the most overused word in book publishing. Yet The Few is just that. It illuminates a small but momentous aspect of a time-honored subject -- Kershaw's stock in trade -- and brings the thrills and terrors of pre-computerized air combat strikingly to life.”
— Richmond Post-Dispatch

“A great read”
— Colorado Springs Independent

“Kershaw gets us closer than most historians venture with this tense, relentless and often disturbing telling of the tale. He makes it personal and when a war history reaches the heart, it become an anti-war book, the best kind.”
— Blue Ridge Business Journal

“This true, little-known story of seven rag-tag American “knights of the air”—who defied neutrality laws and risked their citizenship to fly with England and repel the Luftwaffe’s assault—is a stirring tale of adventure and derring-do that will make your spirits soar.”
– American Profile