Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

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- - Is this title a joke?.... (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=58704)

Is this title a joke?....

Just seen a new book title "No Way Out: The Untold Story of the B24 Lady Be Good and her crew". Whitby.
Untold story!!!!!!
We've been reading about this since Spring 1959.....
This story get's a mention in so many Aviation books, not to mention articles in magazines, etc. over all those years since. Most Aviation enthusiasts including myself would have at least one book, of the many out there on "Lady".
I would have thought about buying it, IF, that title were more modest and realistic...

Re: Is this title a joke?....

Here's the publisher blurb:
https://www.schifferbooks.com/no-way...crew-6948.html

Quote:

It was the first and only combat mission for the B-24 Liberator “Lady Be Good.” On April 4, 1943, she left her base on the North African coast of Libya to bomb the port city of Naples, Italy. She never returned to base. It was not until the spring of 1959 that “Lady Be Good” was discovered by a BP oil exploration team almost 500 miles deep in the Libyan Desert, virtually intact, with no trace of the crew. What happened to the “Lady Be Good” is explored in this book. This includes the search for the crew and the subsequent mission to find the two US Army personnel lost during the initial search. The author interviewed personnel who took part in the recovery effort, and has included many unpublished photos taken at the crash site during the first USAF visit in 1959

As you rightly point out, this is a well known story. On reading the blurb, and seeing mention of unpublished material, my conclusion is that the title is an awkward way of saying this book contains "untold" aspects of the story, ergo the "untold story" of Lady Be Good.
However, as your post indicates, the title is poorly structured and easily open to the conclusion you reached.
Not their copywriter's finest hour.

Re: Is this title a joke?....

I am seeing this sort of thing too often, along with "... and won the war." No single event or piece of equipment deserves sole credit for winning the war. I am against hyperbole but apparently some publishers are not. Instead of giving readers simple, directly descriptive titles, a bit of showmanship is added.

Re: Is this title a joke?....

I have similar feelings when I read in a history book title: "The Complete Story of"...