In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Excerpt from A d104book of Fire Assaying This book is the outgrowth of a set of mimeograph notes pre pared in 1911 and intended for use in the course in fire assaying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The mimeograph notes were succeeded by a book of 150 pages published by the author in 1915. The present volume has been revised and en larged and is offered as a small contribution toward the scientific explanation of the ancient art of fire assaying. It contains some hitherto unpublished results of research, as well as considerable new data derived from a careful search of all the available litera ture, none of which have previously appeared in book form. Although intended primarily as a college textbook, it is not en tirely elementary in character and it is hoped that it will be found sufficiently complete and fundamental to be of service to the more mature student of the science. Every effort has been made to avoid the old cook-book method of presentation so common in books of this kind and to give the underlying scientific reasons for the many phenomena which occur, as well as the rationale of each process and detail of manipulation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.