For most readers, the word 'napalm' will be associated with the Vietnam War, particularly the iconic and tragic 1972 photograph of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, then nine years old, running naked from her burning village, and the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now. The scope of this book is much broader. Not only is it about an instrument of war that was responsible for the largest share of direct civilian casualties during both the Second World War and the Korean War (and one that remained in use until the 2000s), it is about a weapon that was 'born a hero but lives a pariah' (p. 4), epitomising the revolution in mentalities that caused Western countries to do a 180-degree turn in their warfare tactics, from the deliberate destruction of populations to the careful avoidance of 'collateral damage'.
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机译：对于大多数读者而言，“凝固汽油弹”一词将与越南战争联系在一起，尤其是1972年的潘锡·金·福克（Phan Thi Kim Phuc）的标志性悲剧照片（当时9岁，从她燃烧的村庄里裸奔而来）和1979年的电影《现代启示录》。本书的范围更广。这不仅涉及第二次世界大战和朝鲜战争期间造成直接平民伤亡的最大份额的战争工具（而且一直使用到2000年代），而且它还涉及一种“天生英雄，但过着贱民生活”（第4页），这是思想革命的缩影，从西方的故意破坏人口到谨慎避免“附带损害”，西方国家的战争策略发生了180度的转变。 。
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