Background Reading for CAW

[bschulte1978]

I spent quite a bit of time collecting the following books once I heard Matrix and SSG were redoing the classic CAW. Here's a list of books that many of you might find interesting, if you don't own them all already. I own all of the books listed below but I haven't gotten around to reading all of them. Feel free to add to this list or comment on the ones I already have listed...

Coral Sea
-The Battle of the Coral Sea
This is your typical Osprey Campaign study. The other books on the Coral Sea are mostly out of print and seem to be pretty high priced. If someone can point me in the direction of several good studies on the Coral Sea I would appreciate it!

Midway
-Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully
This one is a MUST read. It covers the Japanese side in the battle of Midway, and it seeks to put to bed several longstanding myths on the battle.

-Miracle at Midway by Gordon Prange
This one is from the author of At Dawn We Slept. It covered pretty much the same ground as Lord does below.

-Incredible Victory: Midway by Walter Lord
This is one of the first attempts at describing Midway from a western perspective.

-Destined for Glory: Dive Bombing, Midway, and the Evolution of Carrier Airpower
I haven't read it but it sounds interesting.

Guadalcanal Carrier Battles
-Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons by Eric Hammel
-Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands,October 1942 by Eric Hammel
Read these back to back. I am in the middle of Carrier Clash right now, and I think Hammel does an excellent job of describing Fletcher's thinking during the invasion and subsequent support (or lack thereof) for the Marines on Guadalcanal.

The Battle of the Philippine Sea aka "The Marianas Turkey Shoot"
-Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea by William T. Y'Blood
-Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II by Barrett Tillman and Stephen Coonts
I haven't read either of these yet. I'm trying to go in chronological order.

Histories of the Japanese Navy up to and through WW2
-Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Airpower by Mark R. Peattie
I still haven't received Sunburst in the mail, but I'm pretty excited about starting to read it. It is a sort of add-on to the book Kaigun below.

-Kaigun : Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 by David C. Evans and Mark R. Peattie
This is exactly what the subtitle states it is, and it is by all accounts an exhaustive account of the subject. I am also looking forward to reading this.


Osprey Books on Carriers
-Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 1921-45 - Mark Stille
-US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1942-45: World War Two Built Ships (New Vanguard)
-US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922-45: Prewar classes (New Vanguard)


Books on Individual Carriers/Classes
-SHINANO/SINKING OF JAPANS SECRET SUPERSHIP
-The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
-The Ship That Held the Line: The U.S.S. Hornet and the First Year of the Pacific War
-No Higher Honor the USS Yorktown / Jeff Nesmith
-USS ""RANGER:"" The Navy's First Flattop from Keel to Mast, 1934-46 by Robert J. Cressman
-Warship Pictorial USS Yorktown Class Carriers


Naval Aviation
-The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway - John B. Lundstrom
-The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 - John B. Lundstrom
Lundstrom's two books are by all accounts a definitive look at naval air combat from Pearl Harbor through the end of the Guadalcanal Campaign.


General
-Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, Volume 1: 1909-1945 -
I'm reading this one now. I would recommend getting this book first before reading anything else if you are new to the subject.

-Titans Of The Seas: US and Japanese Carrier Development by Belote
This is an older title from the 1970s. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

-THE CARRIER WAR BY CLARK G. REYNOLDS
The Carrier War is a title in the Time-Life Books series on WW2.

[TheHellPatrol]

[:)]Thank you very much for that, great work! You must have read my mind as i was just browsing Amazon for this exact purpose.

P.S. Love their Free Super-Saver Shipping[;)].

[KG Erwin]

If you're looking for info specifically on the IJN, one must not forget this site:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/kaigun.htm

Much research has been contributed by the aforementioned Anthony Tully.

[bradfordkay]

OOPS they were already there...

[Hartford688]

Very nice list! Like HellPatrol I too was just working my way through Amazon.

The one I am going to order is:

http://www.amazon.com/Carrier-Battles-C ... 626&sr=8-1

Has anybody here read it?

After that, I'll be back to your list - thanks!

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: Hartford688

Very nice list! Like HellPatrol I too was just working my way through Amazon.

The one I am going to order is:

http://www.amazon.com/Carrier-Battles-C ... 626&sr=8-1

Has anybody here read it?

After that, I'll be back to your list - thanks!

Nice choice...i just bought it too! Seems a perfect companion for Carriers At War[8D].

[redwolf]

What's available for first-person accounts?

Most things I find are general histories.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

ORIGINAL: redwolf

What's available for first-person accounts?

This is probably the most famous one:

Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's Story

It's Fuchida's book and important parts of it have been pretty well shot to hell by Japanese historians.

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[redwolf]

I have that one and rejected it as useless years ago

I'm more interested in medium-level accounts, let's say by Squadron commanders or individual ship captains. The highest level leadership narratives always reflect plain history books too much.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

Well, there's Lundstrom's Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[mattpenfold]

I would just add that for anyone wanting data on the ships in service at the time there is no better book than Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946.

Not a cheap volume (try getting in second hand) but definitive and invaluable if you are interest in at all in second war naval warfare. There are other volumes that cover from the launch of HMS Warrior to the mid 1990's.

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: Hartford688

The one I am going to order is:

http://www.amazon.com/Carrier-Battles-C ... 626&sr=8-1

Has anybody here read it?

[:)]Nice catch Hartford688, i received my copy today and have already read the first two chapters...fascinating. It really is a perfect companion for CAW.

[Hartford688]

TheHellPatrol

Good news! I am putting in my vacation reading order this weekend, so that one'll make the cut to the checkout...

Cheers

Hartford

[themattcurtis]

Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons by Eric Hammel

Just picked this one up.

[CactusAF]

ORIGINAL: Prince of Eckmühl

ORIGINAL: redwolf

What's available for first-person accounts?

This is probably the most famous one:

Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's Story

It's Fuchida's book and important parts of it have been pretty well shot to hell by Japanese historians.

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

How you recomend this poe? It is worse book. It is pack of lies. YOu make him waist his money.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

ORIGINAL: CactusAF

How you recomend this poe? It is worse book. It is pack of lies. YOu make him waist his money.

You are quite correct. The Fuchida book is rubbish. However, someone asked the following:

What's available for first-person accounts?

I mentioned the Fuchida book because it's the only book-length, first-person account that I could think of.

CYA books, like Fuchida's are pretty common among politicians. It's a shame that a distinguished figure from the war had to sully his own reputation that way. It's worth noting that it was Japanese historians that "outed" him for the distortions (lies) in his book.

Good history is hard to find.

Thank you for your comments,

PoE (aka ivanmoe)