Books On The War In The Pacific

[eMonticello]

Originally posted by John Carney

A good British view point James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi "Victory at Sea" (WWII in the Pacific).

I haven't read the book, but for the record, Jim was born north of NYC and moved to the City after high school. I'm pretty certain that Al lived most of his life in NYC as well.

Originally posted by chrisp


While Morison is an extremely interesting and valuable source, it is dated. He did not know of the code-breaking efforts and so could not give an accurate picture of some of the operations. Similarly, I don't think he used Japanese sources much.

To supplement Morison, I suggest reading "Combined Fleet Decoded" by John Prados. Using declassified material as well as primary sources from the various archives in the DC area, he writes a very readable story about the intelligence in the Pacific ... ranging from traffic analysis to code-breaking.

[eMonticello]

[deleted since it was a duplicate message GAH]

[John Carney]

Yes, it is dated. The British view point is not from the writers but from the sources that they used. The British released a large volume of information, which appears in the book. They seem to have drawn their conclusions from these sources rather than the party line the US Navy was putting out. I felt it was a more neutral view. Like reading a European book on our Civil War.

[corbulo]

Morison wrote the books in 1949, so they are dated and dont have the code breaking. He seemed to have access to Japanese information, because he always states what the japanese were doing during the battle and what the IJN reported their loses as. I have not found more detailed maps of our game area than in his books, nor the references to IJN ships and commanders. He does not give IJA unit numbers and this is frustrating. I think "BREAKING THE BISMARKS BARRIER" could well be used as a manual for the allied player as to how to win this game. (that is what I am using it for)

[krishub1492]

Looking to the future, check this out from Amazon. Hopefully it will be ready about the time WITP is ready. Should be good. Schom wrote an excellent book about the Trafalger campaign.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 08-5532934

[AFIntel]

Originally posted by John Carney
For a more European view, with both theaters Robert Leckie "Delivered from Evil". A good look at the inner department and Country rivalries that effect the war conduct and production.

"Delivered from Evil" wasn't too bad of a book, just be aware that it contained some errors. It's been over 7 years since I've read it and I don't remember most of them, but one error I recall was about "Betty bombers attacking the ships in Pearl Harbor" during 7 Dec. The other hangup I had with it (the '87 edition) was not enough maps.

[Drex]

Morrison may not have the background information as he was too recent to the events he described(he was actually there in some of them), but he sure describes the battles and how the operations occurred. And he did use Japanese sources: interviews with actual particicpants. Morrison updated his information in the mid-fifties and is good for an overall view of the naval war.

[SWODOG]

I have found that "The Pacific War Enyclopedia" by James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi is an excellent reference source for many aspects of UV. It provides some excellent aircraft and ship references as well as time lines and maps ( maps are small ). It was published in 1998 by Checkmark Books and I purchased it at Barnes and Noble for $24.95. I consider this to be a must have when I'm playing and it also makes for good reading on the john...

[Nikademus]

Originally posted by John Carney
For an American look John Costello "The Pacific War 1941-1945"
A pretty standard American view, but very well written.

For a more European view, with both theaters Robert Leckie "Delivered from Evil". A good look at the inner department and Country rivalries that effect the war conduct and production.

A good British view point James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi "Victory at Sea" (WWII in the Pacific).

Great thing about long deterent patroles is time to read. For those bubble heads "War Beneth the Sea" by Peter Padfield is great reading.

I just finished Costello and would generally concur with your acessment. He struck me as being fairly objective throughout, especially in the pre-war analysis of the motivations of the three main parties but does take on more of an American angle as the war progressed vis-a-vis British motivations in the theatre.

What i liked most about it was his pointing out several key forks in the roads during several crucial battles that are nominally considered "cant lose" situations for the Allies, particularily the invasion of Bouiniaville and the IGO Burma offensive. It was enlightening and scary at the same time to realize that those battles could have easily gone the other way had a few small circumstances been changed.

The only real marr for the book is that it is filled with a moderate level of minor but annoying errors (mainly in regards to matching events with ship names and such) which can be used as detracting points in a debate.

A good read, particularily again, in the political/origins of war sections.

[dtx]

Slightly Off topic - but the book was so bad I feel inclined to mention it so you avoid wasting money - Days of Infamy: Military Blunders of the 20th Century (renamed in paperback as Military Blunders-probably to avoid the scathing reviews).

It's likely the most error filled military book you will ever find (it even gets the numbers of carriers sunk at the Coral Sea and Midway wrong.) Apparently the author, M Coffey, is an Irish poet and he does an excellent job of showing his complete ignorance about military matters. Why a quality channel like the History Channel associated itself with such hokum, I'll never understand.
In many ways, Coffey is the antithesis of J Dunnigan.