That time of the year again - Books Needed

[ctangus]

ORIGINAL: SuluSea

I feel this is an excellent companion to Frank's Guadalcanal and an underated book. The maps which for my money was better than Frank's Guadalcanal assisted in the visualzation and being a squid it really helped.

Bloody Ridge: The Battle That Saved Guadalcanal


Check the reviews on Amazon they are spot on.

I wasn't asking but thanks for the suggestion! I just ordered a copy.

Bloody Ridge is a battle I've been fascinated with ever since I first heard of it. I've read Frank's book at least a couple times: great book all in all but its coverage of Bloody Ridge seemed incomplete somehow. I learned details I hadn't known before about Bloody Ridge but Frank's coverage of Tenaru, for example, seemed more complete even if he maybe spent fewer words on it. More maps would help for sure.

Hopefully your recommendation will fill in the pieces I've been wanting. If not I'll be asking you for my $11 back! [;)]

[Grfin Zeppelin]

This *snickers* book is a must read for ya hun.

Book suggestion

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

This *snickers* book is a must read for ya hun.

Book suggestion

Just plain WRONG and EVIL! [8D]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Gräfin Zeppelin

This *snickers* book is a must read for ya hun.

Book suggestion

warspite1

Great - thanks Gräfin Zeppelin. Its on my Christmas list!! Got the DVD, now getting the book, life is good [8D]

[CaptBeefheart]

Am reading Hornfischer's "Neptune's Inferno" right now, which covers Guadalcanal. Everything he writes is gold. "Wages of Destruction" is an excellent treatise on the German economy, starting in the 20s, which really explains why Hitler made the decisions he did (essentially his economic choices made in 1933 made war inevitable). Also, just finished "Japanese Destroyer Captain" and "South Pacific Destroyer," which are quite good. The latter was written by the gunnery officer cum XO of the USS Maury.

The Korean War is a bit off topic, but a good mate of mine, Andy Salmon, wrote "To the Last Round," an excellent book on the UK 29th Infantry Brigade's stand on the Imjin River in April 1951. It reads like a novel. It helps that I've been to the battle site a few times and met some of the gentlemen in the book. Here it is at Amazon. The reviews are quite accurate.

Cheers,
CC

[Admiral Mitscher]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

"Fire in the Sky" for sure

x2.... rate it with Shattered Sword.

[Hotschi]

So you got Toland's Rising Sun, i.e. the Pacific War from the Japanese point of view.

You might try John Costello, The Pacific War - same as above but from the British point of view...
or Ronald Spector, Eagle Against The Sun - same as above but from the American perspective (my current read).

2 books by Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept and Pearl Harbor - The Verdict of History are both about the prelude to the actual attack.

Clay Blair Jr., Silent Victory - about the U.S. submarine campaign...

Eric Bergerund, Touched With Fire - about the land war in the Solomon/New Guinea area. This book I'd highly recommend. It's less a history book per se but deals more with how they fought, the weapons and tactics both sides used, the terrain they had to fight in, the diseases, etc etc. It even mentiones the.... troubles the involved soldiers had with simple questions on how to... defecate in battlefield conditions. This book is a real eye-opener, especially for people - like me - without any military background. If you want to get some idea what it is like to fight in the jungle, get this book.

Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal - in my opinion the best book about Guadalcanal, as it deals with all three aspects of the campaign, land, air, and naval warfare.

John Prados, Combined Fleet Decoded - as the title says, about the impact of code-breaking by the Allied side.

[Dereck]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Last year I asked for and got some good suggestions to start my book collection. I got Shattered Sword and The Rising Sun - thanks to your suggestions. Now the time has come again to add a couple more books - so what would you guys recommend ? I enjoyed them both. So fire away and I will give your suggestions to my wife for a couple more additions. Thanks alot.

Xargun

Books I've got for my kindle:

• Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll
• How They Won the War in the Pacific: Nimitz and His Admirals by Edwin P. Hoyt
• Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict by Edwin P. Hoyt
• The War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Harry A. Gailey
• Escort Carriers in the Pacific by Walter E. Skeldon
• The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics and Playwers that Won the War by William B. Hopkins
• The Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima editied by Daniel Marston
• The Pacific War, 1931-1945: A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II by Saburo Ienaga
• The Bloody Battle for Buribachi by RIchard Wheeler
• Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII by Steven George Bustin

[SuluSea]

ORIGINAL: dereck

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Last year I asked for and got some good suggestions to start my book collection. I got Shattered Sword and The Rising Sun - thanks to your suggestions. Now the time has come again to add a couple more books - so what would you guys recommend ? I enjoyed them both. So fire away and I will give your suggestions to my wife for a couple more additions. Thanks alot.

Xargun

Books I've got for my kindle:

• Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll
• How They Won the War in the Pacific: Nimitz and His Admirals by Edwin P. Hoyt
• Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict by Edwin P. Hoyt
• The War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Harry A. Gailey
• Escort Carriers in the Pacific by Walter E. Skeldon
• The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics and Playwers that Won the War by William B. Hopkins
• The Pacific War: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima editied by Daniel Marston
• The Pacific War, 1931-1945: A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II by Saburo Ienaga
• The Bloody Battle for Buribachi by RIchard Wheeler
• Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII by Steven George Bustin

I'm a Hoyt fan too. I liked Blue Skies and Blood, Glory of the Solomons , The lonely ships:
the life and death of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and The men of the Gambier Bay if you haven't read them.

[SuluSea]

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Clay Blair Jr., Silent Victory - about the U.S. submarine campaign...

I may get this book for Christmas. I got 300 pages in before returning it to the library and found it deep, entertaining and informative.

[Uncivil Engineer]

Not related to the war in the Pacific, but one I recently read and found exceptionally interesting - The Sword of St. Michael, The 82nd Airborne Division in World War II.

[Itdepends]

Also not related to WITP- Self published author Anthony Ryan- Ravens Shadow book 1 Blood Song. Very good fantasy, debut novel but the quality of the characters and writing is up there with Brandon Sanderson.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: SuluSea

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Clay Blair Jr., Silent Victory - about the U.S. submarine campaign...

I may get this book for Christmas. I got 300 pages in before returning it to the library and found it deep, entertaining and informative.

+1 Excellent. On the other hand, I do not like his two-volume Hitler's U-boat War.

To add color to Blair's operational history, try reading in order:
Pigboat 39 - Guigloitta [pre-war and early war in an S-boat with color about life in the USN during the era]
Wahoo - O'Kane [mid-war in a fleet boat]
Clear the Bridge! - O'Kane [mid to late war in a fleet boat]
Then maybe:
Iron Coffins - Werner [a German perspective on the War in the Atlantic including some color on life in the Reich]
Unbroken - Mars [subs in the Med, a British perspective]

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: icepharmy

H. P. Willmott's three volume history
Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942
Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategies, February to June 1942
The War with Japan: The Period of Balance, May 1942-October 1943

Dammit, I am missing last of Willmott's. He is brilliant strategic analyst and historian.

[John 3rd]

I just ordered KE Operation. Truly hope it is better then Islands of Destiny!

[warspite1]

Bought this the other day and am up to Chapter 4. A very good book so far. Very interesting to read the real story of Churchill and Gallipoli at last! Incredible how the story gets distorted over the years until ultimately a particular version of the truth becomes "actual fact" - and in reality proves to be someway short of being so....