best history book on WITP period?

[admiral56]

so, anyone have (a) favorite history book(s) on WITP period?

[worr]

Pacific War by John Costello

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 41-8411067

It covers it all, and with good flare, and it has some of the most recent data of the period.

Guadalcanal by Richard Frank

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 41-8411067

More narrow focus, obviously, but gives you an good feel for the island warfare.

Do a search here also for book lists here...there are some good lists out there.

Worr, out

[pauk]

John Tolland "THE RISING SUN";

Saburo Sakai "SAMURAI"

[V2]

Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan, co-authored by Mitsuo Fuchida (yes: same guy-he survived the AKAGI and was a staff pogue the rest of the war.)
Good analysis on (my words) "What to do with Japan after the first turn" from the IJA, Combined Fleet, and IJN General Staff point of view.

[Skyros]

An interesting book, especially for wargamers, is Victory at Sea by James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi. They took the manual that they wrote for a computer game, that as far as I know was never completed, and turned it into a decent resource book.

[RayM]

Just one?

Not sure if I can do it. By all means grab the booklist thread.

Ray

[bstarr]

The Rising Sun, by John Toland.

Mostly political, but it's from the jap point of view and makes excellent reading. Toland did an excellent job of bringing to life the jap leaders.

It won the Pulitzer, but don't hold that against it; it's still a good read. [;)]

[Dereck]

1. The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire by John Toland

2. The Pacific Campaign: The U.S.-Japanese Naval War 1941-1945 by Dan van der Vat

3. Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific during World War II by W.J. Homes, Capt, USN (Ret)

4. And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway - Breaking the Secrets by RADM Edwin T. Layton, USN (Ret)

5. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prangle

[plaxx]

Try "Fire in The Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific", by Eric M. Bergerud...great stuff

[Halsey]

"Empires in the Balance" Vol 1 The origins of the Pacific War
"The Barrier and the Javelin" Vol 2 Japanese and Allied Stratigies Feb to Jun 1942
From the Naval Institute Press by H P Willmott

He was working on the third volume. Not sure if he completed it yet.

[Bodhi]

Currently 2/3rds of the way through The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland and it's excellent. Before that read Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan by Ronald H. Spector which gives a reasonable overview. Just starting The Pacific War by John Costello and that's also looking very promising. So my vote would be Toland and/or Costello.

[KG Erwin]

"The Eagle Against the Sun", by Ronald Spector, as previously mentioned, is required reading. Dan van der Vat's "The Pacific Campaign" is also good. I would also point you to this thread in the SPWaW Depot forum: http://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=919

[Raverdave]

Eric M. Bergerud also wrote "Touched with Fire" about the ground combat in the Pacific, it is also a must have. I understand that he is also writing a new book about the Naval war in the pacific. Anyone know anything about this as a quick look on Google shows nothing.

[Burkowski]

Hello all.

Paul S. Dull's A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1941-1945 for the IJN p.o.v. This book really helps to sort out the Japanese tasking, structuring and restructuring of TFs etc. during the war, especially early.

Regards,

Burkowski

[Oliver Heindorf]

John Costellos Books are agreat value

[UncleBuck]

I am currently reading "The War in the Pacific From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay" by Harry A. Gailey ISBN- 0-89141-616-1

It is a very good one so far. Very detailed on each battle and the interplay between commanders. Never knew Halsey and Dug out Doug liked each other.

UB

[SaintEx]

I vote for Costello. By far the best one-volume treatment of the entire Pacific War that I've ever read.

[Dereck]

There's another source for history on the Pacific War though I'm not sure this is in print anymore. When I was in high school in the late 1970's there was a weekly magazine that came out in 96 parts. It's name was "History of the Second World War".

The publishing information I have in one of my magazines has it first being published by BPC Publishing Ltd., 1966 and then by the Marshall Cavendish Corp in 1979.

Once again this is 25 years old but the address for the publisher was:

History of the Second World War
10 Pelham Parkway
Pelham Manor, NY 10803

[MrBoats]

"The Two Ocean War" by Samuel Morison and/or -- if you have the time to invest in them -- his 15 volume history of naval operations in WWII. But read the former first. It reads like a novel and provides a lot of information.

[SpitfireIX]

Even though it has a more narrow focus, I'm going to plug The Big E by Edward P. Stafford. I first read it when I was in elementary school, and I've read it about 20 times since then. IMO this should be required reading for anyone who wants to play the Allies--I can't imagine any othere book that could give as much of a feel for the evolution of US carrier operations from 1941-1945. Not to mention it's a damn good read, despite the fact the historiography is a little light.