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H.P.Willmott:

Barrier & Javelin
Empires in Balance

For grand strategy point of view.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

While not a book on the Pacific War, I am reading "The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 Perceptions, Power, and Primacy" by S.C.M. Paine. I've only read close to 100 pages, but it has been a great eye opener and educational experience to learn the background of this area. It has so far set up the dynamics between Japan, China, Korea, and Russia. The conflicts that came out in WW2 started just before this war and I was very ignorant of them before reading this book. IMO, I believed this area of the world is still a powder keg waiting to explode again and the little of it I have read has firmed up that conviction. There are conflicts and grudges over 150 years old still going on over there. I will need to re-read this book again in a year or two as there is lots of information to absorb. [&o][&o]

I fully agree with this statement. I've spoken a couple times now at my Toastmasters club on our refusal to learn from history, and this is a prime example.

Where to begin??!?

I have always liked the Last Battle Station by Duane Schultz which talks about the operations of the USS Houston in the DEI campaign. Hornfischer has one as well (Ship of Ghosts), but Schultz was a crew member so I'd go with that one. Another good history of a single ship is Becton's The Ship That Wouldn't Die about the USS Laffey.

Tully's Battle of Surigao Strait is a really good look at the battle, but it assumes that you are familiar with the battle.

If you are looking for detailed histories of the entire naval war, Roskill's or Morrison's official histories are good. Both of these series have new soft cover versions which came out recently that makes them relatively inexpensive.

If you are looking for detailed ship design and construction books, you can't beat Friedman's books for US ships and Burt's books on British battleships. I actually prefer the way that Burt does his and wish someone would write that sort of book on US ships. Friedman has recently written really good books on the British Cruisers, and Jordan is writing good stuff on French ships.

Shattered Sword and Kaigun are two that I'd recommend that others have recommended.

Those should be enough to put a hit on your Amazon account. [:D]

Try:
"Pacific crucible", Ian W. Toll
this is a good recount of the early pacific war; detailed but not techincal

"Iron coffins", A. Werner
a personal account of submarine warfare from the perspective of a German U-boot captain, one of the few that survived from "happy times" to the end

I bought Pacific Crucible at the Houston Hobby Airport this past week while travelling. Great book for a Airplane trip. I am just past Pearl Harbor a few chapters in. Good thick book as Jorge said...lots of detail!

One of the huge advantages to these War Games is all the content that you can go off and read up on. History books come alive too when you already have a grasp on the units, maps, etc from playing AE!