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That's 2 strong recommendations for Morison. Looks like it's time for it to come off the wish list and onto the buy list. [:D]

I strongly recommend Combined Fleet Decoded by John Prados. It is a reexamination of the Pacific War using documents and information not available to many of the older scholars. Here is a book review:

http://themilitarybookreview.com/html/C ... leet.shtml


The review is very positive, but does not quite do this book justice. Although dealing with intelligence matters, the book is NOT dry at all, and includes looks at all the major battles but with a window on what was going on with the codes and such. It is enlightening and fascinating and I strongly recommend it.

Not sure if this is the one you mean, I have Morison's The Two-Ocean War. It's excellent and makes me want to eventually read the multi-volume work you are talking about.

I recommend the following…


Fading Victory by Admiral Matome Ugaki. This is a day by day diary of the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor up until his suicide at wars end. He comments on all the battles and campaigns but most interesting is his description of Yamamoto’s assassination (Ugaki was in the other Betty bomber during the P38 attack). This book is loaded and very easy to read…an absolute must.

At Dawn We Slept by Gordon Prange. A master work by the non-fiction master. If you haven’t read this then your not into the Pacific Theatre genre. Everything you ever wanted to know about Pearl Harbor but were afraid to ask. Military, Politics, Espionage.
Seen from both opponents perspectives.

Miracle at Midway by Gordon Prange. The battle of Midway as seen from both sides.


Others…

MacArthur and Defeat in the Philippines by Richard Connaughton. That Mac was a bad, bad boy. The general missed his calling…he should have run the marketing department for Enron.

Alone on Guadalcanal by Martin Clemons. Interesting how blown up this guy’s image has become over the years…Not to worry…Clemons puts he record right.

Samarai by Saburo Sakai. Exciting read and more importantly can be cross referenced for accuracy…its all here. Memoirs of a Japanese ace. A staple of the air war in the Pacific.

Pawns of War by Dwight Messimer. Well written account of the sinking of the Langley and Pacos. All I can say is it really sucked to be them.

Bloody Buna by Lida Mayo. The U.S. Army in New Guinea. The troops should have gotten the headlines for their sacrifices (more than the marines on Guadalcanal). unfortunately MacArthur (as usual) stole the spotlight.

ORIGINAL: drwho

I'm contemplating on purchasing "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (15 Volume Set)" ISBN: 0762854316, $169 in Amazon. As the €/$ favours me I think this might not be such a bad investment.

Anyone have it? Worth the money?

I never owned it, but my local public library had the full set (many, many years ago) and I hauled every one of them home and read it. Great resource... Samuel Eliot Morison was commissioned by the Navy to document the war and he did a quite an excellent job of it. He was right there in the middle of it all of it with his staff of writers and photographers.

There was a one volume summary, but in checking Amazon, that is completely out of print.

I did once own a paperback of that one and dearly regret that about 7 years ago I donated all of my military history books to the local school (not realizing that I would later decide to be a history teacher). I did keep my 126 volume Illustated History of WWII (it was put out in a weekly magazine format - I'm away from home right now so I can't quote the title... I think Marshal Cavendish was the publisher). I also retained all of my Ballantine Books Illustrated Histories of WW II (and WW I). Those are still available from Amazon.

Ah, those were the days... real history sold on the magazine rack of your local supermarket!

BTW... what happens when I go over 100 posts?

I'm shameless... but must do it! [:D]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

BTW... what happens when I go over 100 posts?

I'm shameless... but must do it! [:D]

Ah, I'm a "Veteran" now....