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Okay after getting a few emails and seeing my last thread about making a permanent book thread a sticky. I have decided to start what I hope will be the book thread. I am going to try and break this up into general categories and provide links to Amazon so that if one wants to look at these books, add them to thier own wishlists, or order them out right then they can get the data and find them. What I think I will also do is as folks add books the last posting of this thread by myself will be the most comprehensive list. I think every Sunday night will be when I review and update the listing. I am at -8 time zone from Greenwich Mean, or for those in the US on the Pacific Time Zone. What time I do the update will depend on Real Life. Anyone is capable of contributing ideas on books and I think to make this work it would be useful to have a world wide approach to the books. I am sure I will also post some dogs and some that will challenge people; however, as they say "One man's thistle is another man's flower" or words to that affect. Plus I hope to open folks minds to a variety of books out there on various topics. So lets try and keep this nice and see if we can have a good time sharing about a topic we care about.


Pre-War Books or How we set the Stage:
Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet that Defeated the Japanese Navy by Captain J.T. Kuhen USN(Ret)
[link=http://www.amazon.com/Yangtze-Patrol-China-Bluejacket-Paperback/dp/1557508836/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310366072&sr=1-1]Yangtze Patrol: The U.S. Navy in China by RADM Kemp Tolley
War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945 by Edward S. Miller
Military Innovation in the Interwar Period by Williamson Murray
Two-Block Fox: The Rise of the Aircraft Carrier, 1911-1929 by Charles Melhorn [Note out of Print since the mid 1980's very hard to find]
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang
Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 by David C. Evans
Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919-1941 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) by Micheal Barnhart
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret McMillian
The Treaty Navy: The Story of the US Naval Service Between the World Wars by James Hammond
Bankrupting the Enemy: The U.S. Financial Siege of Japan Before Pearl Harbor by Edward S. Miller

General Refernce Books or some information on the platforms:
U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, Revised Edition by Norman Friedman
U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
U.S. Submarines Through 1945 : An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War by Norman Friedman
British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After by Norman Friedman
U.S. Small Combatants, Including Pt-Boats, Subchasers, and the Brown-Water Navy: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
British Naval Aircraft Since 1912 (Putnam Aviation Series) by Owen Thetford
United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 (Putnam's US aircraft) by Gordon Swanbourough
Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War by Rene Francillion
Dive Bomber! by Peter C. Smith
The B-24 in China: General Chennault's Secret Weapon in WWII by A. Feuer
The Amphibians Are Coming! Emergence of the 'Gator Navy and its Revolutionary Landing Craft, Vol. 1 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII series) by William McGee
Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II, Vol. III (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII series) by William McGee
The INVENTION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: HOW A SMALL GROUP OF RADAR PIONEERS WON THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND LAUNCHED A TECH by Robert Burdei
SETTING OF THE RISING SUN, THE: Japanese Military Aviation 1877-1945 by Terry Treadwell
The M1 Garand, 1936-1957 by Joe Poyer
Report of Joint Fighter Conference: : NAS Patuxent River, MD - 16-23 October 1944 (Schiffer Military History)

General Overview of the War or The Big Picture:
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan by Ronald Spector
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II 15 Volume Set by RADM S. E. Morison
Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against Japan by Robert Leckie
Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War by RADM S. E. Morison
Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942 by H.P. Willmott
Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategies, February to June 1942 by H.P. Willmott
The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 by Mark Peattie
December 1941 by Evan Mawdsley
Sealing Their Fate: The Twenty-two Days That Decided World War II by David Downing
Reporting World War II, Part 1: American Journalism, 1938-1944 by Library of America
Reporting World War II Part Two: American Journalism 1944-46 by Samuel Hynes
The Chancy War: Winning China, Burma, and India in World War II by Edward Fischer

Battles Histories or the inside view of a battle:
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by J. Parshall
Clash of The Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II by Barrett Tillman
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour by James D. Hornsfischer
Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James D. Hornsfischer
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 (Vintage) by Max Hastings
Disaster in the Pacific: New Light on the Battle of Savo Island by Denis Warner
The Great Raid on Cabanatuan: Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor by W. B. Breuer
Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides
The Times When Men Must Die: The Story of the Destruction of the Philippine Army During the Early Months of World War II in the Pacific, December 1941-may 1942 by Marconi M. Dosoi
Corregidor: The American Alamo of World War II by Eric Morris
Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 by Barabra Tuchman
Corregidor: The Rock Force Assault by E. Flanagan
One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa by John Wukovits
MacArthur and Defeat in the Philippines by Richard Connaughton
Bataan: Our Last Ditch : The Bataan Campaign, 1942 by John Whitman
Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa by John H. Alexander
The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II by G. Astor
Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island by Bill Sloan
Pacific Alamo: The Battle for Wake Island by John Wukovits
JAPAN'S LAST BID FOR VICTORY: The Invasion of India, 1944 by Robert Lyman
"Execute against Japan": The U.S. Decision to Conduct Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series) By Joel Holwitt
Forgotten Armies by Christopher Bayly
JAPAN'S LAST BID FOR VICTORY: The Invasion of India, 1944 by Robert Lyman
Kohima: The Furthest Battle: The Story of the Japanese Invasion of India in 1944 and the Battle of Kohima by Lesile Edwards
Born in the Jungles of Burma: Behind Enemy Lines in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations by Andrew Wax
The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II by Gerald Astor
The Allied Resupply Effort in the China-Burma-India Theater During World War II by L. Daughtery

Unit Histories or a close up view of the units involved:
First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway by John Lundstrom
Every Day a Nightmare: American Pursuit Pilots in the Defense of Java, 1941-1942 by William H. Bartsch
A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight by Robert J. Marzek
First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 by John B. Lundstrom
The Men of the Gambier Bay: The Amazing True Story of the Battle of Leyte Gulf by Edwin P. Hoyt
Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II by Joseph A. Springer
Coast Watching in World War II: Operations against the Japanese on the Solomon Islands, 1941-43 by A. Feuer
Hunting of Force Z by Richard Hough
Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul - Australia's Worst Military Disaster of World War II by Bruce Gamble
Task Force 57: The British Pacific Fleet, 1944-45 by Peter C. Smith
Blossoming Silk Against the Rising Sun: U.s. and Japanese Paratroopers at War in the Pacific in World War II by Gene Salecker
Australian Commandos: Their Secret War against the Japanese in WWII by A.B. Feuer
The Twilight Riders: The Last Charge of the 26th Cavalry by Peter F. Stevens
Iron Men and Tin Fish: The Race to Build a Better Torpedo During World War II by Anthony Newpower
American Commando: Evans Carlson, His WWII Marine Raiders and America's First Special Forces Mission by John Wukovits
Fighting for MacArthur: The Navy and Marine Corps' Desperate Defense of the Philippines by John Gordon
Concrete Battleship: Fort Drum, El Fraile Island, Manila Bay by Francis J. Allen
Guests of the Emperor: The Secret History of Japan's Mukden POW Camp by L. G. Holmes
The Elusive Enemy: U.S. Naval Intelligence and the Imperial Japanese Fleet by Douglas Ford
Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor by Daniel Madsen
Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal by Homer Wallin
Battalion of the Damned: The 1st Marine Paratroopers at Gavutu and Bloody Ridge, 1942 by James F. Christ
Building for Victory: World War II in China, Burma, and India and the 1875th Engineer Aviation Battalion by William King
An Airline at War: The Story of China National Aviation Corporation and its Men by Robert Willet
Eagles, Bulldogs & Tigers: History of the 22nd Bomb Squadron in China-Burma-India by David Hayward


Some Personal Histories or "There I was..."
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester
Queen of the Flat-Tops by Stanley Johnson
I Saw Tokyo Burning: An Eyewitness Narrative from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima by Robert Guillian
Baa Baa Black Sheep by LtCol. Gregory Boyington USMC (Ret.)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted Lawson
God Is My Co-Pilot by R. L. Scott
Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway-The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes by Captain Tamiachi Hara JMSDF (Ret.)
Take Her Deep!: A Submarine Against Japan in World War II by Adm. I. J. Galantin
Samurai! by Saburo Sakai
Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp During World War II by Ann Layson
Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945 by John Glusman
All This Hell: U.S. Nurses Imprisoned by the Japanese by Evelyn Monahan
Descent into Darkness Pearl Harbor, 1941 by Edward Raymer
You'll Be Sor-ree!: A Guadalcanal Marine Remembers The Pacific War by Dr. Sid Phillips
Bluejacket Odyssey, 1942-1946: Guadalcanal to Bikini, Naval Armed Guard in the Pacific by William McGee
Paddles!: The Foibles and Finesse of One World War II Landing Signal Officer by Captain John Harper USNR
The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific by Allistar Urqhart


Some Biographies or A snapshot of people's lives:
Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller by Burke Davis
The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance by Captain Thomans Buell USNR
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal by John B. Lundstrom
American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964 by William Manchester
MacArthur: America's General (The Generals) by Mitchell Yockleson
Reaper Leader: The Life of Jimmy Flatley by Steve Ewing
The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy by H. Agawa
Bull Halsey by E. B. Potter
Nimitz E.B. Potter
The Magnificent Mitscher by T. Taylor
Fateful Rendezvous: The Life of Butch O'Hare by Steve Ewing
Fist From the Sky: Japan's Dive-Bomber Ace of World War II by Peter C. Smith
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix
American Guerrilla: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann-The Man Who Escaped from Bataan, Raised a Filipino Army Against the Japanese, and ... True "Father" of Army Special Forces by Mark Guardia
Joe Rochefort's War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway by Elliot Carlson
Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps, 1936-1943 by David J. Ulbrich
Fighting Spirit: The Memoirs of Major Yoshitaka Horie and the Battle of Iwo Jima by Robert Eldridge
General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman by Ed Cray
The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China by Jay Taylor
The Stilwell Papers by General J. Stilwell
General Wainwright's Story: The Account of Four Years of Humiliating Defeat, Surrender, and Captivity by General Wainwright
Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West (American Studies Series) by Mark S. Foster
Henry J. Kaiser: Western Colossus by Albert Heiner
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
Bill Slim: The background, strategies, tactics and battlefield experiences of the greatest commanders of history by Robert Lyman
Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage by Douglas Waller
The Flying Tiger: The True Story of General Claire Chennault and the U.S. 14th Air Force in China by Jack Sampson


A few Post-War books
The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal: Exploring the Ghost Fleet of the South Pacific by Robert Ballard
Return to Midway by Robert Ballard
Collision With History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109 by Robert Ballard
Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific by Gerald Meehl
25 Best World War II Sites Pacific Theater by Chuck Thompson
Pacific Island Battlegrounds of World War II: Then and Now by Earl Hinz
War of Our Fathers: Relics of the Pacific Battlefields by Richard Marin
China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II by E. B. Sledge
Major Problems in the History of World War II: Documents and Essays by Mark Stoler - this is a text book as part of a series that presents pro/cons about various subjects. I have had to use some of the same series in college classes and some essays are interesting to read. This is presented as a way to generate some deep thoughts or even see the opposing side of a few topics.

In the Era but just for fun
Buz Sawyer: The War in the Pacific (Vol. 1) (Roy Crane's Buz Sawyer) by Roy Crane
Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin

So that is just a start. I hope that we can make this an rolling and ongoing thing with maybe it even gaining sticky status (?).

GIve this thread a Bump and say anyone is more then willing to add on to this as they see fit.

This falls under general overview.

The Army Air Forces in World War II

They have all 7 volumes on line and that is great deal. I found the books 20 years ago at a used book store for 200.00.

Yankee, you are my hero. [&o][&o][&o][&o]

A link to the HyperWar website where many books and documents are available in HTML format. Many of the US official histories are already there, some of the UK. Check the listings there.

www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar

Also, the Australian and New Zealand official histories are available online.

http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/

http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-corpus-WH2.html


Big Picture on the Pacific War and World War II as a whole:

A World at Arms by Gerhard Weinberg : http://books.google.com/books?id=xlsrAx ... &q&f=false

The Pacific War by John Costello: http://books.google.com/books?id=lnf4Wn ... &q&f=false

Penguin History of the Second World War by P. Calvocoressi, G Wint, J Pritchard

Pre-War Japanese Naval Aviation Development

Sunburst by Mark Peattie: http://books.google.com/books?id=ZYtO_x ... &q&f=false

Some specific naval equipment development histories that impacted the course of the Pacific War:

The Deadly Fuze by R B Baldwin: development of the anti-aircraft artillery proximity fuze

A Radar History of World War II by L Brown

World War II Industry and Economies:

Forge of Freedom: American Aircraft Production in World War II by V. Dennis Wrynn

Just found this:

Dragon of the Mangroves
Inspired by True Events of World War II
Yasuyuki Kasai
It was no time to fear animals when the possibility of the enemy counteroffensive was increasing. It didn't suit a soldier to lose nerve in the presence of a mere crocodile...

At the end of World War II, a garrison of the Twenty-eighth Japanese Army is deployed to Ramree Island, off the coast of Burma, to fight the Allies' severe counteroffensive. While on the island, Superior Private Minoru Kasuga questions a local villager about the terrible smell coming from the saltwater creek. To his horror, the old man tells him it is the stench of death from the breath of man-eating crocodiles that inhabit Myinkhon Creek.
Fierce fighting drives the battalion to the island's east coast, and they must evacuate to Burma by crossing the creek. Just before they embark, Kasuga smells the same putrid odor that he'd questioned the villager about and warns his commanding officer of the underwater danger. His sergeant ignores him, thinking Kasuga is obsessed with wild stories from the villagers, and he tells the soldiers to cross the creek.
Ordered to save the penned-in garrison, Second Lieutenant Yoshihisa Sumi arrives on Ramree Island. But what awaits him at Myinkhon Creek is a sight too horrible to contemplate...
 
http://www.h6.dion.ne.jp/~yskasai/dom.html

Probably my favourite that I've read so far:

Quartered Safe Out Here

Also, for the princely sum of 86p I picked this up on Kindle, written by an Aussie PoW from the time of Singapore up to the end of the war:

The Brave Japanese

The "Fire" pair about the South Pacific -
Fire in the Sky & Touched with Fire by Eric Bergerud (air and land wars)

Hmm, it is all very Pacific-centric. What about general strategy? Someone could read everything there is to know about the Pacific War but if they don't read strategy in general they'll still probably suck at the game.

For general strategy the best is probably

The Art of War

http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/TOC.htm


General strategy "on war" by Clausewitz

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Hmm, it is all very Pacific-centric. What about general strategy? Someone could read everything there is to know about the Pacific War but if they don't read strategy in general they'll still probably suck at the game.

Well I was trying to be very Pacific centric, since I have seen in the past a number of threads from new players or even older players asking for book suggestions on the theater. However, seeing there is some general interest I will add some additional books that cover general war strategy when I get a chance to do an update later today.

***Msg deleted on suggestions from other forum members***

Hi all,

This book is missing and it is one of the kind book that covers the pre-war (i.e. how Japanese politics worked) and whole war from the Japanese side!


The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
By John Toland

http://www.amazon.com/Rising-Sun-Declin ... 246&sr=8-2


Leo "Apollo11"

Black Shoe Carrier Admiral is not really a biography as much as a detailed operational history of US carrier ops during the period Fletcher was a carrier TF commander (in the most important carrier battles of the period).

A collection of articles that are quite well done is:

The Pacific War Companion ed. D. Marston (Osprey Books)

On the history of US Naval UNREP:

Gray Steel, Black Oil by T. Wildenberg (free at HyperWar)

Other Pre-War Subjects:

To Have and Have Not: Southeast Asian Raw Materials and the Origins of the Pacific War by J. Marshall (free at publishing.cdlib.org)

Bankrupting the Enemy by Edward Miller (of War Plan Orange fame)

YankeeAirRat,

I suggest updating your list say every week with everyone else's post, but you should only update your first post (and retitle thread subject every week too)... If you have the time....

Please let me win a 300 million dollar lottery these books are just calling my name[&o][&o] My wife would be pissed when shes having to stare at book cases in every room jampacked with with nothing but history books would have to buy an actual library to store all my books!! hey thats it just buy local library and move in [:D][:D][:D]

Good strategic overviews of early Pacific War:

http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Balance-J ... 591149487/
H.P. Wilmott: Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942 (World War II)

http://www.amazon.com/Barrier-Javelin-J ... 591149495/
H.P. Wilmott: Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategies, February to June 1942

Updated the book thread, check the first post of this thread for the complete list.

Add some post war books from Dr. Ballard, E.B. Sledge, and a few others on visiting the old battlefields

Add a number of books in various topics about the Philippines combat zone

Keeping it to the PTO, or do I list Oman's History of the Peninsula Campaign?

In no order, add if you wish.

Couple of boxes in the Garage I havent seen for years as well.

Fire in the night by John Bierman and Colin Smith                  A biography of Orde Wingate
The Desert and The Jungle by Lt Gen Sir Geoffrey Evans         British Commander
The Green Beret by Hilary St George Saunders                       British Commandos including landings at Arakan/Ramree Is
Behinfd Bamboo by Rohan Rivett                                           POW
The Ridge and the River by T A G Hungerford                          Novel based in Bouganville by an Australian Commando
Australian Commanders in WW2 by Garth Pratten                   What made an Australian Bn commander, wins and losses.
The Only Enemy by Bri Sir John Smyth VC                              Sittang Bridge
Silent Victory by Clay Blair
1931 The Great Pacigfic War by Hector Bywater
Wedemeyer Repoerts by A C Wedemeyer                                Replaced Stillwell in CBI
Nothing over us by David Hay                                                Unit history of 2/6 Aust Inf Bn
Second Eighth by ?                                                               U nit History of 2/8 Aust Inf Bn
Macarthur - Victory in th Pacific by C A Willoughby                   History rewritten/glossed over and prettied up
Why Singapore Fell by H G Bennet                                          See above
Battle of Kohima by Arthur Swinson                                        The end of the March on Delhi
Nemisis by Max Hastings
Dust, Sand and Jungle by Paul Handel                                      Story of Australian armour
Codename Downfall by Allen and Polmer                                 
The Jungle is Neutral by F Spencer Chapman                            Guerillas in Malaya
Tank Tracks to Rangoon by Bryan Perret                                   British/Indian armour in Burma
Australian Army Xmas Books                                                    Stories from the troops, includes a good commentary of the battles
Shattered Storm by Parshall & Tully
The Heroes by Ronald McKie                                                     The Krait story
Defeat into Victory by Fd Marshal W Slim
Spearhead General by Henry Maule                                           The story of Frank Messervy