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Hey guys, looking for some advice on my next Pacific War type book. Over the past few months, I've read:
- Lundstrom's First Team set - outstanding
- Tillman's Engerprise - so so
- Ian Toll's Pacific Crucible - Very, very good
- Parshall's Shattered Sword - outstanding

So what do you all recommend?

ORIGINAL: IdahoNYer

Hey guys, looking for some advice on my next Pacific War type book. Over the past few months, I've read:
- Lundstrom's First Team set - outstanding
- Tillman's Engerprise - so so
- Ian Toll's Pacific Crucible - Very, very good
- Parshall's Shattered Sword - outstanding

So what do you all recommend?

warspite1

Guadalcanal (Richard R Frank). Penguin. THE definitive one volume book on the Guadalcanal campaign - a superb tomb [&o][&o]

The Forgotten Fleet (John Winton). DB Books. The story of the British Pacific Fleet (and the Eastern Fleet before it). Excellent book [&o][&o] This is an old book now so not sure about its availability. There is a more recent book - The British Pacific Fleet (David Hobbs). Naval Institute Press. Not read this yet so cannot comment on how it compares with Winton's work, but looks the part.

Depending on your knowledge level, I would potentially recommend Rising Sun, Falling Skies (Jeffrey R Cox). Osprey. For all but the history grognard this provides a very good overview of the fighting in and around the Java Sea in 1941/42.

I'm reading Rick Atkinson's trilogy on the ETO mainly from the American POV. I'm very pleased to be doing so. Thing is the only time I get to read it is on the pot, as I have no laptop and the rest of my life is owned by this damned game. I have to use the grab bars a lot as my legs go to sleep sitting there while reading.

I liked Tales from a Tin Can by Michael Olson (no relation). It's about the USS Dale and gives you a wave eye view of the war from the perspective of a DD that was in the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. It's a bit like Enterprise though, so you might not like it.

I also read a book recently about the Battle of the Philippine Sea. It's called Red Sun Setting, it was written back in the 80s, but there are very few books out there on that battle. In places it gets exhaustive with the detail, but overall I thought it was good.

Bill

Fire in the Sky by Bergerud. It's about air war in South West Pacific.

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Thanks, buddy. You just made me buy another book......[;)]


TOMLABEL

If you have not read John Toland's "Infamy" you should. It has been out for 20+ years.

I would recommend:
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors (Battle of Samar/Leyte) by Hornfischer
Rising Sun by Toland (Pacific war from, mostly, the Japanese side
Silent Victory by Blair (Almost everything you'd want to know about the US sub war)

Those are my favorites. Read them over and over

I am about 2/3rd way thru
The Battle for Singapore, the True Story of the Greatest Catastrophe of World War II
by Peter Thompson
ISBN 978-0-7499-5099-6
First print 2005 so it benefits from the demise of most of the players and their defenders of the time.
Interesting read on the in fighting on the Allied side and lack of planning, co-operation and vision from the very top on down.

Though I haven't read it yet, I picked this one up on clearance and it looks pretty decent:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-World-W ... ref=sr_1_1

Also recommend Jack Coggins's Campaign for Guadalcanal. Very good, sized for a coffee table book, and great illustrations [;)].

I liked:

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
by James D. Hornfischer

it is a navy focused history of Guadalcanal

Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb by George Feifer. This is an excellent book. Not only a historical account of the battle but an analysis of horrible impact the battle had on the civilian population of the Island. And the battle's influence on the decision to drop the bomb on Japan. Save for perhaps Stalingrad, I can't think of a more hellish scenario than this battle presented.

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

I liked:

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
by James D. Hornfischer

it is a navy focused history of Guadalcanal

That's on my Amazon list.

Thanks guys, appreciate all the feedback. Some great suggestions. I read a couple already a while back - Neptune's Inferno and and Jack Coggins' Campaign for Guad. Both very good.

I went for Rising Sun, Falling Skies as it was available on Kindle. While getting that, I also got a book called "The Last Zero Fighter" by Dan King which looked interesting.

Another title that drew my interest, but didn't get it is, or rather are, Bruce Gamble's trilogy on Rabaul - anyone read those?

Any feedback on: "The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War"
from A.J. Baime ?

The book is relatively new, and the topic looks interesting. But I know nothing about the author

ORIGINAL: IdahoNYer

Another title that drew my interest, but didn't get it is, or rather are, Bruce Gamble's trilogy on Rabaul - anyone read those?

I've only read the second book, covering the Japanese invasion of Rabaul through to the death of Yamamoto over a year later. The book is a narrative primarily concerned with the Allied (SWPAC) effort in the air to reduce Rabaul's operational influence in the theatre. The book also details many of the operational problems faced by the commanders and pilots of both sides.

I thought it was well written and did give a good perspective on Rabaul's importance (to both sides) at that stage of the war.

I can recommend Retribution by Max Hastings. Covers 44-45 and the downfall of Japan.

If you like it, pick up Armageddon and Inferno, also by Hastings - an excellent WW2 trilogy.

Scouring Amazon I found these two which are fascinating and more obscure areas of the war. Also deal a lot with interactions, collaboration and the effect of the war on native peoples of the various islands involved.

The Coastwatchers by Eric Feldt (first commander of Ferdinand, Australias coast watching operation in the South Pacific)

The Airmen and the Headhunters by Judith M. Heimann; Story of downed US aircrews in Borneo and the fight to save them by local populations and indigenous tribes. One of my favorites all time. An amazing story.

Also this which is just good all around as a look at the course of US sub warfare in the Pacific. It also gets into a lot of the politics, difficulties with equipment and logistics. A good companion to 'Clear the Bridge' by O'Kane himself.

The Bravest Man; Richard O'Kane and the Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang by William Tuohy

ORIGINAL: TOMLABEL

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Thanks, buddy. You just made me buy another book......[;)]


TOMLABEL

warspite1

Which one? [:)]

How about

'The first Hellcat Ace' by Cdr Hamilton McWhorter III with Jay Stout published by Pacifica Military History
or
'The Battle of Leyte Gulf, The Last Fleet Action' by H.P. Wilmott published by Indiana university press
or
'Fading Victory, The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki 1941-1945' published by Pittsburgh
or
'The Fleet the Gods Forgot, the US Asiatic Fleet in World War II' by W.G. Winslow, published by Blue Jacket books