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Eagle Against the Sun : The American War With Japan (Vintage) :: 0394741013
Description
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| Only now can the full scope of the war in the Pacific be fully understood. Historian Ronald Spector, drawing on newly declassified intelligence files, an abundance of British and American archival material. Japanese scholarship and documents, and research and memoirs of scholarly and military men, has written a stunning, complete and up-to-date history of the conflict. Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
I bought this book solely on the recommendation of Amazon reviewers, and I must say -- having read some dozen books about WWII -- this is probably the best. The amount of original research is staggering, and the author's judgements about the two major WWII controversies -- Did FDR know about Pearl Harbor in advance?, and Was the atom bomb necessary? -- are well-balanced and credible. (His answer, if you want to know, is NO and YES respectively. But some of the information he presents in support of his argument, will probably surprise you.)
Beware, however, this is an extremely scholarly book. The footnotes and the explanations to the footnotes are just as interesting as the text (!!). The only reason I give it 4-stars and not a "5" is that some chapters can be rather "heavy going" in terms of readability.
This is a prodigious piece of work. Highly recommended for the diligent reader (!!).
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Author: Guest
A very readable, interesting history of the Pacific theater in World War II. Despite being a single volume Spector does a masterful job of covering all the key aspects of the Pacific war and does so in a very complete manner. The earlier reviewers comments about the lack of maps is true; you might want to have an atlas handy while reading this book. Definitely worth your investment several times over in both time and money.
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Author: Guest
If you're looking for a book about battles and fighting, this isn't the book for you. If you want a look at generals and statesmen struggling to find a way to victory, you'll enjoy this book. It tells the tale of how victory in the Pacific was found and fashioned. The disagreements between the services, the personal chemistry, the problems with logistics, the balancing of needs versus the fight with Germany, all these important issues are explicated in 'Eagle against the Sun'. It's not exhaustive in its treament of the war and not exhausting in the reading.It's a very good book to start analyzing World War II in the Pacific theater.
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Author: Guest
I read this book many years ago and absolutely fell in love with it. The text is so clear and concise it would be hard to improve upon. Unfortunately, I must agree with many other reviewers about the lack of maps. It would be great to see a new edition of this book with detailed maps. If I were the publisher, I would certainly consider that project. I'm sure there are many readers who currently own a copy who would welcome it and like myself not hesitate to add it their library.
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Author: Guest
I recommend Spector's book to anyone looking for an overview of the entire Asia-Pacific campaigns during World War II. The book examines not only fighting in the South Pacific at places like Guadalcanal, but also the China-India-Burma theater. However, don't expect a book in the Stephen Ambrose vein, with plenty of quotes from ordinary solders on the front lines. This is very much a traditional military history, focusing primarily on generals and admirals, more than privates and sergeants. It's definitely "history from the top down," as they say. Spector does, however, throw in a quote from a "grunt" on occasion. The book actually gets off to a slow start with what is essentially a bureaucratic history of the U.S. military in the interwar period; but its pace picks up dramatically with the attack on Pearl Harbor and keeps up its momentum for the remainder of the text. As others have noted, Spector's work could have benefitted from more detailed maps. and quite often I found the litany of various admirals, generals, carrier groups, squadrons, corps, etc., to be confusing; but I believe war itself breeds confusion and as such the book merely reflects this reality. Overall, a solid work of exhaustive research by an author ideally suited to pen such an excellent history.
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