Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) (The Pacific War Trilogy)

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) (The Pacific War Trilogy)

Author: Ian W. Toll

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2011-11-14

Total Pages: 732

ISBN-13: 0393083179

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Winner of the Northern California Book Award for Nonfiction "Both a serious work of history…and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative." —San Francisco Chronicle On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible—through a dramatic narrative relying predominantly on primary sources and eyewitness accounts of heroism and sacrifice from both navies—tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history to seize the strategic initiative.


Book Synopsis Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) (The Pacific War Trilogy) by : Ian W. Toll

Download or read book Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (Vol. 1) (The Pacific War Trilogy) written by Ian W. Toll and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-11-14 with total page 732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Northern California Book Award for Nonfiction "Both a serious work of history…and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative." —San Francisco Chronicle On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible—through a dramatic narrative relying predominantly on primary sources and eyewitness accounts of heroism and sacrifice from both navies—tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history to seize the strategic initiative.


Crucible of Hell

Crucible of Hell

Author: Saul David

Publisher: Hachette Books

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 031653465X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the award-winning historian, Saul David, the riveting narrative of the heroic US troops, bonded by the brotherhood and sacrifice of war, who overcame enormous casualties to pull off the toughest invasion of WWII's Pacific Theater -- and the Japanese forces who fought with tragic desperation to stop them. With Allied forces sweeping across Europe and into Germany in the spring of 1945, one enormous challenge threatened to derail America's audacious drive to win the world back from the Nazis: Japan, the empire that had extended its reach southward across the Pacific and was renowned for the fanaticism and brutality of its fighters, who refused to surrender, even when faced with insurmountable odds. Taking down Japan would require an unrelenting attack to break its national spirit, and launching such an attack on the island empire meant building an operations base just off its shores on the island of Okinawa. The amphibious operation to capture Okinawa was the largest of the Pacific War and the greatest air-land-sea battle in history, mobilizing 183,000 troops from Seattle, Leyte in the Philippines, and ports around the world. The campaign lasted for 83 blood-soaked days, as the fighting plumbed depths of savagery. One veteran, struggling to make sense of what he had witnessed, referred to the fighting as the "crucible of Hell." Okinawan civilians died in the tens of thousands: some were mistaken for soldiers by American troops; but as the US Marines spearheading the invasion drove further onto the island and Japanese defeat seemed inevitable, many more civilians took their own lives, some even murdering their own families. In just under three months, the world had changed irrevocably: President Franklin D. Roosevelt died; the war in Europe ended; America's appetite for an invasion of Japan had waned, spurring President Truman to use other means -- ultimately atomic bombs -- to end the war; and more than 250,000 servicemen and civilians on or near the island of Okinawa had lost their lives. Drawing on archival research in the US, Japan, and the UK, and the original accounts of those who survived, Crucible of Hell tells the vivid, heart-rending story of the battle that changed not just the course of WWII, but the course of war, forever.


Book Synopsis Crucible of Hell by : Saul David

Download or read book Crucible of Hell written by Saul David and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the award-winning historian, Saul David, the riveting narrative of the heroic US troops, bonded by the brotherhood and sacrifice of war, who overcame enormous casualties to pull off the toughest invasion of WWII's Pacific Theater -- and the Japanese forces who fought with tragic desperation to stop them. With Allied forces sweeping across Europe and into Germany in the spring of 1945, one enormous challenge threatened to derail America's audacious drive to win the world back from the Nazis: Japan, the empire that had extended its reach southward across the Pacific and was renowned for the fanaticism and brutality of its fighters, who refused to surrender, even when faced with insurmountable odds. Taking down Japan would require an unrelenting attack to break its national spirit, and launching such an attack on the island empire meant building an operations base just off its shores on the island of Okinawa. The amphibious operation to capture Okinawa was the largest of the Pacific War and the greatest air-land-sea battle in history, mobilizing 183,000 troops from Seattle, Leyte in the Philippines, and ports around the world. The campaign lasted for 83 blood-soaked days, as the fighting plumbed depths of savagery. One veteran, struggling to make sense of what he had witnessed, referred to the fighting as the "crucible of Hell." Okinawan civilians died in the tens of thousands: some were mistaken for soldiers by American troops; but as the US Marines spearheading the invasion drove further onto the island and Japanese defeat seemed inevitable, many more civilians took their own lives, some even murdering their own families. In just under three months, the world had changed irrevocably: President Franklin D. Roosevelt died; the war in Europe ended; America's appetite for an invasion of Japan had waned, spurring President Truman to use other means -- ultimately atomic bombs -- to end the war; and more than 250,000 servicemen and civilians on or near the island of Okinawa had lost their lives. Drawing on archival research in the US, Japan, and the UK, and the original accounts of those who survived, Crucible of Hell tells the vivid, heart-rending story of the battle that changed not just the course of WWII, but the course of war, forever.


Pacific Crucible

Pacific Crucible

Author: Ian W. Toll

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 659

ISBN-13: 0393068137

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Draws on eyewitness accounts and primary sources to describe the first months of World War II in the Pacific, after the U.S. Navy suffered the worst defeat in its history at Pearl Harbor.


Book Synopsis Pacific Crucible by : Ian W. Toll

Download or read book Pacific Crucible written by Ian W. Toll and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on eyewitness accounts and primary sources to describe the first months of World War II in the Pacific, after the U.S. Navy suffered the worst defeat in its history at Pearl Harbor.


Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy

Author: Ian W. Toll

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2008-02-26

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 039333032X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the decision to build six heavy frigates through the cliffhanger campaign against Tripoli to the war that shook the world in 1812, Toll tells the grand tale of the founding of the U.S. Navy.


Book Synopsis Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by : Ian W. Toll

Download or read book Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy written by Ian W. Toll and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-02-26 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the decision to build six heavy frigates through the cliffhanger campaign against Tripoli to the war that shook the world in 1812, Toll tells the grand tale of the founding of the U.S. Navy.


The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Vol. 2) (The Pacific War Trilogy)

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Vol. 2) (The Pacific War Trilogy)

Author: Ian W. Toll

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2015-09-21

Total Pages: 635

ISBN-13: 0393248208

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A New York Times Bestseller "A beautiful blend of history and prose and proves again Mr. Toll’s mastery of the naval-war narrative." —Wall Street Journal This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War—the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944—when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide," concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas. It was the largest, bloodiest, most costly, most technically innovative and logistically complicated amphibious war in history, and it fostered bitter interservice rivalries, leaving wounds that even victory could not heal. Often overlooked, these are the years and fights that decided the Pacific War. Ian W. Toll's battle scenes—in the air, at sea, and in the jungles—are simply riveting. He also takes the reader into the wartime councils in Washington and Tokyo where politics and strategy often collided, and into the struggle to mobilize wartime production, which was the secret of Allied victory. Brilliantly researched, the narrative is propelled and colored by firsthand accounts—letters, diaries, debriefings, and memoirs—that are the raw material of the telling details, shrewd judgment, and penetrating insight of this magisterial history. This volume—continuing the "marvelously readable dramatic narrative" (San Francisco Chronicle) of Pacific Crucible—marks the second installment of the Pacific War Trilogy, which will stand as the first history of the entire Pacific War to be published in at least twenty-five years.


Book Synopsis The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Vol. 2) (The Pacific War Trilogy) by : Ian W. Toll

Download or read book The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Vol. 2) (The Pacific War Trilogy) written by Ian W. Toll and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-09-21 with total page 635 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller "A beautiful blend of history and prose and proves again Mr. Toll’s mastery of the naval-war narrative." —Wall Street Journal This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War—the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944—when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide," concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas. It was the largest, bloodiest, most costly, most technically innovative and logistically complicated amphibious war in history, and it fostered bitter interservice rivalries, leaving wounds that even victory could not heal. Often overlooked, these are the years and fights that decided the Pacific War. Ian W. Toll's battle scenes—in the air, at sea, and in the jungles—are simply riveting. He also takes the reader into the wartime councils in Washington and Tokyo where politics and strategy often collided, and into the struggle to mobilize wartime production, which was the secret of Allied victory. Brilliantly researched, the narrative is propelled and colored by firsthand accounts—letters, diaries, debriefings, and memoirs—that are the raw material of the telling details, shrewd judgment, and penetrating insight of this magisterial history. This volume—continuing the "marvelously readable dramatic narrative" (San Francisco Chronicle) of Pacific Crucible—marks the second installment of the Pacific War Trilogy, which will stand as the first history of the entire Pacific War to be published in at least twenty-five years.


Mud Map to AUKUS

Mud Map to AUKUS

Author: Philip Du Rhone

Publisher: Hybrid Publishers

Published: 2021-11-29

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 1925736970

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How does the 2021 Indo-Pacific security arrangement Australia has entered into with the United Kingdom and the United States fit into Australia’s historical approach to its defence and foreign affairs policies? What experiences in the past have shaped Australia’s attitude to defence? Have these policies been influenced or even dictated by the public’s opinions and beliefs or have they been formulated mainly by politicians, diplomats, specialists and commentators and imposed on the populace, albeit gently, or perhaps stealthily? This book looks closely at the election campaigns of 1943, 1946 and 1949 when the threat of attack and even invasion had been very real and imminent and the security of the country was uppermost in many people’s minds; at how the political leaders and commentators presented their opinions and ideas on future national defence and foreign policy to a public that may or may not have been interested; and at how they argued it out amongst themselves, testing the waters, feeling their way into a new world order. And so, how much of Australia’s defence and foreign affairs stance is based on its history, its geographical position and the political nature of its neighbours, leading to the conclusion that it will be that way “forever”, and thereby clearly definable?


Book Synopsis Mud Map to AUKUS by : Philip Du Rhone

Download or read book Mud Map to AUKUS written by Philip Du Rhone and published by Hybrid Publishers. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does the 2021 Indo-Pacific security arrangement Australia has entered into with the United Kingdom and the United States fit into Australia’s historical approach to its defence and foreign affairs policies? What experiences in the past have shaped Australia’s attitude to defence? Have these policies been influenced or even dictated by the public’s opinions and beliefs or have they been formulated mainly by politicians, diplomats, specialists and commentators and imposed on the populace, albeit gently, or perhaps stealthily? This book looks closely at the election campaigns of 1943, 1946 and 1949 when the threat of attack and even invasion had been very real and imminent and the security of the country was uppermost in many people’s minds; at how the political leaders and commentators presented their opinions and ideas on future national defence and foreign policy to a public that may or may not have been interested; and at how they argued it out amongst themselves, testing the waters, feeling their way into a new world order. And so, how much of Australia’s defence and foreign affairs stance is based on its history, its geographical position and the political nature of its neighbours, leading to the conclusion that it will be that way “forever”, and thereby clearly definable?


Island Infernos

Island Infernos

Author: John C. McManus

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-11-09

Total Pages: 657

ISBN-13: 069819277X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Fire and Fortitude—winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History—John C. McManus presented a riveting account of the US Army's fledgling fight in the Pacific following Pearl Harbor. Now, in Island Infernos, he explores the Army’s dogged pursuit of Japanese forces, island by island, throughout 1944, a year that would bring America ever closer to victory or defeat. “A feat of prodigious scholarship.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Wonderful.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch • “Outstanding.”—Publishers Weekly • “Rich and absorbing.”—Richard Overy, author of Blood and Ruins • “A considerable achievement, and one that, importantly, adds much to our understanding of the Pacific War.”—James Holland, author of Normandy ’44 After some two years at war, the Army in the Pacific held ground across nearly a third of the globe, from Alaska’s Aleutians to Burma and New Guinea. The challenges ahead were enormous: supplying a vast number of troops over thousands of miles of ocean; surviving in jungles ripe with dysentery, malaria, and other tropical diseases; fighting an enemy prone to ever-more desperate and dangerous assaults. Yet the Army had proven they could fight. Now, they had to prove they could win a war. Brilliantly researched and written, Island Infernos moves seamlessly from the highest generals to the lowest foot soldiers and in between, capturing the true essence of this horrible conflict. A sprawling yet page-turning narrative, the story spans the battles for Saipan and Guam, the appalling carnage of Peleliu, General MacArthur’s dramatic return to the Philippines, and the grinding jungle combat to capture the island of Leyte. This masterful history is the second volume of John C. McManus’s trilogy on the US Army in the Pacific War, proving McManus to be one of our finest historians of World War II.


Book Synopsis Island Infernos by : John C. McManus

Download or read book Island Infernos written by John C. McManus and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Fire and Fortitude—winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History—John C. McManus presented a riveting account of the US Army's fledgling fight in the Pacific following Pearl Harbor. Now, in Island Infernos, he explores the Army’s dogged pursuit of Japanese forces, island by island, throughout 1944, a year that would bring America ever closer to victory or defeat. “A feat of prodigious scholarship.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Wonderful.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch • “Outstanding.”—Publishers Weekly • “Rich and absorbing.”—Richard Overy, author of Blood and Ruins • “A considerable achievement, and one that, importantly, adds much to our understanding of the Pacific War.”—James Holland, author of Normandy ’44 After some two years at war, the Army in the Pacific held ground across nearly a third of the globe, from Alaska’s Aleutians to Burma and New Guinea. The challenges ahead were enormous: supplying a vast number of troops over thousands of miles of ocean; surviving in jungles ripe with dysentery, malaria, and other tropical diseases; fighting an enemy prone to ever-more desperate and dangerous assaults. Yet the Army had proven they could fight. Now, they had to prove they could win a war. Brilliantly researched and written, Island Infernos moves seamlessly from the highest generals to the lowest foot soldiers and in between, capturing the true essence of this horrible conflict. A sprawling yet page-turning narrative, the story spans the battles for Saipan and Guam, the appalling carnage of Peleliu, General MacArthur’s dramatic return to the Philippines, and the grinding jungle combat to capture the island of Leyte. This masterful history is the second volume of John C. McManus’s trilogy on the US Army in the Pacific War, proving McManus to be one of our finest historians of World War II.


The Pacific War

The Pacific War

Author: John Costello

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 1982-12-01

Total Pages: 759

ISBN-13: 0688016200

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

John Costello's The Pacific War has now established itself as the standard one-volume account of World War II in the Pacific. Never before have the separate stories of fighting in China, Malaya, Burma, the East Indies, the Phillipines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Aleutians been so brilliantly woven together to provide a clear account of one of the most massive movements of men and arms in history. The complex social, political, and economic causes that underlay the war are here carefully analyzed, impelling the reader to see it as the inevitable conclusion to a series of historical events. And the bloody fighting that indelibly recorded names like Midway and Iwo Jima in the annals of human conflict is described in detail, through its ominous conclusion in the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


Book Synopsis The Pacific War by : John Costello

Download or read book The Pacific War written by John Costello and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1982-12-01 with total page 759 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Costello's The Pacific War has now established itself as the standard one-volume account of World War II in the Pacific. Never before have the separate stories of fighting in China, Malaya, Burma, the East Indies, the Phillipines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Aleutians been so brilliantly woven together to provide a clear account of one of the most massive movements of men and arms in history. The complex social, political, and economic causes that underlay the war are here carefully analyzed, impelling the reader to see it as the inevitable conclusion to a series of historical events. And the bloody fighting that indelibly recorded names like Midway and Iwo Jima in the annals of human conflict is described in detail, through its ominous conclusion in the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


The Isla Vista Crucible

The Isla Vista Crucible

Author: Reilly Ridgell

Publisher: Savant Books and Publications

Published: 2012-02-12

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0983286167

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Three college roommates try to live and enjoy their student lives while caught up in the frenzy of casual drug use, recreational sex, lacrosse, rock and roll music, political activism, riots, and race relations during the tumultuous 1969-70 school year in the unique student community of Isla Vista.


Book Synopsis The Isla Vista Crucible by : Reilly Ridgell

Download or read book The Isla Vista Crucible written by Reilly Ridgell and published by Savant Books and Publications. This book was released on 2012-02-12 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three college roommates try to live and enjoy their student lives while caught up in the frenzy of casual drug use, recreational sex, lacrosse, rock and roll music, political activism, riots, and race relations during the tumultuous 1969-70 school year in the unique student community of Isla Vista.


Colonial Crucible

Colonial Crucible

Author: Alfred W. McCoy

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 2009-05-15

Total Pages: 706

ISBN-13: 0299231038

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

At the end of the nineteenth century the United States swiftly occupied a string of small islands dotting the Caribbean and Western Pacific, from Puerto Rico and Cuba to Hawaii and the Philippines. Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State reveals how this experiment in direct territorial rule subtly but profoundly shaped U.S. policy and practice—both abroad and, crucially, at home. Edited by Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano, the essays in this volume show how the challenge of ruling such far-flung territories strained the U.S. state to its limits, creating both the need and the opportunity for bold social experiments not yet possible within the United States itself. Plunging Washington’s rudimentary bureaucracy into the white heat of nationalist revolution and imperial rivalry, colonialism was a crucible of change in American statecraft. From an expansion of the federal government to the creation of agile public-private networks for more effective global governance, U.S. empire produced far-reaching innovations. Moving well beyond theory, this volume takes the next step, adding a fine-grained, empirical texture to the study of U.S. imperialism by analyzing its specific consequences. Across a broad range of institutions—policing and prisons, education, race relations, public health, law, the military, and environmental management—this formative experience left a lasting institutional imprint. With each essay distilling years, sometimes decades, of scholarship into a concise argument, Colonial Crucible reveals the roots of a legacy evident, most recently, in Washington’s misadventures in the Middle East.


Book Synopsis Colonial Crucible by : Alfred W. McCoy

Download or read book Colonial Crucible written by Alfred W. McCoy and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the nineteenth century the United States swiftly occupied a string of small islands dotting the Caribbean and Western Pacific, from Puerto Rico and Cuba to Hawaii and the Philippines. Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State reveals how this experiment in direct territorial rule subtly but profoundly shaped U.S. policy and practice—both abroad and, crucially, at home. Edited by Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano, the essays in this volume show how the challenge of ruling such far-flung territories strained the U.S. state to its limits, creating both the need and the opportunity for bold social experiments not yet possible within the United States itself. Plunging Washington’s rudimentary bureaucracy into the white heat of nationalist revolution and imperial rivalry, colonialism was a crucible of change in American statecraft. From an expansion of the federal government to the creation of agile public-private networks for more effective global governance, U.S. empire produced far-reaching innovations. Moving well beyond theory, this volume takes the next step, adding a fine-grained, empirical texture to the study of U.S. imperialism by analyzing its specific consequences. Across a broad range of institutions—policing and prisons, education, race relations, public health, law, the military, and environmental management—this formative experience left a lasting institutional imprint. With each essay distilling years, sometimes decades, of scholarship into a concise argument, Colonial Crucible reveals the roots of a legacy evident, most recently, in Washington’s misadventures in the Middle East.