Book Shelf 24-6 ~ This week’s read – Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll (W. W. Norton & Co., 2012)

The first volume of the massive three-book series by Ian W. Toll. From the back cover of Pacific Crucible:

Both a serious work of history, shedding new light on the critical early years of World War II’s Pacific campaign, and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

A “…marvelously readable dramatic narrative.” Yes. Very readable. Very (very) dramatic in parts.

“Both a serious work of history, shedding new light on the critical early years of World War II’s Pacific campaign…” While serious history (presented in a highly narrative format) it treads the same ground H.P Wilmott’s first two volumes Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942 and The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategies, February to June 1942 does…but nearly 40 year later. Wilmott’s books never were as popular as Toll so give the later credit for (again) bringing the story of the early years of the Pacific War to the American public which seems more ready to read about it today.

Softly Recommended.

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Feature image courtesy RMN

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