Book Description
Evan Thomas takes us inside the naval war of 1941-1945 in the South Pacific in a way that blends the best of military and cultural history and riveting narrative drama. He follows four men throughout: Admiral William ("Bull") Halsey, the macho, gallant, racist American fleet commander; Admiral Takeo Kurita, the Japanese battleship commander charged with making what was, in essence, a suicidal fleet attack against the American invasion of the Philippines; Admiral Matome Ugaki, a self-styled samurai who was the commander of all kamikazes and himself the last kamikaze of the war; and Commander Ernest Evans, a Cherokee Indian and Annapolis graduate who led his destroyer on the last great charge in the last great naval battle in history.
Sea of Thunder climaxes with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever fought, over four bloody and harrowing days in October 1944. We see Halsey make an epic blunder just as he reaches for true glory; we see the Japanese navy literally sailing in circles, torn between the desire to die heroically and the exhausted, unacceptable realization that death is futile; we sail with Commander Evans and the men of the USS Johnston into the jaws of the Japanese fleet and exult and suffer with them as they torpedo a cruiser, bluff and confuse the enemy -- and then, their ship sunk, endure fifty horrific hours in shark-infested water.
Thomas, a journalist and historian, traveled to Japan, where he interviewed veterans of the Imperial Japanese Navy who survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf and friends and family of the two Japanese admirals. From new documents and interviews, he was able to piece together and answer mysteries about the Battle of Leyte Gulf that have puzzled historians for decades. He writes with a knowing feel for the clash of cultures.
Sea of Thunder is a taut, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative of the last great naval war, an important contribution to the history of the Second World War.
Customer Reviews:
No Bull..........2007-09-29
It's no wonder were in the mess we are, when myoptic vision clouds reason.
This was not a hit on Halsey..Duoh! This was a very good read. Maybe Ken burns took some info here?
I see a lot of whinners(on other forums) saying the Japanese never had a plan to sue for peace if they took Hawaii..(?)
Any way Good book.
Thanks, Mr Evans
Non-Fiction Thriller.......2007-09-12
A non-fiction historical work of serious scholarship that can compete with any thriller. An absolute page turner that's hard to put down. When Thomas finds the time to do this kind of research with his TV panelist and news magazine gigs is a mystery. He is an absolutely first rate writer and story teller, and Sea of Thunder is not to be missed.
Good Read, but............2007-08-06
I got this book on Friday and finished it Saturday night. A decent book over all but as other reviewers have stated I find the revisionist aspect a bit much. I think the 'slam' on Halsey tended to be over-kill. The author even goes as far as mentioning the two occasions where Halsey sailed into typhoons to further his knocks on Halsey. Interesting, but not in the scope of the book. The author does point out the reasons behind Halsey's choice to go after Ozawa but only in passing. I found the study of Japanese vs. American admirals a bit slanted in the Japanese admiral's favor. As far as the 'racist' aspect of Halsey's statements "Kill Japs, Kill Japs. Kill more Japs" & etc. We only need to look at quotes by other Admirals and Generals to understand the purpose behind these statements. I gave it three stars only because it was a page-turner, I think what kept me reading was to see if the author was going to go into a more in-depth study of the choices made by the admirals and why they made them. I was left with the impression that the Japanese admirals made the choices they made mostly because of the training received at Eta Jima and the choices made by American admirals were due to some personal flaw as in Halsey's 'need' to get the Japanese carriers at all costs. What I wasn't left with was the stunning victory by the Americans and how important it was in shortening the war. I am just starting to read 'The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors' by James D. Hornfischer so I can compare two different author's views on the Leyte Gulf naval battles.
CORRECTION to Thomas' text.......2007-07-27
Evan Thomas incorrectly states that Admrial Spruance's son married Admiral Halsey's daughter. In fact, Margaret Halsey married Preston Lea Spruance who was only distantly related to Admiral Spruance.
- Halsey Spruance, a decendant of Margaret Halsey and Preston Lea Spruance
A good story.......2007-07-11
I did not know as much about the battle before this book. Thomas gives an excellent perspective of all sides of the battle. I felt I was a bit oversold on the book and it did not live completely up to expectations which is why I only give it 4 out of 5.
Amazon.com
First published in 1970, this extraordinary book changed the way Americans think about the original inhabitants of their country. Beginning with the Long Walk of the Navajos in 1860 and ending 30 years later with the massacre of Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, it tells how the American Indians lost their land and lives to a dynamically expanding white society. During these three decades, America's population doubled from 31 million to 62 million. Again and again, promises made to the Indians fell victim to the ruthlessness and greed of settlers pushing westward to make new lives. The Indians were herded off their ancestral lands into ever-shrinking reservations, and were starved and killed if they resisted. It is a truism that "history is written by the victors"; for the first time, this book described the opening of the West from the Indians' viewpoint. Accustomed to stereotypes of Indians as red savages, white Americans were shocked to read the reasoned eloquence of Indian leaders and learn of the bravery with which they and their peoples endured suffering. With meticulous research and in measured language overlaying brutal narrative, Dee Brown focused attention on a national disgrace. Still controversial but with many of its premises now accepted, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee has sold 5 million copies around the world. Thirty years after it first broke onto the national conscience, it has lost none of its importance or emotional impact. --John Stevenson
Book Description
Now a special 30th-anniversary edition in both hardcover and paperback, the classic bestselling history The New York Times called "Original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking....Impossible to put down"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, fully documented account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the nineteenth century. A national bestseller in hardcover for more than a year after its initial publication, it has sold almost four million copies and has been translated into seventeen languages. For this elegant thirtieth-anniversary edition -- published in both hardcover and paperback -- Brown has contributed an incisive new preface.Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown allows the great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes to tell us in their own words of the battles, massacres, and broken treaties that finally left them demoralized and defeated. A unique and disturbing narrative told with force and clarity, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee changed forever our vision of how the West was really won.
Customer Reviews:
BURY MY HEART ! (the truth of how our government "won" the west).......2007-10-10
I first read Dee Brown's book, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (1970) as a college assignment. It changed the way I looked at America/our country, America/our history, and America/our land. The book is subtitled "An Indian History Of The American West", and focuses on the period of 1860 to 1890. This was after "The Trail Of Tears" of the 1830s, when the Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Indian nations were forced against their will to evacuate the eastern United States and move west. The book covers the Apaches, the Navajo, the Cheyenne, the Nez Percez, and the Sioux, among others. The wars, the injustices, and the sad fate of men, women, and children who died trying to pack up and move their lives yet once again. Brown doesn't portray the Indians as saints, either, but only as people with limited resources who, too many times, trusted the promises of a government that would, time and time again, go back on it's word, and forcibly humiliate them. Brown also points out that sometimes the Indians overreacted by attacking innocent non-military settlements. Mostly the book is a concise account of the real Manifest Destiny story, and it expels the myths of the old American History 101 textbook, and the romantic Hollywood cowboy/injun-fighter version of our history. It's a tragic and cruel story, really. It's the true story of the progress of one generation of people at the expense of a civilization. Unfortunately that progress was paved with broken promises, injustice, and lives forever lost.
A Wake-up Call for Americans .......2007-09-05
I just (July 2007) acquired my new copy coming from Amazon. I lost my old copy in 1995. I was not naive about politics and government in 1995. Any scintillas of trust in politics and government,are now gone for even more different reasons. This book seems to keep me awake and keeps my ears wider open to what can happen in this country and this world. It is not just about the shameful and bloody acts in our westward expansion. The word "treaty" from these times is a joke. I can also see more about international expansions. America makes large wrongs, as do other countries do to their own people in history. My heart feels buried because Americans, we, made such innumerable, horrendous and cruel acts. This book remains to me as a great "jolt" to my consciousness. He put together a great example of what America did do to the Native American Peoples. Look at the status of the Native American Peoples who are left today.
Original Eye-Opener.......2007-08-03
This book was and contines to be a wake-up call to the asleep teaching of American History. Especially that of Native Americans and most notably our utter ignorance of our history with Latin America.
A great book.......2007-07-01
Bury my heart at wounded knee is a oustanding account of native american history. Very informative and captivating, piquing my interest in native american's. The words tell of a people heroic,caring,hospitable, and understanding almost pushed to the point of annihilation at the hands of conquistadors,whites and others. Sadness,anger,hate, and sympathy are just some of the feelings brought out by reading this book. If you want an unflinching account of native american history this a great place to start.
bury my heart at wounded knee.......2007-06-27
I was told to read this book as i like to read about american history. this is one of the best book i have read. dee brown really did a lot of backgroud work on it .
Book Description
Looking up from his newspaper from where he sat on the deck of the destroyer USS Dale, Harold Reichert could see the pilot plain as day—the leather helmet with chin strap, the goggles, and then the red rising sun painted on the plane’s fuselage. “I saw the torpedo drop and watched as it ran up on the old Utah.”
It was daybreak at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the beginning of the war, and the Dale was there; she would serve until the end, when the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered. In the words of those who manned her, the Dale’s war comes vividly to life in this first oral history of a combat ship from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. From carrier raids on Midway, Guadalcanal, and the Solomons to the bombarding of Saipan and Guam in the capture of the Marianas, from the Aleutians in the far north to strikes on Tokyo and Kobe, Tales of a Tin Can recreates the action aboard the Dale, and conveys as never before the true grit of wartime on a destroyer.
Customer Reviews:
Not a bad Navy story.......2007-09-09
As a Navy Vet and one who served for a short time on a tin can I found this book interesting. I enjoyed reading it not only from a veterans perspective but also from a historical viewpoint.
Destroyermen The Few The Proud.......2007-08-28
This is a terrific read and well reflects the lives we endured on the "greyhounds of the sea". The memories of these terrific sailors is exciting and certainly reflects the challenges that they faced again and again. Having rode many of these ships over a 30 year Navy career I would certainLY recommend this to any and all. BRAVO ZULU!!!!!!!!!!!
Great Book.......2007-06-27
If you are a serious student of history, you cannot help but enjoy this book.
All too often when telling the story of WW II, the intimate and personal day to day experiences of the individual soldier or sailor get over looked.
This book tells that story, specifically how individual sailors dealt with the day to day stress of combat operations and the death of friends and shipmates; a great read.
They were both (Anchors Aweight) good!!!.......2007-05-26
Two different books and two different stories. If you liked the fun of the ship and the good times that were there, then you'll want to read them both, Anchors Aweight and Tin Can Tales!!!
kudos for a great book.......2007-05-15
We have totally enjoyed the book. It's written as if the men were talking to you right in the room.
Amazon.com
On July 26, 1945, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis steamed into port at the Pacific island of Tinian, carrying a cargo that would end World War II: the uranium that would be dropped on Hiroshima just three weeks later. Having delivered its load without incident, Indianapolis moved on toward the Philippines to join the great armada moving in on Japan. Though intelligence reports assured Captain Charles McVay that the route from Guam to Leyte was safe, there were Japanese submarines active in the area. On the night of July 29, having detected with sonar the clinking of dishes aboard the Indianapolis from a distance of more than a dozen miles, the submarine I-58 sank the American ship, killing nearly 900 sailors in the explosion and its terrible aftermath.
Captain McVay was quickly court-martialed for having failed to follow evasive maneuvers, "the first captain in the history of the U.S. Navy," Doug Stanton observes, "to be court-martialed subsequent to losing his ship in an act of war." Although the sailors under his command would insist that McVay had been scapegoated, and although I-58's commander testified before the court that "he would have sunk the Indianapolis no matter what course she was on," McVay was never able to clear his name. He committed suicide in 1968.
Stanton captures the drama of these events in his vigorous narrative, which augments and updates Richard Newcomb's Abandon Ship!. Stanton observes that although McVay was exonerated by an act of Congress in 2000, the conviction still stands in Navy records. Stanton's book makes a powerful case for why that conviction should be overturned, and why the captain and crew of the Indianapolis deserve honor. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated three hundred men were killed upon impact; close to nine hundred sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they struggled to stay alive, battered by a savage sea and fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. By the time help arrived-nearly four days and nights later-all but 317 men had died. How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? Why was the cruiser traveling unescorted in enemy waters? And how did these 317 men manage to survive? Interweaving the stories of three survivors-the captain, the ship's doctor, and a young marine-journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of this harrowing chapter of World War II history-already a bestseller in its hardcover and mass market editions-In Harm's Way is a classic tale of war, survival, and extraordinary courage.
Customer Reviews:
IN HARM'S WAY.......2007-10-09
My husband was given this book and after he read it I couldn't put it down, I was mesmerized by the book and the writing and all the things we haven't heard about this particular incident in World War II....I have now bought two more books to give as presents for Xmas and another three books will be purchased for my son in laws and son to keep and read and pass on to their friends. Don't miss reading this one....Doug Stanton gave me the chance to read and visualize every heartbreaking moment in the life of the men that served on the USS Indianapolis...Its not just for men, ladies just pick it up and see for yourself. Barb Frick
The Best book I Ever Read!!!.......2007-08-29
Hands down, this is the best book I have ever read. Not just military books, but of all books. Incredible story.
good study of human behavior in a disaster.......2007-08-29
I've heard about the Indianapolis for a long time (I guess from Quint's monologue in Jaws -- you can esily find it on you-tube). I read about Duncan Scott's late 90s episode to raise the attention of the Indianapolis before congress (Captain McVay was the only commanding officer who was court-martialed after losing his ship in an act of war).
The Indianapolis raised across the Pacific to deliver "Little Boy" to Tinaian Island before it was dropped on Hiroshima. Then it left to go to Leyte. This was a huge ship -- more than a thousand men. It was sunk by a Japanese sub -- but the Navy lost track of it (with all the ships arriving all over the world, orders were NOT to announce the arrival of a ship. But the corollary is people followed this order to NOT announce ships which DIDN'T arrive on time. Or tommorrow. Or tomorrow.
What happened after the sinking (the ship went down in minutes) was most of the crew was dumped into the ocean. And most succumbed to combination of drinking salt water (which kills you), exposure, drowning and sharks. I wasn't aware that life vests lost buoyancy after several days of use.
Another amazing thing is they got off a distress call, but the protocol was the receiver had to query the sender. There was no time for this. So the distress calls were ignored.
It was a comedy of errors for the way the Navy handled this. Since there was still a war going on, there was no news about this (I checked the archive of the NY Times -- much more about the court marshall than the event).
Since I read the book several weeks ago, there's been a number of mentions on TV of the indianapolis. Its a story you won't easily forget.
Finished it before husband did..........2007-08-12
I bought this book originally for my husbands birthday when it was first published. He was too busy to get to it so this summer I made him take it on vacation with us so he could read it. He started it and then told me some details about the book. My curiosity was immediately peaked so I stole the book and read the darn thing in a day and a half! I was mesmerized, shocked, angered and sad, sometimes all in the same chapter. And he STILL hasn't finished it! (Although his work schedule does slow things down abit, but still.) If this can happen back then, heaven only knows what may lie in wait now...
used for school.......2007-05-14
This went to my granddaughter for school and she was more than happy to get it in time for studies and it was in good shape.
Download Description
"A Band of Brothers for the Pacific, this is the gut-wrenching but ultimately triumphant story of the Marines' most ferocious -- yet largely forgotten -- battle of World War II. Between September 15 and October 15, 1944, the First Marine Division suffered more than 6,500 casualties fighting on a hellish little coral island in the Pacific. Peleliu was the scene of one of the most savage no-quarter struggles of modern times, one that has been all but forgotten -- until now. Drawing on extensive interviews with Marine veterans, Bill Sloan follows a small group of young Americans through this incredibly vicious campaign and rescues their heroism on Peleliu from obscurity. Misled by faulty intelligence, the 9,000 Marine infantrymen who landed on Peleliu's beaches under withering enemy fire found themselves facing 11,000 Japanese embedded in an intricate network of caves and underground fortifications unrivaled in the history of warfare. At the heart of the Japanese defensive system was a maze of sheer cliffs and deep ravines known collectively as the Umurbrogol plateau. Endless strings of ridges bristled with concealed artillery, mortars, machine guns, and riflemen, making every inch of contested ground a potential death trap for Marines. Making matters worse, Japanese soldiers had been told by their commanders that they were to hold Peleliu at any cost in a suicidal defense of the island. Sloan's gripping narrative seamlessly weaves together the experiences of the men who were there, producing a vivid and unflinching tableau of the twenty-four-hour-a-day nightmare of Peleliu -- a melee of nonstop infantry attacks, ferocious hand-to-hand fighting, night assaults, and exhausting forced marches in temperatures that topped 115 degrees. With casualties in some infantry units averaging more than sixty percent, Peleliu ranks with the bloodiest battles in the Corps' history. Exemplifying these staggering losses was K Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment (K/3/5), on whose gallant officers and enlisted men the narrative focuses from the initial assault on the beaches to the horrific struggle for the Umurbrogol's crags and crevices. Surprisingly, Peleliu received little public notice back in the States even as it was being fought and was virtually forgotten after the war, despite elements of controversy that are still debated by military strategists today. The invasion was ordered by Army General Douglas MacArthur to protect his flank as he launched his campaign to recapture the Philippines. But many experts believed then -- and still maintain today -- that the bloodshed at Peleliu was needless and that the island could have been safely bypassed. In Brotherhood of Heroes, readers witness the brutal spectacle of Peleliu close-up through the eyes of the Marines who fought there. Their story will stand with Ghost Soldiers and Flags of Our Fathers as a modern classic in military history and a riveting read. "
Customer Reviews:
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War.......2007-09-01
As a former Marine and Pacific theatre enthusiast, I highly recommend this book as an eye-opener to all. The details and background on the people involved as well as the events are presented in a way that tells a story for many to hear. It tugs at the heart and shows what a nasty business war is indeed. Motivated me as a Marine and made me feel for the men and the sacrifices they made. Proud to be among the ranks of the elite, hard charging, devil dogs! Semper Fi!
Marine Heroism World War Two.......2007-03-12
Truly an amazing book detailing this essentially useless battle that in the end accomplished nothing from the overall strategic background of the Pacific campaign during World War 2. For anyone interested in studying this campaign this is a esential book to add to your library. A definite keeper a 5 star rating, in fact I would suggest a 10 star. Anyone buying and reading this WILL not be disappointed.
Magnificent.......2007-02-07
This excellent book follows the 1st Marine Division through this unimaginably brutal battle, giving a superb overall picture while not loosing the men themselves. The author primarily tells the story through the eyes of a handful of individual Marines. These are representatives from each of the three infantry regiments that did the majority of the fighting.
I only have two complaints about the book. First, I felt that the author emphasized Company K, Third Battalion, 5th Marines (K/3/5) so much that the 1st and 7th Marines, the 7th in particular, were somewhat neglected. I would have preferred a longer book that would have treated at least one company each of the 1st and 7th as much as K/3/5 was covered.
The second issue is that the book only focuses on the Marine actions on Peleliu in any detail. To be fair, the title of the book clearly states that the Marines are the topic, but I feel the actions of the Army's 81st Infantry Division merit the same level of detail, especially given that they experienced about 3,800 casualties themselves during this battle.
Other than these two problems, this book is an magnificent account of the battle and will move the reader to tears to think of what our nation's brave Marines went through.
An island awash in blood........2007-01-03
An excellent view of the 30 continuous days of hell. I say 30 continuous days because for many there was almost no let up the entire time from the continual dangers of murderous crossfire, roving nighttime ambushes and concealed heavy artillery and an interlocked,network of snipers and machine gunners, who would make simply looking over a rock a death sentence, and often did. It would be for many their first experience with the cave like fortifications that would await Marines on Iwo and Okinawa. It was a 110 degree bloodbath that even had the added difficulty of no fresh water in the opening stages of the invasion as the potable water to the island was shipped there in improperly cleaned former gasoline drums. It also begins with the Marines miserable and crab infested existence and training on the island of Pavuvu, itself a roadless swamp. This experience helped forge them into cohesion that would see many not make it off their next stop. Casualties from many frontline regiments would see 150%.
The author draws on Eugene Sledge's excellent first hand account of this battle frequently, and uses interviews with Marines of K/3/5 mainly, Marines under the command of both Col. Chesty Puller and his stubborn, reckless, and unyieldingly inflexible commander General Rupertus, both of whom are described, especially Rupertus, of having a reckless disregard for the enormous casualties being suffered in this regiment and other frontline outfits. Rupertus was strongly suggested by fellow Marine commanders to take his Marines off the line with fresh Army Div's awaiting but he wouldnt budge. His superior, Gen. Geiger, waffled and was faced the task of relieving him or countermanding his decision to keep Army units offshore on ships, both which would have caused shock waves in Washington. Gen. Rupertus wanted this "quickie" (as he initially referred to it as a 3 or 4 day battle before it would be won) to be a completely Marine Corps affair. It would take the actions of the new overall commander of "Operation Stalemate" to relieve both Generals of the decision to remove the Marines from the line and make it himself, as Rear Admiral George H. Fort would do after a quick inspection of the 1st Div. CP. Geiger was quoted as saying "I'm glad that's over". Rupertus said very little, and was in ill health anyway, dying 6 months later from a heart attack.
What took 30 days for these Marines to kill 10,000 well concealed and armed Japanese it would take 6 weeks for relieving Army troops to mop up the remaining 1,000 Japanese. On an average it has been determined that it took 1,589 rounds of some type from U.S. guns to kill every Japanese who would die on the island.
Like many retelling's of stories such as this one, Sloan tells a riveting story of bravery, hardship, and death that forges the title of his work We learn about the many in these Marine Corps regiments, from simple enlisted to junior officers, and we see many of them die before the books conlusion, such was the nature of this bloody struggle. Many of these talented officers were deeply respected for their leadership and bravery by these enlisted men, and many would be killed. Spreading this info. of their loss had a noticable effect on the enlisted men, one of combined sadness and shock at such terrible news, men stretched to their breaking point already, and led many to fatalism they would survive it another day. (Some, like Sledge, were incredible rarities of this battle, he being one of a tiny few who escaped the continual combat with barely a combat wound to show for it)
With The Old Breed.......2006-11-04
Out of the many authors who write about WWII, Bill Sloan is one of my favorites. "Brotherhood of Heroes" is yet another book by Mr. Sloan that I just couldn't put down, thanks in part to another book I had read previously: "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge. "With the Old Breed" is probably one of the best WWII memoirs ever written, from either theater, and it was that book that led me to seek out more material on the battle for Peleliu, a God-forsaken piece of rock in the middle of the Pacific ocean that was the site of what many of the Marines considered to be the worst battle of the entire war. Yet this battle has been largely ignored by history, in part because it was of dubious importance to the overall strategy in the Pacific (Gen. MacArthur insisted the attack on Peleliu was necessary to support his invasion of the Philippines, a claim that was proved to be untrue in hindsight). "Brotherhood of Heroes" brings this battle back to the forefront in the pantheon of battles from the Pacific theater of WWII. The sights, smells, sounds, and emotions experienced by the Marines on Peleliu are all brought vividly to life in this book; while people like myself who have never experienced warfare cannot pretend to truly understand what those brave men went through, this book does an excellent job of giving us an idea of what that hell on earth was like. This was the first time that the Marines experienced a "defense in depth" when fighting the Japanese; the Japanese made them fight for every inch of ground through overlapping defensive positions that would exact a ghastly toll on the men involved. If not for the lessons learned on Peleliu, the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa would have been much more costly to the Americans; while Peleliu took a terribly bloody toll on the Marines who fought there, it ultimately saved more lives down the road through the lessons learned. While we today look back and marvel at the sacrifices made by the young men of the Greatest Generation for their country, those Marines will tell you that they fought not only for their country, but, more importantly, they fought for their brothers in the Corps who were doing the same thing for them. Those men would rather have died than let their buddies down, men who they considered to be closer than blood relatives yet who were complete strangers just two or three years prior; these are the bonds forged by war, something that this book highlights in spectacular fashion.
Book Description
Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since enjoyed a long and well-deserved tenure in the American canon.This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.Written in fascinating detail, the story follows a platoon of foot soldiers who are fighting for the possession of the Japanese-held island of Anopopei.Composed in 1948 with the wisdom of a man twice Mailer's age and the raw courage of the young man he was, The Naked and the Dead is representative of the best in twentieth-century American writing.
Customer Reviews:
Solid, but not the classic I envisioned........2007-09-11
Maybe it's the movies.......Maybe it's the movies that have de-sensitized me to expect that the subtle, internal nature of literature could possibly match the over-the-top, external stimuli of cinema. I guess this is probably no more apparent than in "war stories", where I was expecting something along the lines of "Saving Private Ryan", or "Flags of Our Fathers".
Throughout most of this book, I found myself about as lost as the platoon that was sent out to "recon" the rear lines of the Japanese Army. I struggled in the first half of the book, admittedly. Where were the battles? Where was the karnage? I was rather disappointed that nothing was really happening; that all the U.S. company was doing was preparing to prepare for a battle that they knew was possibly months away.
However, As I was finishing this book, I realized that maybe war is more properly illustrated by stories like this. Maybe war is monotonous; boring; anti-climactic; as the nature of this book describes. Maybe war involves a battle of wills and personalities more so than the battle between armies.
Probably more so than any novel I've read, the author brings you deep into the lives and backgrounds of the major players. You're given an opportunity to actually know each character, to the point where you feel it when something happens to them.
This book is not for everyone, and it took me a while to really understand and accept what the author had intended. Nevertheless, if you have time and patience it is worth it.
Not Your Grandpa's War Story.......2007-08-09
Or maybe it is your grandpa's war story; I wouldn't know because my grandpa was in the navy. Anyway, those looking for a rollicking action adventure about WWII in the Pacific had better look elsewhere. It's not a John Wayne movie or even "Saving Private Ryan." This is a psychological study of men grappling with the elements and themselves in a hellish environment. (Substitute the jungle for sand dunes and tropical humidity for 130-degree heat and Japanese soldiers for Arab terrorists and it would fit perfectly into modern times.)
This is a fictional account of the taking of an island in the Pacific by American forces. The story focuses primarily on a recon platoon lead by the abusive tyrant Sergeant Croft. There are about a dozen men in the platoon at the beginning including the Mexican sergeant Martinez, the former hobo Red, the Jew trying to fit in Goldstein, the intellectual Jew/platoon runt Roth, a couple good ol' boys Wilson and Ridges, gangster wanna-be Polack, brownnoser corporal Stanley, and seemingly All-American boy Brown. There's also General Cummings and his surly Ivy League aide Hearn, who have a very conflicted and adversarial relationship.
This relationship ends with Hearn being assigned to the recon platoon for a quixotic mission to explore behind the Japanese lines. This patrol leads to three men dying, two quickly and one very slowly.
But again this isn't a book about the war. There's really only one real battle and a couple of skirmishes. The real war for the soldiers is with the jungle and themselves--physically and mentally. A lot of the book details the platoon's fatigue as they tramp through the jungle or work on constructing a road to resupply the front.
None of these guys come off as your stereotypical characters from a war movie and Mailer's greatest strength is delving beneath the tough guy surfaces to show the fragile individuals underneath. Several sections of the book are referred to as the "time machine" and detail the platoon members before they went to war. None of them are heroes, but just ordinary guys who don't care about causes and flags, only about getting back home to their families and friends.
There's no glory to be had anywhere in this very long, very detailed narrative. If you're looking for action and excitement, look elsewhere--maybe ask your grandpa to tell one of his stories. If you want a realistic portrait of war, then look no further.
That is all.
How else can you explain the impact of war on the participants except.......2007-08-01
by reflecting the tension everyone in it is under while they prepare and prepare and wait and wait for something to happen? The agony of anticipation and the unknown. Then the suddeness of what does happen. Norman Mailer does this very well and I especially liked that there were no answers to anything - just life in a brutal situation. And it goes on....
Don't misunderstand me, for me it was a page turner. I thought it was great.
Could've been better - Could've been worse.......2007-06-30
Yes this is a World War II book. It is not really packed full of action, it is more a psychological study of some of the American soldiers. It is a slow book, but it is really, really slow in the beginning. It is like meeting a group of people it takes a while to know and remember who is who. Some reviewers didn't like the semi-profanities. I can live with it, my mind can simply substitute the proper four letter word in each case. What I did not like is that the book is over written, even though you find signs of great writing. Many of the characters are questioning what causes some soldiers to be killed and others not killed, luck, fate, etc. What I did like is when one protagonist was shot their was little explanation. It was left out which leaves the reader as shocked as the other soldiers probably would've been. This leaves the reader to try and provide and explanation, which is what I believe the author is trying to achieve. The description of the humid jungle weather was beaten into the ground. The "Time Machine" was an interesting literary tool to provide background on many of the soldiers in the platoon. I also wonder if this book would be popular with readers who were not to familiar with this time period.
Overwritten Work of a Young Writer.......2007-06-01
It's the overwritten work of a young writer.
He feels he has something to say, and boy, does he say it. And say it. And say it.
Am I starting to annoy you?
The story lacks drama and wit, and portrays characters who are all uniformly narrow, prejudiced, cynical, and, it seems, clinically depressed. The writing confirms this picture of each character, over and over.
It seems as if Mailer tried to turn an ordinary adventure story into something more profound by padding it with "insights."
And yet we never really get inside the characters. What is intended as insight is rarely any deeper than what they themselves might say out loud. Mailer could have left out most of the narrative and just let us listen to them.
The device of interspersing the story with flashbacks was irritating. I suppose this is a backhanded compliment to the writer, since he made me want to know what was going to happen next in the present, without interruption.
James Jones's "The Thin Red Line" has everything this book is missing. Jones's book is a wry, sardonic masterpiece. And it's succinct.
The reason I give Mailer three stars is that he showed remarkable command of his craft for one so young, and so, despite hating something on almost every page, I was drawn in by the vividness of some of the writing, however self-indulgent.
And being first on the scene with this kind of story made Mailer something of an innovator. Enough to convince the Pulitzer judges.
Amazon.com
Dower's premise in War without Mercy is a startling one: Though Western allies were clearly headed for victory, pure racism fueled the continuation and intensification of hostilities in the Pacific theater during the final year of World War II, a period that saw as many casualties as in the first five years of the conflict combined. Dower doesn't reach this disturbing conclusion lightly. He combed through piles of propaganda films, news articles, military documents, cartoons--even entries in academic journals in researching this book. Though his case is strong, Dower minimizes other factors, such as the protracted negotiations between the West and the Japanese.
Book Description
Now in paperback, War Without Mercy has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States." In this monumental history, Professor John Dower reveals a hidden, explosive dimension of the Pacific War -- race -- while writing what John Toland has called "a landmark book...a powerful, moving, and even-handed history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan."
Drawing on American and Japanese songs, slogans, cartoons, propaganda films, secret reports, and a wealth of other documents of the time, Dower opens up a whole new way of looking at that bitter struggle of four and a half decades ago and its ramifications in our lives today. As Edwin O. Reischauer, former ambassador to Japan, has pointed out, this book offers "a lesson that the postwar generations need most...with eloquence, crushing detail, and power."
Customer Reviews:
A Look At Selves and Others.......2006-08-22
This is a thought-provoking treatise about the hate and racism found in all peoples of the world. It causes one to take stock of what is, and what was in a very violent and trying time. Both the Japanese and the Americans, among others, propagandized their populations to get them to hate "the enemy." This book looks at the techniques and substance used by both sides in the Pacific War of 1931 to 1945 and how it affected the attitudes of each toward the other.
I recommend this as a good read for anyone who is interested in the Pacific conflict and what was used to fan the antagonists into the fury that brough about, fought, and ended the bloody Pacific War.
A book to set you thinking about the present.......2006-08-03
War Without Mercy is not a comprehensive history of the Pacific War; if that's what you want, look elsewhere. Neither is it an "apologist's" account of the American conduct of the war, as some reviewers have suggested. If your mindset is "the Japanese deserved to suffer," don't read this book. If, however, you are interested in how racial stereotypes--views of the enemy as subhuman, primitive, childlike, animalistic, and so on--play a role in wartime, then read Dower's scholarly, engaging account of how the Americans thought about the Japanese and how the Japanese thought about the Americans. Dower never minimizes the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese as they set about conquering other Asian countries and building their Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, but he provides a brand new perspective on why the Allies despised the Japanese as a people far more than they did the Germans. Not only will this book help you to understand how the dehumanization of the enemy makes possible the devastation of civilian populations, it will also make you think about the stereotypes of the enemy we encounter every day as the U.S. continues to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Race and power in the Pacific War.......2006-07-21
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian John Dower begins "War Without Mercy" with an amusing account of his inspiration for the book: While working on a history of postwar Japan, Dower wrote a sentence noting how quickly and easily the virulent race hatred of the war years dissipated during the American occupation. Of course, he then had to include another sentence explaining the racial aspects of the war itself, which quickly became a paragraph, then a section, then a chapter, and finally this book, "War Without Mercy". The original history of postwar Japan, meanwhile, sat unfinished on a shelf.
The main criticism of "War Without Mercy" given by other reviewers is that it is too narrow to serve as a comprehensive history of the war -- in particular that it tries to explain the entire conflict only through race and does not devote enough attention to Japanese atrocities and war crimes. This criticism unfortunately misses the point of Dower's book: he is studying racism itself, but for some reason many of his critics seem to think he is trying to use it to explain all and sundry. "War Without Mercy" is not and makes no pretense of being a book about the Pacific War in general or even about atrocities and war crimes themselves. Instead it started as a mere tangent in a larger work and focuses on racial aspects of the war between Japan and the United States, especially the images each side used to describe the other and the war itself, along with some study of how they evolved after the fighting stopped.
As a history of race and power in the Pacific War, "War Without Mercy" is superb: well-organized, clearly written and offering interesting insights. It is divided into four sections, the first of which establishes the importance of the subject by showing how it contributed to the unique ferocity of the war in the Pacific: "Race hate fed atrocities, and atrocities in turn fanned the fires of race hate" (11). The second section studies American images of their Asian enemy, as apes, primitives, children, and 'little yellow savages', and of the war itself as a racial war between white and colored, while the third does the same for the Japanese side. Although the Japanese portrayed Europeans and Americans as decadent, impure, and downright demonic, they viewed their Asian neighbors in much the same contemptuous way as did Western imperialists. The final section explores the transition from war to peace, and the ways in which images and symbols were transformed: the apes became pets and the children became students, while on the other side the western demons shared their secret knowledge. At the same time, the negative images used during the war were transferred to the Soviet Union and (especially) Maoist China.
Meticulously documented, "War Without Mercy" reveals many fascinating aspects of the Pacific War commonly overlooked in more comprehensive studies. I was especially interested to read about contemporary concerns that American rhetoric of racial war would drive Chiang Kai-shek into an alliance with the Japanese (166-169), and that such language caused fully 18% of African-Americans to express "pro-Japanese inclinations" in a confidential poll conducted by black interviewers (174). "War Without Mercy" isn't a comprehensive history of the Pacific War, nor is it for everybody. It is, however, the best explanation I have seen of the merciless nature of the war itself and the psychology of the societies involved. If you have even the slightest interest in that subject, "War Without Mercy" will not disappoint.
The racism of imperialism, America's racist war in the Pacific.......2005-09-16
Dower's book unearth's a major missing or rather hidden peace of the history of the United States: how the Pacific War against Japan was prosecuted openly, publicly as a racist war with a totally different policy and deeper atrocities than was waged against Germany and its European allies. Of course, attempting to balance the study, Dower also points to how racist attitudes toward other Asian peoples were propogated to justifty Japanese imperialism's brutal exploitation of the areas it conquered. All of this emphasizes how racism is really a fundamental aspect of the modern imperialist order, not some aberration left from another time.
What is sensational here is the documenting not only of the racist explanation of the war by the United States and Britain, but his detailing of atrocities carried out against the Japanese by the US and its allies in the Pacific. Indeed, the general explanation of the Pacific war, not as a war for democracy, but as a war to maintain the supremacy of the "White race" was such a strong part of popular, political, and even academic discourse that experts on Asia like novelist Pearl Buck and Chinese/American author Lin Yuitang, believed the US was headed for a confrontation with all non-white peoples in Asia and Africa, not just Japan.
Worse, Dower documents the many atrocities carried out against Japanese civilians and prisoners during the war. While much is made of Japanese soldiers fighting to the death, Dower explains one reason for this is that US and British troops rarely took Japanese prisoners during most of the war. He notes not only where Japanese troops slaughtered without quarter, but a public--as in on the cover of Life magazine as what a soldier boy sends his girl friend home--trade in Japanese sculls and golden teeth from Japanese soldiers--sometimes taken out before the soldiers were dead--blossomed in the early years of the war. Dower quotes one US general who said he wished such atrocities were not carried out, as it stiffened resistance by Japanese soldiers and civilians.
Dower also points to the racist justification that the Japanese used to justify their exploitation of their Asian conquests. It is interesting how he shows their debt to European racist ideology. This seems to be the way nations justify the domination of weaker, less-developed nations, a requirement of the imperialist order, whatever the race of the dominant powers.
Dower's section on the United States provides a quick, but very useful, explanation of the development of racist attitudes in the West in general and the United States in particular. He notes what many forget, the key role that Thomas Jefferson played in launching the pseudo-science of racism, that Blacks and other inferior "races" were less human, lower species than the white Europeans.
This is quick summary of a very serious book that delves deeply into iconography and the structures of racism in imperialist society in general.
Beyond Subjectivity.......2005-08-17
John Dower wrote WAR WITHOUT MERCY: RACE AND POWER IN THE PACIFIC WAR over 20 years ago. During that time, World War II was already 40 years in the past, and the Reagan years welcomed the patriotic fervor of WWII. Retrospection and commemoration takes into account an event with its good and bad elements. It is usually the bad that is left unspoken. According to Dower, he wants to present the racial hate that existed during World War II. He presents two distinctions of racial hate, one involving US portrayal, and two, how the Japanese saw themselves. This is an important distinction in order to understand their purpose and their intentions.
WAR WITHOUT MERCY examines the intense strategy that was executed in order to bring the enemy down. In this case, World War II and the Japanese military. The strategy had been psychological warfare in the form of the propaganda war machine. This method had not been new. Dating back to World War I, the US government used the same tactic against the German army, portraying them as brutal, almost animal-like monsters pillaging the European landscape, and eating any human alive. Though, this is exaggeration, the political cartoons as well as war posters and postcards portrayed the enemy in this way. World War II was no different. Yes, the illustrations that John Dower studies and elaborately discusses were racially stereotypical and hateful during their inception. However, he strongly emphasizes that this context of the war has been neglected, and his job was to present the evidence, and to place them in the context of their time and place. If one looked at the larger context in terms of hierarchical and authoritarian thinking, there is the distinct of race and power that are inseparable (xi).
The overall debate surrounding Dower's study is that he possesses a somewhat subjective point of view resulting in bias of his subject matter. When it comes to preserving the status quo or the well-known narrative of history, it is controversial to re-create or revise history. With the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, bias and unequal exposure of the conflicts that occurred during the Pacific theater of the war are present. World War II involved two distinct conflicts that involved different geographical boundaries and two different oceans - the Pacific and the Atlantic. For some reason, it is only now that the horrors of the Pacific are now getting their due in order to present a more complete picture of a war that has been considered the "good war."
Dower's examination of race within a historical context is important in order to bring an understanding of why it existed. WAR WITHOUT MERCY will continue to be criticized for its bias. This is one reason why it should be recommended reading for anyone interested in the subject of race or US history.
Book Description
Even in as bloody and violent a war as Americans encountered in the Pacific, the brutality of Iwo Jima stands out for its unremitting savagery; it was arguably the hardest won and most memorable battle of the United States Marines in World War II in the Pacific. Remarkable photographs, many never before published, and text by acclaimed military historian Eric Hammel vividly recreate this iconic battle: the pummeling of inland targets, the strafing, and the rocket fire that accompanied the landing; the eerie silence that greeted the marines as they set foot on the island; and then, as the newly-landed marines regrouped on the shoreline, the horrors of all hell breaking loose. The fighting that followed34 of the bloodiest days of the Pacific Warcomes to harrowing life in this volume. Iwo is a uniquely fitting tribute to the valiant struggle that gave us our most enduring image of victory in World War II.
Customer Reviews:
Battle portrait.......2007-07-10
Simply put---one of the best battle depictions I have read anywhere.Stunning pictures.Day-by-day breakdown of gains and losses make you feel like you are right there.This book made an impression on me that has not abated.Definitely at the very top of the military battles that I have read.
Stark, spare, haunting, beautiful.......2007-03-19
Hammel's text is spare but precise, and tightly interwoven with the photographs. It is difficult to exaggerate the quality of the photographs in this volume, which is beautifully produced and bound. The large format and glossy paper do justice to the photos. The extreme resolution and fine detail of the black & white photographs are breathtaking and haunting; use of a magnifying glass reveals the faces and expressions of men wholly consumed in, and being consumed by, their fearsome tasks. This is a work of beauty and awesome respect.
Fabulous Book.......2007-03-13
This book is a treasure, especially for family members and children of the courageous men who fought and gave their lives during this battle. Through extensive use of text and photographs, Mr. Hammel thoroughly describes the conflict in a way that assists the reader in understanding the extreme sacrifice that those young men made for their country.
Great Book!.......2007-03-13
This book is very worth for the price, hundreds of photographs taken during the battle. For WW2 books collector, this book is a must!
Beautiful Book.......2007-02-22
This is a beautiful book. Iwo Jima is a perfect combination of photography and narrative. There is just enough written description to give the outline of events, but not enough to overpower the photographs. The photographs are very emotional. One gets sense of sadness at seeing the destruction and death and the overpowering odds against these men, but a sense of awe at their raw courage and determination. The written descriptions of the of Metal of Honor winners is difficult to appreciate. How could these men muster such courage and tenacity? Historians describe the Iwo Jima battle against the Japanese defense as "throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete." You wonder if the current generation could do the same. Maybe so, if the cause was the same. In any event, this book is worth reading so we can appreciate what these men accomplished.
Book Description
In America's island-hopping war against Japan, the U.S. Marines were our cutting edge. Yet, until now, little has been written about the desperate combats fought by the Marines' own spearheads - their tanks. It is a story of trial and error, incredible courage, and finally, triumph.
In the early island campaigns, Marine tankers went into battle inexperienced and inadequately trained. In a series of costly battles and jungle campaigns - Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Bouganville, Cape Gloucester, Tarawa, Marianas, Peleliu, Saipan and Okinawa - Marine tankers proved beyond doubt that they were essential in achieving victory. Despite suffering sometimes staggering losses, the Marines and their tanks eventually crushed fierce Japanese resistance.
Marine Tank Battles in the Pacific is a gripping narrative that combines exhaustive detail on Marine armor and combat with moving eyewitness accounts, never before published, of what it was actually like to be a Marine tanker in action in the Pacific - awe inspiring bravery in the face of a skilled and fanatic foe.
Customer Reviews:
Marine Tank Battles in the pacific; A REVIEW.......2007-01-09
As a former U.S. Army Tanker in the late 1960s I could empathize with the tankers daily routine of movement and maintenance. The long underpaid overworked hours one puts in as a track-head. Being couped up, nearly blind in a turret wondering what was going on outside of one' pony. I was truly amazed at the bravery and dedication of the WWII Marine Corp. Tankers, the appalling carnage they witnessed and the pathos of combat. The author brought all this and more to life in his writing. At times I got sick from the bloody battles they and the infantry fought in the Pacific Theater. Having served in the far east I can imagine easily the mental and physical toll the heat, humidity and insects took on one's mind and body. I feel that the political leaders of this county should read this before committing us to war.
Worth It, But It's a Cheaply-Done Reprint.......2006-08-20
The book's information is priceless, and I AM glad I bought it, BUT Amazon dropped the ball by not revealing the actual publisher. This is a reprint done by DaCapo Press, and they cut corners. The pictures are terrible and nearly indistinct. The slip-cover is fine, but you look at the spine, and there's one word printed : Gilbert. The quality of the binding is good, but these guys didn't give this wonderful book the treatment it deserved.
If this all that we have, and if you are a collector of US Marine histories, then you'd better grab up that last copy. Be forewarned, though, that this is a subpar reissue of the original Combined Press edition.
Confirm the publisher before buying.......2006-02-07
As a retired Marine officer, amateur historian and former newsman, I can say Gilbert is a knowledgeable and facile writer. I thoroughly enjoyed "Marine Tank Battles in Korea." Gilbert knows how to write popular history, and he gets it right. This volume reads beautifully, however the half-tones are the pits. The original version of this volume was published by Combined Publishing on quality paper with excellent photo reproduction. The volume I received from Amazon was not the Combined Publishing edition, but one by DaCapo Press. It looks like a photocopy of the original done overseas. Most of the pictures are muddy and indecipherable. Useless as a modeling reference, but great reading.
BF Halloran
Outstanding Book on WW2 Tank Warfare in the Pacific.......2005-10-23
This superb book gives exciting descriptions of tank battles fought by Marines during WW2. Since both the American and Japanese used tanks in an infantry support role, most battles were fought with small groups of tanks. The book describes the battles in which tanks were used in support of infantry. This includes use of Japanese tanks in support of their infantry against the US troops. The book also details the few, brief tank vs. tank battles between the US Marines and the Japanese. The author does an excellent job describing the overall battle of each island, the roll of the American and Japanese tanks in them., and first hand accounts of small actions. The book also includes about 100 photographs which provide a good idea what much of the terrain and combat were like. This is a must have for anyone interested in armored warfare or the WW2 war in the Pacific. I only wish I could find a comparable book on the US army tank battles in the Pacific.
Great book on a little noted subject..........2001-04-13
Marines and tanks? Who would ever write about this? This book is long overdue. Every book on the Pacific was mentions breifly the role Marine Tanks. This book covers that gap in grand style. I shows the development of Marine Armor, and its employemnt in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. This book on the Corps unsung heros, is faced paced and very easy to read. If you read other books about the USMC in the Pacific, read this very worthy book.
Customer Reviews:
What it was like for kids to live during World War II.......2004-01-29
"World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities" really has three key components. First, there is a history of World War II from Hitler's rise to power in 1933 to the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. Second, Richard Panchyk provides excerpts from actual wartime letters written to and by troops on both sides along with personal anecdotes from people who lived through the war. Finally, there are 21 activities that can show young readers how it felt to live through World War II, both on the battlefield and on the Home Front.
Actually, the first function is the least impressive part of "World War II for Kids," although Panchyk provides a solid history of the war. It is just that the personal writings and recollections, along with the activities, are where Panchyk goes beyond what you would find in your standard American history textbook, which is why this is an excellent supplemental volume. Teachers can certainly use the activities and quote from the letters found in this volume to give students more of a sense of what it was like to live during that time.
The 21 activities are fairly interesting and cover a variety of subjects. Some are fairly complex, such as substituting a potato for an incendiary bomb and following the instructions on how to extinguish it, or staging a radio adventure program, while others are relatively simply, such as drawing a recruiting poster. There is an exercise in code breaking, learning how to camouflage, making a ration kit, going on a reconnaissance mission, figuring oat a coastal defense, the physics of dropping bombs, and a game that helps demonstrate the difference between mortar and howitzer fire versus anti-tank and anti-aircraft fire. There are also "Home Front" activities like making a bandage, putting together a care package, growing a Victory Garden, sending V-Mail, and extending butter, as well as a couple of activities having to do with the Holocaust by making a Jewish star and trying to find good hiding places in your home for the student and an adult helper.
Obviously some of these activities are going to be more practical and more beneficial than others, but Panchyk has made an attempt to come up with different ways of giving his young readers an idea of what it was like for kids and adults during World War II. Again, while young readers can certainly read this book and try the activities on their own, "World War II for Kids" is even better suited as a resource for teachers to use when teaching the pivotal events of World War II. Comparing what life was like for their grandparents during that war as opposed to the rather limited impact on their lives today during the war on terrorism could be quite an eye opener for young readers.
7 year old loves this book.......2003-06-03
My 7 year old son is a WWII fanatic and loves this book. It discusses not only events in the war itself, but also the impact of the war on life in the U.S. The activities encourage kids to think about far-reaching effects of war, not just the exciting battles.
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- The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition
- The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (Quality Paperbacks Series)
- The Battle for the Falklands
- The Battle for the Falklands
- The Black West: A Documentary and Pictoral History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States
Books Index
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General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy
The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors
Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West
