HITLERLAND by Andrew Nagorski

Two days in a row...hey, anything for my bookies! Anyway, this is a great review and I have never known Nagorski to be anything less than a first-class historian.

NONFICTION: "Hitlerland," by Andrew Nagorski

• Article by: GLENN C. ALTSCHULER , Special to the Star Tribune
• Updated: March 11, 2012 - 8:53 AM

Firsthand assessments of American journalists, expats, politicians and diplomats of the threat posed by Adolf Hitler.

Andrew Nagorski. Moscow, Russia. May 27, 2004. Photo by Andrey Rudakov

Photo: Andrey Rudakov,

Following the Reichstag fire and the suspension of civil liberties provisions in the Weimar constitution in 1933, journalist Dorothy Thompson gave voice to her frustration. "I keep thinking what could be done," she writes. "I feel myself starting to hate Germany. ... If only someone would speak."

Thompson's sense of urgency was not shared by most American journalists, expats, artists, politicians and diplomats who visited Germany during Hitler's rise to power. "There were those who saw what was coming and those who were blind to it until the very last moment," Andrew Nagorski, director of public policy at the EastWest Institute and a former bureau chief at Newsweek magazine, reminds us.

In "Hitlerland," Nagorski tells their stories. Informative and interesting, the book often covers ground that has been well-traveled, most recently by Erik Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts," an account of William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany in the 1930s, and his daughter, Martha.

Reluctant to pass judgment, Nagorski does not explain why so many Americans dismissed evidence all around them. Nor does he mount a compelling case that those who sounded the alarm "gradually eroded isolationist sentiments" in the United States and "prepared their countrymen psychologically for the years of bloodshed and struggle ahead."

At its best, however, "Hitlerland" conveys, often vividly, the difficulty Americans had coming to terms with Nazi terror. In 1941, Nagorski reveals, Howard K. Smith, a young reporter for CBS radio, was visited by Fritz Heppler, a German Jew he had met at an air raid a year earlier. The Nazis had searched his apartment, found nothing, and released him, Heppler said, but he was certain that a roundup of Jews was imminent and begged Smith to help him get out of the country. The reporter offered a cigarette, suggested that Heppler was exaggerating the danger, promised to make inquiries about a visa, and escorted him to the door. Smith forgot about the incident the next day -- and never saw Heppler again. "My callousness on this occasion can hardly be justified," he recalled, much later. "Not that it would have helped him; but it would have helped soothe my own conscience."

Did Smith really believe that Heppler was exaggerating the danger, one wonders, or was he afraid? And what are we to make of Ambassador Hugh Wilson, Dodd's successor, who, in the aftermath of the annexation of Austria, found Nazi Germany "so darned absorbing and interesting," and maintained that "we have nothing to gain by entering a European conflict, and everything to lose"?

"Hitlerland," alas, doesn't provide satisfactory answers to these questions, but provides a significant service in forcing us to ask them.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.

• related content

• 

  HITLERLAND By: Andrew Nagorski.

• HITLERLAND

  By: Andrew Nagorski.

  Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 385 pages, $28.

  Review: Nagorski does not make a compelling case that American observers helped end isolationist sentiment in the United States. But the book does vividly convey the difficulties Americans had coming to terms with the Nazi terror.

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/141960583.html

Two months...sheesh

Yes, I know, two months with no entry is a long time. What can I say? Life happens. So here's a peek at two rare books for you, ones you are unlikely to ever again see for sale. (In fact, one sold in less than two hours.)

'Rust City Portland Underground Comix Annual #1' was published in 1994. Edited by Steve Hess, this magazine featured work by local Portland authors and illustrators, some of whom apparently went on to become famous. There was also an autographed letter signed by editor Hess to alternative artist Bill Shut under his real name, indicating that this was the last copy known to exist and had to be purchased back from a contributor.

The other book is 'Picture Story Magazine #1' edited by Charles Spanier. This book is so rare I could not even find information on it, aside from the occasional oblique reference. This one I still have, but I doubt for long. It was published in 1978 and seems to have achieved almost legendary status.

Estonians - Book Review

For all of you World War II bookies out there, here's a review from one of the more obscure corners of that worldwide conflagration. We in the West have been conditioned to condemn any and all people who cooperated or helped the Nazis, and presumably with good reason: it's hard to find a more odious regime throughout all of human history. But if you did try to find a government and ruler even worse than Adolf Hitler and his henchmen, then Joseph Stalin and his USSR would be the number one candidate.

In 1940, the peoples of the three small Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, were subjected to conquest by Stalin's armies in the months just after that rapacious tyrant ordered his armed forces to attack little Finland without provocation. The Baltic peoples were rounded up and tens of thousands sent off to prison in Siberia and throughout the Soviet Union, never to be seen again. As a percentage of the population, their numbers were staggeringly high. So when the Germans overran their countries in 1941, many of them saw it as liberation and fought on the side of the Germans.

The truth is they did not want to fight for either side, but they had no choice. Caught between the two most aggressive dictators of the 20th century they were doomed to fight for one side of the other, and sometimes for both. Today's book being reviewed would be a great place to start for anyone wishing to know more about this chapter of World War Two.

We Were Estonian Soldiers

Teadaanded 23 Dec 2011 EWR OnlineEesti Elu

Trüki E-post

A new book titled We Were Estonian Soldiers has been released describing Estonia’s involvement in World War II from a soldier’s viewpoint. It is written in English and consists of about 250 pages, enhanced with many illustrations and photos. The source material was gathered by the author’s father and is now in the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi, Estonia. The book will also soon be released in Estonia in our native language.

The stories are about five Estonian officers who were classmates at the Estonian Military Technical Academy during the years of 1936 thru 1940. Their detailed memoirs start with the Soviet occupation of Estonia and the outbreak of World War II. All were commissioned 2nd lieutenants upon their graduation from the academy in 1940. Then their lives took different paths.

Mart Laar, Estonia’s Minister of Defense, has written the introductory pages. He ends his introduction with the following words:

“Some of the following stories are simply fantastic. If one did not know that it is impossible to dream up such wild tales one would think them being simply unbelievable... Most of these men fought in both Soviet and German armed forces. Their aim was to keep the Red Army out of Estonia until war’s end when the Atlantic Charter of the allied forces would allow Estonia to regain its independence. It was no fault of theirs that it could not be achieved. What they did achieve was to instill a tradition of resistance which bore fruit 50 years later when Estonia again won its freedom from the occupying foreign power.

They were true Estonian soldiers. - Mart Laar, Sept. 4, 2011, Tallinn, Estonia”

Lt. Victor Orav started his military career in the Estonian Army which was soon disbanded and integrated into the Russian occupation forces. He deserted from the Red Army and ended up in a German prisoner of war camp. Life in camp was hard as attested by his body weight being only 88 lbs when released. He then served in the German SS and was heavily wounded in action. He and his family lived thru the heavy bombing of Tallinn. At the end of the war he managed to walk and ride on top of railroad cars from Czechoslovakia to western Germany in order to not fall into Russian hands.

Lt. Hugo Kubja likewise deserted from the Red Army. His story is one of survival in the woods of Estonia. At one point he had to shoot his way out of a situation which threatened his freedom. He took part in expelling the Red Army from Estonia at the battle of Tartu. Later, he saw action on the Leningrad front. At war’s end he made his escape to the west.

Lt. Edgar Reiksaar was captured by a Russian patrol after deserting from his Red Army unit. They thought him to be a German paratrooper and he was tried in a Soviet court for spying. The court found him guilty and he was ordered to be executed. He escaped but was later recaptured and executed with several bullets thru his head. Miraculously he survived. His ordeal and how he made it back to safety is stranger than fiction.

Lt. Johannes Jaagus lived thru the intrigues and fears brought on by the Soviet occupation. He wrestled with his soul when pressured to join the Communist Party. Spies and “death angels” brought angst and fear into his life. He lived thru several terrifying air raids while in the Red Army. He too chose an opportune moment to desert and become a prisoner of the Germans.

Lt. August Vohma was the consummate professional soldier. He saw continuous action throughout the war years. No matter what country’s uniform he was wearing he performed with distinction. He was first promoted to captain and then to the rank of major. At war’s end he was the ranking Estonian artillery officer in Germany. August’s story is also a love story. He met a young lady during the war who became his wife. His dogged search for her after the war involved some amazing twists of fate.

The English version of the book is available from:

http://lakeshorepressbooks.com...

You can find the article here:

http://www.eesti.ca/?op=article&articleid=34455

Really?

September? Holy cow, bookies, my bad! I didn't know it had been that long since my last entry. How did you survive without me?...don't answer that!

Today's will be short. I had no idea that in 2011 we lost both Anne McCaffrey and Brian Jacques. I never met Ms. McCaffrey, but I didn't correspond with her in Ireland briefly, and she sent me a few signed bookplates. Very nice. As for Mr. Jacques, him I met. He was at the old Davis-Kidd one day and there must have been 400 people at the signing. You could only get two books signed per person, so I cheated and brought my two kids. They weren't happy, but our house wasn't a democracy so they were there. Mr. Jacques had the best voice I have ever heard, deep, slightly raspy, very English, but not in a stuffy, upper-class sort of way, in a pleasant every-day accent that would have made the phone book sound good.

I'm gonna miss them both.

Hannibal, Scipio and the battle that could have changed history, but didn't.

THE GHOSTS OF CANNAE Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert L. O’Connell, read by Alan Sklar. Unabridged.

When Hannibal Barca led his small army of Carthaginians over the Alps and into Italy at the beginning of the Second Punic War, nobody on either side foresaw that he would rampage through Roman territory for nearly a generation. And, if such knowledge had been known beforehand, the seers would have considered it even less likely that the Roman Republic could withstand having an enemy army tearing up its hinterland for almost twenty years. And yet, this is precisely what happened.

This incredibly fine audiobook centers around the pivotal battle of Cannae, where Hannibal dealt Roman a crushing defeat, a defeat so complete, so total and so demoralizing, that it should have won the war for Carthage. Had that happened, history would forever have been changed and the rise of the Roman Empire would have been unlikely. That would have made the ascendancy of the Catholic Church impossible, since it was formed around and then built upon the skeleton of the Empire, and had the Church not been spread throughout the west by the Romans, then the modern western world would not have happened.

But Cannae did not force Rome to the bargaining table, as it should have, and that is the most fascinating part of this narrative. Sweeping and informative, of necessity the author has to use conjecture to figure out many details of the period that are now lost to history, but he does so in a fascinating, entertaining and scholarly manner. This was a terrific book that was very well read. If you have a history buff on this year's gift list, you could do much worse than buying them this audiobook.

THE DAMNED TRILOGY by Alan Dean Foster

Hiya bookies, more priceless stuff from your friendly neighborhood bookseller. Way back in 1993, not long after I established my still-going AOL email account, I read Alan Dean Foster's SF/Fantasy trilogy The Damned and really enjoyed it. Here are my brief thoughts from those days:

"A Call to Arms" by Alan Dean Foster. Aliens galore! Intergalactic war! Fun, fun, give me more! Foster writes SF without the science, and for shameless entertainment this is exceedingly well-written. He occasionally lets his politics become tiresome, but not very often. Highly recommended. A+

"The False Mirror" by Alan Dean Foster. Second in The Damned trilogy, this book is loads more fun than the first, with nearly non-stop action and very little preaching. Highest recommendation for those looking for escapist reading. A

"The Spoils of War" by Alan Dean Foster. Book three of The Damned, it's more complex, somewhat slower but more ambitious than its two predecessors. A truly preachy paragraph on the next to last page wrecks the ending, but the rest is good enough to keep the pages turning. Recommended. A

For all you conspiracy theorists out there...

...and you know who you are, here's a brand new 'Hitler got away' story to chew on. I thought we were done with these many years ago, but fortunately the authors of a brand new book have brought back one of our favorite conspiracy theories. Shades of the Twilight Zone!

DID ADOLF HITLER ESCAPE?

According to the book by Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams, Adolf Hitler escaped

Monday October 17,2011

By Adrian Lee

Have your say(2)

AS Russian tanks closed in on Berlin in 1945, two figures slipped away from the devastated Reich Chancellery through a secret tunnel.

Despite the shells bombarding the German capital the roads were still clear and sufficiently wide for a transport aircraft to land.

Soon the middle ­aged couple were safely on board a plane and captain Peter Baumgart began taxiing away.

Although he was an experienced pilot and the take­off was routine, the pilot was ashen­faced and sweating.

Perhaps, however, he summoned the courage to sneak a glance over his shoulder at his cargo. On board were Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun.

This sensational claim that the Nazi leader and his mistress fled Berlin at the end of the second World War to begin a new life in Argentina is made in the new book Grey Wolf: The Escape Of Adolf Hitler.

The authors claim they have “compelling evidence” that there was a carefully orchestrated plot to spirit Hitler out of Germany once it became clear that the tide of war was turning against the Nazis.

According to the book by Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams, Adolf Hitler escaped

On April 27, three days before he is officially said to have committed suicide, the Führer agreed a body double to take his place. an unknown actress stepped in for Eva.

According to the book by Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams the genuine Nazi leader and his mistress were first flown to Tonder in Denmark, where the party took a second flight to the Luftwaffe base at Travemunde.

Changing planes again they boarded a Long­range Ju 252 and flew to the Spanish military base at Reus, south of Barcelona.

From here General Franco supplied a further aircraft in Spanish markings to fly Hitler to Fuerteventura on the Canary islands.

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A day later he and Eva boarded a U-­boat, which was the signal for their doubles in Berlin to be executed.

Under heavy Russian gunfire their remains were incinerated in the garden.

By the time the Russians reached Hitler’s bunker and found the fakes their real prey was deep beneath the atlantic Ocean.

The most audacious ruse in history was complete and it is claimed that Hitler spent his remaining 17 years living peacefully in a Nazi enclave in Argentina.

A fortune in looted gold and jewellery, loaded on to the submarine during the escape, ensured that he wanted for nothing.

Gerrard Williams, a journalist and film director, says: “There is no forensic evidence that Hitler died in the bunker. The Nazi high command had been making plans since 1943 to get out of Germany and to set up a Fourth Reich, mainly in South America, so they had no need to die in Germany. There was a very effective route out of the country.

“We never wanted this story to be true but the horrifying reality is, we believe, that at the end of the war the most evil man in the world escaped from Germany and lived out his life in Argentina.”

It is known that Argentina was sympathetic to the Hitler regime – even supplying fake paperwork to help them escape from Europe – and became a haven for many prominent nazis after the war, evil men such as Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann and Klaus Barbie.

The entire plan is claimed to have been masterminded by Hitler’s private secretary Martin Bormann and “Grey Wolf” was the codename for the Nazi leader.

The soviets always gave conflicting information about the discovery of the bodies in the Führerbunker and what happened in the chaos of the end of the war.

The remains were said to have been buried but later exhumed and moved to different locations, apparently to avoid Hitler’s grave becoming a shrine.

However it later emerged that the Russians kept a piece of his skull with a distinctive bullet hole. The fragment was always said to be incontrovertible proof that Hitler had indeed died by his own hand in 1945.

Then two years ago archaeologist and bone specialist Nick Bellantoni concluded that the skull really belonged to a woman aged under 40 and not Hitler, who was 56 when he supposedly died.

Bellantoni also dis­ counted the possibility that the skull was that of Braun because she was said in reports from the bunker to have killed herself by taking cyanide and would therefore not have suffered a bullet wound.

Intriguingly, declassified FBi files from the late Forties also contain a reference to Hitler having escaped Berlin and begun a new life in South America.

For almost 30 years J Edgar Hoover and his FBI maintained a detailed dossier on the Nazi leader and investigated any report that indicated he still was alive, including dispatching agents to Argentina on several occasions.

When US president Harry S Truman asked Joseph Stalin in 1945 whether Hitler was dead, the Soviet leader is said to have replied bluntly, “No”.

As late as the Fifties US president Dwight D Eisenhower declared: “We have been unable to unearth one bit of tangible evidence of Hitler’s death.”

At the end of the war the death of Hitler was a neat conclusion. It was not surprising that the world lapped up the stories of his suicide without asking too many searching questions.

Williams, who spent five years researching the book and made numerous visits to Argentina, says: “Everyone wanted to close the chapter very quickly because the Cold War was just starting. It’s only now Argentina is once more a thriving democracy that the real stories are coming out. The more files and reports we looked at, the more we realised the death in the bunker was a fiction.”

The book includes testimony from the pilot who “flew Hitler and Eva Braun out of Berlin” and a dozen other witnesses.

According to the book 53 days after leaving Spain by submarine the couple arrived off the Argentine coast, south of Mar Del Plata. The Führer and his mistress were quietly but enthusiastically welcomed.

Hitler would live there in a village in the foothill of the Andes until 1962, planning the rebirth of the Nazis. It is claimed that he and Eva did marry but separated in 1953 when she moved to Nequén.

The book also contains the testimony of bodyguards, cooks and doctors who claim to have worked for Hitler. The authors say they have evidence that pinpoints the exact house where he lived in Patagonia. A rather grand wooden chalet-style building, it must have reminded Hitler of the Bavarian Alps.

The Führer is claimed to have died on February 13, 1962 at 3pm. He was said to be demented but still clinging to his dream of Nazi domination.

There is a chilling postscript revealed in the new book. Before they separated Adolf and Eva are claimed to have had two daughters. According to the authors both are still alive in South America.

If this account is to be taken seriously Hitler’s bloodline survives with them.

http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/277962/

Hitler's Rocket Soldiers

Here's a history that doesn't have much history for you bookies. Not much has been written about the men and organization of the German rocket warfare units of World War II. The rockets themselves? Yes. The scientists, such as Werner von Braun? Yes. But the men who did the actual deploying and firing? No.

For the WW2 buffs and those who love them, this is a site to bookmark.

Hitler's Rocket Soldiers

The Men who fired the V2s against England
Murray R. Barber and Michael Keuer

Buy Online

‘We V2 soldiers fulfilled our tasks with the knowledge that every firing meant innocent people lost their lives…’

This substantial book provides an invaluable contribution to the operational history of the A4 (V2) rocket. Little has been written about the secret activities of the special troops whose role was to protect and fire the operational A4 (V2) rocket under field conditions in World War Two. Carefully researched, the book goes a long way to filling this void. As the result of many years tracking down the few remaining veterans the authors have complied eleven individual biographies of rocket troops whose pre-combat occupations included a scientist, chemist, engineer, toolmaker and builder. The text is written clearly and concisely and is well referenced.
The book provides a fascinating insight into the day-to-day lives of the rocket troops including their personal combat experiences, attitudes, humour and interpersonal relations. Particularly intriguing are their interactions with such Peenemünde notables as Dr. Wernher von Braun and Major General Walter Dornberger. Light is also thrown on the establishment of the field units and the training of the troops. The fact that several of the veterans interviewed have subsequently passed away highlights the urgency and importance of collecting such historical material. The scholarly work is highly recommended to any one with an interest in the history of Hitler’s rocket troops and the field deployment of the world’s first long-range rocket.

Brett Gooden author of Projekt Natter - Last of the Wonder Weapons and Spaceport Australia

In the final, desperate months of World War Two, at a time when the German war machine was considered by the Allies to be an almost spent force, Adolf Hitler unleashed a new weapon against England and western Europe that fell from the silence of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and the edge of space. It was a weapon that struck fear into the hearts and minds of wartime civilians; it came without warning and defence was impossible. This was an unseen threat that fell at supersonic speeds, levelling suburban streets to dust in seconds, terrorising the residents of London and Antwerp – this was the V2 Rocket.

The V2 – ‘Vergeltungswaffen Zwei’ (Vengeance Weapon 2), designed by the rocket scientist and engineer, Wernher von Braun, and his colleagues at the secret Nazi research centre at Peenemünde, was the most sophisticated weapon developed in Europe during the war. Following the end of hostilities, von Braun and many in his team transferred their allegiance to the United States and subsequently went on to design the mighty Saturn V that took the Americans to the moon. The experiences of von Braun’s rocket team are well documented, but somewhat surprisingly, some aspects of the V2 story remain largely uncovered. This is especially true from the German perspective and more specifically, the view of the men who formed the firing teams for this formidable weapon that embraced supersonic technology. From September 1944 to early 1945, V2 launch teams fired more than 3,000 rockets, each with a high-explosive one-ton warhead, at targets in England, France, Belgium, Holland and even within Germany itself. Many rockets were fired from mobile launch sites in The Hague and from concealed wooded areas hidden from Allied aircraft, using fleets of modern, purpose-built transporters and trailers with sophisticated ancillary and support vehicles.

For the first time, this book tells the story of the V2 through the eyes and experiences not only of the men who fired the missiles at targets such as London, Norwich, Antwerp and Paris, but also of some of the military scientists and technicians involved in its development. The authors have spent many years tracking down and interviewing the few surviving veterans of these little-known and secretive units and have unearthed new and rare information from first-hand accounts. These are the unique recollections of the ‘Rocket Soldiers’ who have spoken candidly to the authors about their wartime duties.

The accounts show that, mostly, they were not stereotypical and ideologically indoctrinated ‘Aryan warriors’, but very ordinary soldiers and technicians living through extraordinary times, handling the most sophisticated weapon ever developed in pre-nuclear Europe. The book also describes the development of German rocketry following the end of the First World War and the technology embodied within the V2. The veterans tell of their first encounters with the awesome new rocket and how, having survived the devastating RAF raid on Peenemünde, training was dispersed to test sites in Poland. They recall the move to forward firing positions, gun battles with the Resistance and the start of the rocket offensive. In truth, the more battle-experienced veterans knew that the V2 was a waste of valuable human and matériel resources – a last-ditch hope to save a desperate regime. Conversely, the book illustrates how inexperienced troops drafted directly to the V2 units from basic training, vainly hoped and believed that the fortunes of war would turn in Germany’s favour. The veterans tell of their desperate experiences when the inevitable defeat came, as they were rushed to the east to defend Berlin where so many Rocket Soldiers lost their lives. Yet while some V2 troops ended the war with tears of regret for a robbed youth, others shed tears of frustration, knowing that they would never live through such extraordinary times again.

Hitler’s Rocket Soldiers forms an important new contribution to our understanding of the German war machine and its technology. Using never-before tapped resources, this book will be a revelation and valuable resource to all military historians and those with an interest in rocket development.

The Authors

Murray R. Barber F.R.A.S., was born in 1956 and is married with two children. He lives in Devon, England where he pursues several business interests that are related to astronomy. He has developed and written curriculum support information for the teaching of astronomy as well as the history of ancient Egypt, which is in use in planetariums worldwide. Since his schooldays he has always been interested in the history of World War Two and in particular its aviation. The V2 rocket represents a cross-over of his two main interests – the V2 being the very first man-made object to enter space and which was to lead, ultimately, to vehicles travelling beyond Pluto. Through the International V2 Research Group he met Michael Keuer and, following visits to see the remains of the former Peenemünde research and development establishment on the Baltic coast, they decided to study, together, the history of the V2 rocket. It was to fill the void of first-hand accounts of the operational use of the weapon, that the idea for this book was born. Murray is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Michael Keuer was born in 1959 in Hannover, Germany and is a senior software developer in a veterinarian pharmaceutical supply company. He has always held a keen interest in historical technical developments and the personalities behind scientific advancement. Following the reunification of Germany, he was able to visit the previously restricted area of Peenemünde to see the remains of the development works from where the V2 rocket was created and launched. During World War Two his grandfather worked as a technical skilled worker at Peenemünde and, indeed, Michael’s father was born just 32 kilometres away from the cradle of modern space science. As his interest grew, he met Murray Barber and the two decided to research the reminiscences of the last few surviving men involved in the military development and employment of this extraordinary weapon of war.

HELL TO PAY Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 by D. M. Giangreco

HELL TO PAY Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 by G.M. Giangreco. Unabridged audio, read by Danny Campbell.

For some reason, there still seems to be a controversy over whether or not dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary, or whether an invasion would have had far fewer casualties than is usually thought. This line of reasoning typically begins with the United States imposing a lengthy starvation blockade on Japan, or going ahead with invasion plans, and that either one would have produced far fewer Japanese casualties than the A-bombs did, and American casualties would have been minimal.

This book is the definitive response to that argument. The author refrains from any speculation, using only actual documents and histories to map out what would have been a terrifying and incredibly costly fight to the finish. This is a scholarly book, although not a boring one at all; it will hold up to the closest academic scrutiny. I learned something new on almost every page, including how the casualty rate in the Pacific influenced Eisenhower’s decisions in Europe. The reading is passable, there are a few instances of words being mis-pronounced, but in fair Campbell also handles Japanese words very well. All in all, this is a shockingly mandatory book for anyone with even the most remote interest in the Pacific Theater. A definite 'A' effort.