Recommended Reading for the Pacific War

MrP

MrP

Banned
I was thinking about this last night, and I believe it'd prove deuced helpful to members. So please list here any works (online or off, periodicals, articles, books or whatever) concerning the Pacific theatre of WWII, if possible with a brief description of the contents.

1)Hansgeorg Jentschure, Dieter Jung, Peter Mickel, Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945, first published in German as Die Japanischen Kriegsschiffen 1869-1945 in 1970. My edition 1999. ISBN 1-85409-525-0

It provides an exhaustive list of Japanese naval vessels from 1869-1945. Unsurprisingly. Some pocket histories.

2) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-21 and 1922-1946. My editions 2002 and 2006 respectively. ISBNs for the earlier volume: 0-85177-245-5, and for the latter two are given: ISBN 10: 0-85177-146-7 and ISBN 13: 9-780851-771465

A comprehensive list of all the world's warships from patrol boats up for the period stated. Pocket histories again, and a brief rundown on the state of the various navies.

3) Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II, 1989 edition, a reprint of Jane's 1945/6 edition. ISBN 1-851-70493-0

Exactly what the title suggests. Some commentary, too.

4) Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II, 1989 edition, a reprint of Jane's 1945/6 edition. ISBN 1-851-70494-9

Exactly what the title suggests. Some commentary, too.

5) David C. Evans, Mark R. Peattie, Kaigun Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy 1887-1941, 1997, ISBN 0-87021-192-7

Enthralling inspection of the evolution of the IJN from its first tentative steps through to the outbreak of WWII.

6) Norman Friedman, U.S. Battleships An Illustrated Design History, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-715-1

Almost everything you'll ever want to know about the USN's battleships, from pre-dreads through to the final designs. Lovely stuff on the Tillman Maximum Battleships, too.

7) Guy Robbins, The Aircraft Carrier Story 1908-1945, 2001, ISBN 0-304-35308-6.

Covers the evolution of doctrines and technology in the three major naval airforces: US, UK and Japan.

8) Dan Van Der Vat, The Pacific Campaign, 2001 edition, ISBN 1-84158-123-2

I haven't got round to reading this yet, but I picked it up to give me an overview when I develop an interest in carriers some day. ;)
 
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Slamet

Can somebody move this to the Alternate History Media section?

@MrP

The Pacific War Companion - From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
Edited by Daniel Marston.
Exactly what it says on the tin. Careful on the Coral Sea Battle though. It says there were no TBFs at the said battle. Careless editing.

For Coral Sea, I recommend :
Blue Skies and Blood : The Battle of The Coral Sea
By Edwin P. Hoyt
Exactly what it says on the tin.

Midway :
Midway : The Battle That Doomed Japan
By Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya
A rather Japanese Point of View on the Midway battle. But its just a minor background bias (i.e. tells more about the Japanese China campaign), shouldn't be much of a problem.

1944 upwards :
The End of The Imperial Japanese Navy
By Masanori Ito and Roger Pineau
 

Slamet

MrP said:
Not to be massively unsubtle, but does bard32 read that one?
Click to expand...

These are not, in its strictest meaning, really alternate history books. But considering that most (new) members go to the Alternate History Media for sources, it might just be better.

Hey, if this thread has enough, someone has to consider editing a page in the Wiki for it.
 
Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf

Donor
Slamet said:
These are not, in its strictest meaning, really alternate history books. But considering that most (new) members go to the Alternate History Media for sources, it might just be better.

Hey, if this thread has enough, someone has to consider editing a page in the Wiki for it.
Click to expand...

The point is to provide sufficient real history to properly ground what-ifs, me-thinks

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 

merlin

Flying Buccaneers, The Illustrated Story of Kenney's Fifth Air Force, by Steve Birdsall, ISBN 0 7153 7750 7.
An excellent book.

The Fall of Japan by Wlliam Craig ISBN 0 330 02543 0

COMBAT WW2 Pacific Theater of Operations, Edited by Don Congdon,
ISBN 0-87795-458-5
A series of personal recollections from the people who were there - at the various areas of combat operations from Imphal to Midway.

WAR PlAN ORANGE The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan 1897 - 1945, by Edward S. Miller, ISBN 0-87021-759-3
A fascinating look at how over the years the strategy evolved, makes an interesting comparison with -
BYWATER The Man Who Invented the Pacific War, by William H. Honan,
ISBN 0-356-19135-4

PEARL HARBOR The Verdict of History, by Gordon W. Prange,
ISBN 0-07-050668-X
For the diffinative story on what happened and who didn't do what!
 
MrP

MrP

Banned
Cheers, Merlin!

Slamet said:
These are not, in its strictest meaning, really alternate history books. But considering that most (new) members go to the Alternate History Media for sources, it might just be better.

Hey, if this thread has enough, someone has to consider editing a page in the Wiki for it.
Click to expand...

Oh, I agree. But as Grey says, my aim here is to . . . well, get people to have a read of some useful/vital scholarly and technical works as opposed to the History Channel.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Slamet said:
Can somebody move this to the Alternate History Media section?

@MrP

The Pacific War Companion - From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
Edited by Daniel Marston.
Exactly what it says on the tin. Careful on the Coral Sea Battle though. It says there were no TBFs at the said battle. Careless editing.

For Coral Sea, I recommend :
Blue Skies and Blood : The Battle of The Coral Sea
By Edwin P. Hoyt
Exactly what it says on the tin.

Midway :
Midway : The Battle That Doomed Japan
By Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya
A rather Japanese Point of View on the Midway battle. But its just a minor background bias (i.e. tells more about the Japanese China campaign), shouldn't be much of a problem.

1944 upwards :
The End of The Imperial Japanese Navy
By Masanori Ito and Roger Pineau
Click to expand...

Fuchida's work has been seriously repudiated in Japan for decades; Parshall & Tully throughly deconstruct his work in Shattered Sword.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
My $.02

Shattered Sword by John Parshall and Tony Tully. An exceptionally well researched work on Midway, making extensive use of original Japanese sources.

First Team & First Team Guadalcanal by John Lundstrom. THE work on airpower over the first year of the Pacific War

Combined Fleet Decoded by John Pardos. An excellent review of the intel war that helped hasten the end of the Pacific Conflict that takes advantage of recently declassified files.

History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War Two series by Samuel Eliot Morison. Somewhat dated (the revelations of Enigima and Ultra had not been declassified) , but as good as a day to day effort covering the entire war as you will find.

Eric Hammel's three book series on Guadalcanal.
 
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Jasen777

Jasen777

Donor
Japan's Greatest Victory / Britain's Worst Defeat by Col. Masanobu Tsuji

includes a translation of a handbook given to the Japanese Army - Read This Alone and the War can be Won.

Great insight into the Japanese mindset.
 

Permanganate

I've found Hiroshi Nishida's site on IJN ships to be useful. It has basic information on (nearly?) all IJN ships, including some oddball ones taken from the Chinese and Germans.

Or you could just do a Bard32 to do research on WW2; namely, read a couple of baseball cards and watch the Hitler Channel.
 

merlin

Permanganate said:
Or you could just do a Bard32 to do research on WW2; namely, read a couple of baseball cards and watch the Hitler Channel.
Click to expand...

I used to collect aircraft cards - of military jets of the 'fifties' that were given away with chewing gum, pretty good informative cards there at the time, but there again I was only 12 - 14 at the time!
 

larpsidekick

Nemesis by Max Hastings
Pretty good treatment of the last year of the war. Controversial in Australia as does not think too much of the impact of Australian troops in that phase of the war.

Battle at Sea by John Keegan
Contains an analysis of Midway as a key battle in the history of Naval war - others include Trafalgar and Jutland

Fateful Choices by Ian Kershaw
A couple of essays looking at Japanese and American decision making
 

bard32

Banned
MrP said:
I was thinking about this last night, and I believe it'd prove deuced helpful to members. So please list here any works (online or off, periodicals, articles, books or whatever) concerning the Pacific theatre of WWII, if possible with a brief description of the contents.

1)Hansgeorg Jentschure, Dieter Jung, Peter Mickel, Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945, first published in German as Die Japanischen Kriegsschiffen 1869-1945 in 1970. My edition 1999. ISBN 1-85409-525-0

It provides an exhaustive list of Japanese naval vessels from 1869-1945. Unsurprisingly. Some pocket histories.

2) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-21 and 1922-1946. My editions 2002 and 2006 respectively. ISBNs for the earlier volume: 0-85177-245-5, and for the latter two are given: ISBN 10: 0-85177-146-7 and ISBN 13: 9-780851-771465

A comprehensive list of all the world's warships from patrol boats up for the period stated. Pocket histories again, and a brief rundown on the state of the various navies.

3) Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II, 1989 edition, a reprint of Jane's 1945/6 edition. ISBN 1-851-70493-0

Exactly what the title suggests. Some commentary, too.

4) Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II, 1989 edition, a reprint of Jane's 1945/6 edition. ISBN 1-851-70494-9

Exactly what the title suggests. Some commentary, too.

5) David C. Evans, Mark R. Peattie, Kaigun Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy 1887-1941, 1997, ISBN 0-87021-192-7

Enthralling inspection of the evolution of the IJN from its first tentative steps through to the outbreak of WWII.

6) Norman Friedman, U.S. Battleships An Illustrated Design History, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-715-1

Almost everything you'll ever want to know about the USN's battleships, from pre-dreads through to the final designs. Lovely stuff on the Tillman Maximum Battleships, too.

7) Guy Robbins, The Aircraft Carrier Story 1908-1945, 2001, ISBN 0-304-35308-6.

Covers the evolution of doctrines and technology in the three major naval airforces: US, UK and Japan.

8) Dan Van Der Vat, The Pacific Campaign, 2001 edition, ISBN 1-84158-123-2

I haven't got round to reading this yet, but I picked it up to give me an overview when I develop an interest in carriers some day. ;)
Click to expand...

Edwin P. Hoyt's The Lonely Ships: The Life and Death Of The Asiatic Fleet's a
good book as well. So is a book I read about the Battle of Guadalcanal. Other recommendations of mine are as follows: "At Dawn We Slept, "...And I Was There," by Edwin Layton, They Were Expendable, by W.L. White, about the U.S. Navy's Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 in the Philippines, Zero, by Martin Caidin, Target Tokyo, by Gordon L. Prange, good book, and this is a unique recommendation on my part. It's a 100 + page book called The Battle of Midway, it's published by Scholastic. With regards to Target Tokyo, it's about the Sorge spy ring.
 

bard32

Banned
merlin said:
I used to collect aircraft cards - of military jets of the 'fifties' that were given away with chewing gum, pretty good informative cards there at the time, but there again I was only 12 - 14 at the time!
Click to expand...

Really? I had bubble gum cards of World War II soldiers and military jets of the '50s.
 

Amerigo Vespucci

And for reference books when writing stories, there's no comparison to World War II: A Statistical Survey. Clear and simple presentation of a vast amount of information.
 
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