The Pacific War

£10.48

A good one volume treatment, with some factual errors. - Costello has written a very good one volume trreatment of the Pacific Campaign. Easily one of the most readable volumes written on this part of the war. I was disappointed near the end when I discovered glaring factual errors concerning the Battle for Okinawa. It may have been simple conclusion drawing or poor editing, but it misinforms the reader as to the reasons the Japanese chose the strategy that they did. Dispite this and undoubtably other minor errors I would highly recommend the volume.

Excellent Book - This is a very detailed book providing information on the Pacific War I have not seen in any other book. Of particular interest to me was how General MacArthur lost most of his planes (and thereby the Philippine Islands) on the first day of the war because he refused to obay standing orders to attack Formosa in the event of hostilities.The writing style can be a little dry in places, but the detailed information and insights keeps you turning the pages.

Good (detailed) history of the Pacific war - John Costello did a fine job of detailing the Pacific war from start to finish. At 800 pages this is not a quick read but all the major battles and actions are covered in detail. I found his writing style a bit more dry than John Toland but still eminently readable and engaging. My choice for a good trio of books on the conflict would be John Toland s The Rising Sun , Dan Van der Vat s The Pacific Campaign and John Costello s The Pacific War . These three belong on the bookshelf of anyone with a more than passing interest in that era and any one alone would be more than adequate for the amateur historian. Costello s book included a section at the end on Pearl Harbor that hints at more sinister behind-the-scenes actions. While I m not a conspiracy buff, that section was intriguing and unique to the Costello book.

The Pacific War

The Pacific War£10.48

The Pacific War

£10.48