Books to Recommend

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

I just read a couple of the reviews. Well done!

Lookslike another to add to the 'to buy' list...

Yeah - very entertaining read, actually... Tiornu ferrets out some very interesting facts (one of my favorites was the British BB where someone had put in some army howitizer(s) to bolster the secondary armament! [X(] [:D] )

[John 3rd]

How could a reviewer actually complain about having to read the ENTIRE book!  Drives one nuts...
 

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

I just read a couple of the reviews. Well done!

Lookslike another to add to the 'to buy' list...

Yeah - very entertaining read, actually... Tiornu ferrets out some very interesting facts (one of my favorites was the British BB where someone had put in some army howitizer(s) to bolster the secondary armament! [X(] [:D] )

Do we have the full citation on the "Tiornu" book?

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

Do we have the full citation on the "Tiornu" book?

Yes. The man's a looney. I was always correcting him on warships1.com. He secretly worships me. One can easily see why. [:D]

[Mike Scholl]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

How could a reviewer actually complain about having to read the ENTIRE book!  Drives one nuts...

Does "because he's a lazy hack..." sound about right?

[spence]

I have seen that Eric Trammel has been doing a series of books on the Guadalcanal Campaign. Has anyone read them?

I think you mean Eric Hammel. I have read "Decsion at Sea: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal" and "Starvation Island". The former title is self explanatory as far as what it covers (Nov 12-15, 1942) and is a pretty good look at where the USN (mostly) was as far as surface battle at the time. "Starvation Island" deals with the land campaign mostly though it also describes the naval battles of Savo Island, Cape Esperance and Tassafaronga in some detail. The third volume deals with the carrier battles of Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz but I haven't ever managed to get my hands on it (don't remember the exact title).

[Tiornu]

I was always correcting him on warships1.com. He secretly worships me. One can easily see why.

Didn't I warn you that, if this kept up, we'd have to increase your dosage? That'll be two of the shiny blue capsules for you from now on.

Do we have the full citation on the "Tiornu" book?

Worth, Richard. Fleets of World War II. Da Capo Press, 2001.
BrucePowers asked me to give a head's-up when my next title was coming out. I was expecting a June release, but to my surprise they've pushed to January 20 or thereabouts. It's Raising the Red Banner by Vladimir Yakubov and me; if you have any interest in early Soviet warships (early = 1920-45), you may want to give it a look. It is well illustrated with 240 photos, and it gives an overview of the main warship classes in that period. The publisher is Spellmount in Britain, and you'll find it listed at various Amazons but not Amazon US, for some reason.

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: Tiornu

I was always correcting him on warships1.com. He secretly worships me. One can easily see why.

Didn't I warn you that, if this kept up, we'd have to increase your dosage? That'll be two of the shiny blue capsules for you from now on.

Do we have the full citation on the "Tiornu" book?

Worth, Richard. Fleets of World War II. Da Capo Press, 2001.
BrucePowers asked me to give a head's-up when my next title was coming out. I was expecting a June release, but to my surprise they've pushed to January 20 or thereabouts. It's Raising the Red Banner by Vladimir Yakubov and me; if you have any interest in early Soviet warships (early = 1920-45), you may want to give it a look. It is well illustrated with 240 photos, and it gives an overview of the main warship classes in that period. The publisher is Spellmount in Britain, and you'll find it listed at various Amazons but not Amazon US, for some reason.

Thanks! Will check this out!
[:)]

[hvymtl13]

Sun Tzu of course. The Art of War. Although this book is not specifically about Naval Combat which is predominantly the WITP action, the basic concepts and tactics are easily converted to use in Naval warfare. Especially for planning stages if one uses the concepts and tactics described.
As for books that portray the "feel" of the war in the Pacific I am a big fan of WEB Griffin's series- The Corps.
Historical accounts are good but many are debatle as far as accuracy and conclusions.

[John 3rd]

Just got my copies of The First Team Vol 1 and 2 today!  Reading has commenced...
 

[BeastieDog]

Has anyone read Japanese Military Strategy in the Pacific War:Was Defeat Inevitable? by James B. Wood?

[msieving1]

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

How could a reviewer actually complain about having to read the ENTIRE book!  Drives one nuts...

Does "because he's a lazy hack..." sound about right?

To be fair to the reviewer, he doesn't complain about having to read the entire book. The offending sentence is: "It has interesting tidbits, but you have to look through out the whole book to find them." That, to me, is saying that the interesting parts of the book are few and scattered. The impression I get from the review is that the book covers a lot of material, but with limited depth. Whether that's an accurate assessment, I can't say. I haven't read the book. That would be pretty typical of most non-specialist books on warships that I've seen, though.

[miral]

H.P. Willmott writes the most extraordinarily brilliant books on the strategic aspects of WWII, especially in the Pacific, I have ever seen. If you can't afford the bigger ones see The War with Japan, the Period of Balance. He savages those historians who produce yet another chronological rehash of what happened when. It is time, he says, for historians to tackle why things happened as they did. He criticised severely Spector's Eagle Against the Sun, a highly praised history, as yet another 'this happened, then this happened.' His one vol history of WWII, The Great Crusade, is wonderful, especially as he was one of the early historians to attack the myth of German military greatness; the Russia only won because of massive superiority of numbers.

His books on the Pacific War are particularly interesting when he comments that a war in which one side HAD to lose after the opening shot cannot be said to have any Turning Point Battle. Running out of time but read this man's work; it is unique and utterly thought provoking.

[treespider]

ORIGINAL: m10bob

"My favorite was from the guy who complained that you had to read the entire book to get all the information from it. "

Yet another reason to dismiss critics as the leaches and remora who prey on those who actually contribute.......

Now would you be criticizing the critics?...not that they count.

[Andy Mac]

A personal favourite of mine

Pheonix from the Ashes : The Indian Army in the Burma Campaign by Danial P Marston he follows several bns throughput the war analysing the changes that occurred in training an doctrine.

[John 3rd]

I REALLY want to read Willmott's stuff!

Have gotten about 1/3 of the way through The First Team and LOVE the detail!  Have laready learned all sorts of interesting tidbits regarding the CV Operations and issues that the Americans were dealing with in the first few months of the war.  It led me to post in the AE Naval Thread!  Good stuff to say the least...

What are people's opinion of the Japanese Merchant Marine history by Dr....I CANNOT think of his name?!!  [:@]  He is at Kansas State.  He was to be my advisor for my Ph. D. Program there and I am drawing a complete blank...

<<<EDIT>>>

Mark Parillo! Cannot believe that I forgot his name. Had to hop on the K-State website. How good is his book?

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

I REALLY want to read Willmott's stuff!

Have gotten about 1/3 of the way through The First Team and LOVE the detail!  Have laready learned all sorts of interesting tidbits regarding the CV Operations and issues that the Americans were dealing with in the first few months of the war.  It led me to post in the AE Naval Thread!  Good stuff to say the least...

What are people's opinion of the Japanese Merchant Marine history by Dr....I CANNOT think of his name?!!  [:@]  He is at Kansas State.  He was to be my advisor for my Ph. D. Program there and I am drawing a complete blank...

<<<EDIT>>>

Mark Parillo! Cannot believe that I forgot his name. Had to hop on the K-State website. How good is his book?

Willmott (the 2 volume series) is good, definitely worth having, but don't set your expectations too high, the second volume, which mostly covers Coral Sea and Midway, is good, but not at the level of detail you will see in newer works like Lundstrom.

Parillo's work was a bit of a disappointment for me. I guess I had my expectations set too high. Not much detail. I was hoping for lists of ships and details about classes, etc. Instead we mostly have a narrative about the business, economic and political decisions that led to the Japanese having the merchant marine that it had.

But, I guess it is all about expections. Set your expectations nice and low and maybe you won't be disappointed!
[:)]

[John 3rd]

Well...that is disappointing...I had hoped it was a technical as well as political/economic work.&nbsp; I'll drop it about 10 spaces on my 'to buy' list.
&nbsp;
The Willmott that I have heard so much about is Barrier Against the Javelin.&nbsp; I have heard it to be fantastic.&nbsp; Agree/Disagree?
&nbsp;

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Well...that is disappointing...I had hoped it was a technical as well as political/economic work.  I'll drop it about 10 spaces on my 'to buy' list.

The Willmott that I have heard so much about is Barrier Against the Javelin.  I have heard it to be fantastic.  Agree/Disagree?

I get the Willmotts mixed up ... looking ... ok ... B&J is the second one, which mostly covers Coral Sea and Midway. I'd say for 30 or so years ago when it was written, it was fantastic. But now a days, with works like Lundstrom running around, I'd say B&J is pretty much just another classical, fairly high level description of the battle.

But the other one of the pair Empires in the Balance, spends a whole lot more time off the shelf and on my desk. This is because is contains a good description of the land combat in Malaya. At least better than anything else I have.

Perhaps the most lasting aspect of Willmott's work however, is his strategic assessment of the Japanese options in earl 1942. Either go East against the Americans, South against the Aussies or West against the Brito-Indians. He thinks the Japanese should have gone against the Brito-Indians. And this is because, as a Brit he sees that Indian was so very weak that if pushed it should have been easy to take. And I heard this same view from my father when I was a child. My father was in the RN stationed in Ceylon and never understood why the Japanese didn't just take India. So Willmott echos that idea for sure.

I actually don't happen to agree, I think the Japanese clearly had one enemy, America and nothing else mattered if you didn't have a strategy to stop the Americans. But I don't have a good option for the Japanese either!


I certainly don't regret having Willmott's works on my shelf, they have been there since the early 80s. But knowing what I know a this stage, I would not rush out and buy them now. I would hunt for some of the newer works (or even the older ones) with more detail. At this stage, I'm not much looking for prose. Give me charts and tables - the REALLY DRY stuff!

[tsimmonds]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

Willmott (the 2 volume series) is good, definitely worth having, but don't set your expectations too high, the second volume, which mostly covers Coral Sea and Midway, is good, but not at the level of detail you will see in newer works like Lundstrom.

When Barrier first came out it was an eye opener for me because of its treatment of Coral Sea as a week-long operation rather than just as a carrier battle. Also it was the first analysis of Midway I had read that showed the IJ defeat as not miraculous at all but pretty much inevitable given their plan and their doctrine. Both battles are handled in much greater detail in First Team and Shattered Sword.

Barrier's highlight is its discussion of strategic decision-making by both sides during the first half of 1942. But as with its treatment of the carrier battles, much of this discussion seems rather obvious now; I'm not sure whether this is because I have read Barrier so many times, or because of other later readings, or because of thinking and playing WitP so much in the past few years.... [;)]