The Battle of Midway (Cornerstones of Freedom) [Library Binding]

Tom McGowen (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Cornerstones of Freedom

Dramatic and defining moments in American history come vividly the life in the Cornerstones of Freedom series.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom McGowen is the author of several nonfiction books for children. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Children's Press (CT) (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0516220055
• ISBN-13: 978-0516220055
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,465,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Synopsis Of A Most Critical WWII Battle!, April 26, 2002

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battle of Midway (Cornerstones of Freedom) (Library Binding)

Given the commonplace that the series of naval encounters between the remnants of the American Pacific fleet surviving Pearl Harbor and the recent battle of the Corol Sea were central to all that followed thereafter, this is an interesting, factually accurate, and well illustrated description of those encounters, which led to the rout of the Japanese and the first signs that the initiative thereafter would pass to the American Navy. Midway is really an excuse of an atoll that harbored several runways critical to American goals of maintaining air capability early in the war.

In essence, our ability to read Japanese codes gave us some quite illuminating clues several months before the battle as to what they were about to attempt, including their proposed ship deployments and relative battle tactics to be used. The decision was made to literally go for broke, by risking the balance of our Pacific fleet to foil the Japanese plan and cripple their ability to conduct blue-water naval engagements for the balance of the war. Most critical in all this was maintaining the element of surprise, which we managed to do almost perfectly. Thus, our presence there, including an additional aircraft carrier that the Japanese thought they had successfully sunk at the Corol Sea engagement, caught them at precisely the right moment, with their decks full of returning aircraft, and helpless to respond to our air attack.

While the goal of the Japanese was to neutralize Midway by capturing it and to destroy whatever they could of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, they never suspected we could launch the kind of surprise attack we used to hammer them into defeat. The author carefully describes the progress of the war in the Pacific from December 1941 through the Battle of the Coral Sea to this series of encounters between the forces. Of course, a series of fatal mistakes by the Americans early on were almost disastrous, but eventuated in an American triumph. Thus, the mists and fog of war, through a series of complex interactions between skill and happenstance, the whole history of the war was changed in a single decisive battle. McGowen does a credible job in describing and clarifying these complex events for the reading audience.