Customer Reviews

Eyewitness Pacific Theater: Firsthand Accounts of the War in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to the Atomic Bombs

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This is a relatively large book at 11 in by 9 in with 272 pages. Along with the photos is a running dialog giving a brief summary of the key engagements. Nestled in the dialog are many firsthand accounts of the sailors, soldiers or marines that were there. Though this album is predominately American oriented, a few Japanese give testimony as well. The coverage starts with Pearl Harbor and ends with the bombing of Hiroshima and the Indianapolis incident. A few paragraphs discuss Operation Downfall. After extensive coverage of Pearl harbor, Coral Sea, Midway, Bataan, Guadalcanal, island hopping in the Central Pacific, Mariana Turkey Shoot, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and more is presented. Most of the key engagements and key people like Nimitz, Halsey, MacArthur, King, Spruance etc are included so the book would be a good training aid for a new student. Most pages have photos; they're good photos, some even spectacular but many can be seen in other albums. And the dialog is similar to those other photo albums.

While Mr Kuehn claims to be critical even reversionary in his dialog, I saw only modest evidence of it. I would have been more critical for the intelligence and communication gaffs before December 7th, obstinately choosing to invade Peleliu and Luzon, or Halsey's poor judgment at Leyte, the conflicts between King, Nimitz, FDR and MacArthur, the conflicts between Army and Marines or a dozen other situations.

A CD is included if you would like to listen to other first hand experiences which is a nice extra. A Bibliography and Index completes the book.
If you're looking for your first album or are still eager to add to your collection, this one is worth your consideration.