Samurai! [Paperback]

Saburo Sakai (Author), Martin Caiden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2001

Editorial Reviews Product Description This text documents the chivalry and valour of the combat aviator, Saburo Sakai, who fought American fighter pilots and, with 64 kills, would survive World War II as Japan's greatest living ace. This book traces his experiences from fighter-pilot school to the early Japanese victories; from his 600 mile fight for life from Guadalcanal to his base in Rabaul, to the story of the now handicapped veteran's return to the air during the final months of World War II. This book has been written by Martin Caidin from Saburo Sakai's own memoirs and journalist Fred Saito's interviews with the fighter pilot. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: I Books (January 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743412834
• ISBN-13: 978-0743412834
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Japanese

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid look at the Pacific war from the other perspective., January 27, 2003

By 

Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Samurai! (Paperback)

Saburo Sakai was a national hero in Japan as its greatest surviving air ace of world war two. This book is his story. It is a fascinating and honest look at the air war in the Pacific from the Japanese perspective. Sakai is shown to have been a patriotic and heroic fighter, who, like most soldiers, gave little thought to the politics of the war. Like young men in many lands in many times, when his country called, he answered.

Sakai gives us an honest assessment of both sides as regards the Pacific air war. There is little or no jingoism here. He highlights some of the critical mistakes that the Japanese navy made in the war--one of which was that before the war the Navy only turned out about 100 pilots a year--not remotely enough for the total war Japan was about to wage against the world's greatest industrial power. The standards for entering and graduating from the Naval air training course in Japan were unreasonably high, and simply prevented the country from producing the number of pilots it would come to need. When the Americans eliminated over 300 Japanese pilots in 3 days at the Battle of Midway, Japan never recovered the loss of these trained men. On the other hand, Sakai reminds the American reader that in the Japanese America faced a motivated, intelligent, and very brave foe deriving from a violent military tradition.

The book also includes some very interesting glimpses at the Japanese home front during the war. Life in prewar Japan was hard for the lower classes--sufficiently hard that even the savage discipline (which Sakai describes at length) of the Japanese Navy appeared to be a reasonable alternative to the grinding poverty he otherwise faced.

Overall, a wonderful look at "the other side of the hill" and into the mind of one of World War Two's greatest air combat pilots.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest pilot memoir to emerge from World War II., January 1, 2002

By 

Jason W. Smith (Texas - United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Samurai! (Classics of Naval Literature) (Hardcover)

I first read this book in in the eighth grade. It was so good in fact, that I literally did not put it down. I have read it three times since, and it has not lost its freshness nor its impact.

The highest scoring Japanese ace to survive World War II, Sakai's book was the first of its kind--a first hand account from the "enemy's" persepective. It was astoundingly popular and Sakai became somewhat of a hero in the United States (to this day he receives countless letters, all of which he answers). [Note: Sakai died of a heart attack in October of 2000.]

His story chronicles the rise and fall of not only the Japanese Naval Air Forces, but Japan itself. The thrill of victory and the bitterness of defeat are crystal clear. It is amazing that a story translated from one language to another can be so vivid and engrossing.

For a brilliant history lesson about the Pacific War during World War II that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this is the one. Through it all, you are there with Sakai be it in the cockpit or on the operating table. The "Classics of Naval Literature Series" version is superior to all others (for reasons explained in its FOREWORD). Highly recommended.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The single best book of Japanese WW2 aviation, December 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai! (Classics of Naval Literature) (Hardcover)

In the Naval Air Museum bookstore when I was 14, the kindly sales rep (a retired F4F Wildcat pilot) recommended this book to me. I practically memorized it. This is the inspiring story of Saburo Sakai, one of the few Japanese pilots to survive the entire war. Highly readable, gripping, informative, and pretty accurate, although as an Imperial Japanese NAVY pilot, Sakai is a bit too hard on his Army counterparts. But any serious student of the Pacific Theater simply must read this. Take it from me-- I've been into WW2 history all my literate life, and Samurai! is one of the unforgettable highlights.