Customer Reviews

Struggle for Guadalcanal: August 1942 - February 1943 - Volume 5

5 star:		(3)
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I more I read of Naval history, the more I appreciate how enormously insightful Morison was. He spent the entire duration of the war aboard various ships, knew the participants personally in many cases, and captured the full scope and significance of events. A great writer besides. Marvelous stuff.

This entire series is a great repository of information on the US Navy during WWII. The author's writing style makes this more like a fiction book then a fantastic history series.

In 1942, author and historian Samuel Eliot Morison was recruited by the United States Navy, and commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander, to document naval activity during the second World War. Eventually Morison's work stretched to fifteen volumes(!) and became widely recognized as one the best histories in its category. This book, volume 5 of the series, was first published in 1949, when the war was still very much a part of living memory.

The book covers the struggle between the United States and the Japanese Empire over the island of Guadalcanal. The book begins with a very interesting history of the island, and then launches into an in-depth examination of the various battles fought on, over, and around the island.

As for me, I found it to be a very interesting book. I must admit that I have not read the other books in the series, but this one certainly shows me why the series became as world-renown as it did! My one and only complaint is that because the book was written so soon after the war, the United States government had not yet admitted the extent of its successes in breaking the Japanese codes, so that part of the war effort is not discussed at all.

But, that said, this is still perhaps the best book ever written on the Guadalcanal campaign, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in that part of World War 2!