World War II Book Group

The World War II Book Group will discuss Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian Toll (Norton, $19.95).  In December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative.  This dramatic narrative is laced with riveting details of heroism and sacrifice on the stricken ships and planes of both navies. At the war’s outset, Japan’s pilots and planes enjoyed a clear-cut superiority to their American counterparts, but there was a price to be paid. Combat losses, of either pilots or planes, could not be replaced in time to match the fully mobilized American war machine. Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that revises our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in their highest circles thought they could win.

Event date: 

Monday, May 23, 2016 - 2:00pm
Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (The Pacific War Trilogy #1) By Ian W. Toll Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9780393343410
Availability: Not on our shelves. Usually arrives at The Bookworm in 4-7 days from distributor/publisher.
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - November 26th, 2012

Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.