Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

On the first Sunday 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. 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.

Ian W. Toll's dramatic narrative encompasses both the high command and the sailor's-eye view from the lower deck. Relying predominantly on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that has revised our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in the country's highest circles thought they could win. The result is a page-turning history that does justice to the breadth and depth of a tremendous subject.

Author: Ian W. Toll
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 11/14/2011
Pages: 640
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.32lbs
Size: 9.56h x 6.38w x 1.65d
ISBN: 9780393068139

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2011 pg. 82
Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/01/2011 pg. 82
Publishers Weekly 08/15/2011
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2011
Booklist 11/01/2011 pg. 6
New York Times Book Review 11/27/2011 pg. 30
Choice 07/01/2012