THE TURNING POINTS IN THE PACIFIC
The Pacific War
2010
NON-FICTIONOffers an introduction to the Pacific War, including such topics as the opening amphibious operations and Japanese naval strategy after Midway.
Corsair Aces of World War 2
1999
NON-FICTIONNeptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
2011
NON-FICTIONDefinitive account of the brutal naval campaign for Guadalcanal, covering six major sea battles fought in Iron Bottom Sound.
Enemy at the Gates
1973
NON-FICTIONThe definitive account of the Battle of Stalingrad, told through the eyes of soldiers on both sides.
The Longest Day
1959
NON-FICTIONClassic account of the Normandy invasion from all perspectives — Allied, German, and French civilian.
Miracle at Midway
1982
NON-FICTIONDetailed reconstruction of the battle that turned the tide in the Pacific.
Kursk 1943
2013
NON-FICTIONAuthoritative account of the greatest tank battle in history.
An Army at Dawn
2002
NON-FICTIONPulitzer Prize-winning first volume of Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy covering the North Africa campaign.
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
1981
MEMOIROne of the most powerful firsthand accounts of combat ever written. A U.S. Marine's unsparing memoir of the Pacific island-hopping campaign.
Band of Brothers
1992
NON-FICTIONThe story of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, from D-Day to the end of the war in Europe. Basis for the HBO miniseries.
The Road to Stalingrad
1975
NON-FICTIONFirst volume of Erickson's monumental two-volume history of the Soviet-German war, covering the catastrophic opening campaigns through the winter of 1942.
Guadalcanal Diary
1943
MEMOIRWar correspondent's firsthand diary of the Marines' desperate first weeks on Guadalcanal — one of the earliest eyewitness accounts of WWII Pacific combat.
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War
1980
MEMOIRManchester revisits the Pacific battlefields of his youth, weaving personal memoir with historical narrative across Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, and Okinawa.
Citizen Soldiers
1997
NON-FICTIONThe story of the American infantryman in the ETO from the breakout after D-Day to the fall of Germany, based on hundreds of veteran interviews.
On War
1832
NON-FICTIONThe foundational text of Western military theory. Clausewitz's analysis of war's nature, strategy, and the relationship between war and politics.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
2005
NON-FICTIONRevisionist operational account of Midway from the Japanese perspective, drawing on previously unavailable Japanese records to overturn the conventional American narrative.
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
2004
NON-FICTIONThe story of the Battle off Samar — when a tiny force of destroyers and destroyer escorts charged the most powerful Japanese surface fleet of the war to defend the Leyte Gulf invasion.
Peleliu 1944: The Forgotten Corner of Hell
2005
NON-FICTIONHarrowing account of the First Marine Division's assault on Peleliu — one of the bloodiest and most controversial battles of the Pacific War, fought over an island of questionable strategic value.
Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945
2010
NON-FICTIONComprehensive account of the strategic bombing campaign against Japan, covering B-29 operations, fighter escort tactics, and the firebombing raids that preceded the atomic bombs.
Kokoda
2004
NON-FICTIONThe dramatic story of Australian and American troops fighting Japanese forces along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea — the campaign that stopped Japan's advance toward Australia.