The Conquering Tide (105 page)

Potter, E. B., and Chester W. Nimitz.
The Great Sea War: The Story of Naval Action in World War II
. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1960.

Pyle, Ernie.
Last Chapter
. New York: H. Holt, 1946.

Radike, Floyd W.
Across the Dark Islands: The War in the Pacific
. New York: Presidio Press / Ballantine, 2003.

Raines, James Orvill.
Good Night Officially: The Pacific War Letters of a Destroyer Sailor: The Letters of Yeoman James Orvill Raines
, ed. William M. McBride. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994.

Ralph, Barry.
They Passed This Way: The United States of America, the States of Australia, and World War II
. East Roseville, NSW, Australia: Kangaroo Press, 2000.

Raymer, Edward C.
Descent into Darkness: Pearl Harbor, 1941: A Navy Diver's Memoir
. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1996.

Reporting World War II
. 2 vols. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1995.

Reynolds, Clark G.
On the Warpath in the Pacific: Admiral Jocko Clark and the Fast Carriers
. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.

Richardson, K. D., and Paul Stillwell.
Reflections of Pearl Harbor: An Oral History of December 7, 1941.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

Rogal, William W.
Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Beyond: A Mud Marine's Memoir of the Pacific Island War.
Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.

Rose, Lisle A.
The Ship That Held the Line: The USS Hornet and the First Year of the Pacific War
. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

Rosenau, James N., ed.
The Roosevelt Treasury
. 1st ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1951.

Rosenman, Samuel Irving.
Working with Roosevelt.
New York: Harper, 1952.

Russell, Dale.
Hell Above, Deep Water Below.
Tillamook, OR: Bayocean Enterprises, 1995.

Russell, Ronald W.
No Right to Win: A Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of the Battle of Midway.
New York: iUniverse, 2006.

Sakai, Saburo, with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito.
Samurai
. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1956.

Schaller, Michael.
Douglas MacArthur: The Far Eastern General
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Sears, Stephen W., ed.
Eyewitness to World War II: The Best of American Heritage
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Shenk, Robert, ed.
Authors at Sea: Modern American Writers Remember Their Naval Service.
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997.

Sherman, Frederick C.
Combat Command: The American Aircraft Carriers in the Pacific War.
New York: E. P. Dutton, 1950.

Sherrod, Robert.
Tarawa: The Story of a Battle
. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1944.

Sherwood, Robert E.
Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History
. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948.

Shillony, Ben-Ami.
Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan
. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

Smith, Douglas V.
Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way
. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006.

Smith, Holland M., and Percy Finch.
Coral and Brass
. New York: Scribner, 1949.

Smith, Merriman.
Thank You, Mr. President: A White House Notebook
. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946.

Smith, Rex Alan, and Gerald A. Meehl.
Pacific War Stories: In the Words of Those Who Survived
. New York: Abbeville Press, 2011.

Smith, S. E.
The Battle of Savo
. New York: Macfadden-Bartell, 1962.

Smyth, Robert T.
Sea Stories.
New York: iUniverse, 2004.

Solberg, Carl.
Decision and Dissent: With Halsey at Leyte Gulf
. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

Sommers, Sam.
Combat Carriers, and My Brushes with History: World War II, 1939–1946
. Montgomery, AL: Black Belt, 1997.

Spector, Ronald H.
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan.
New York: Free Press, 1984.

Stafford, Edward Peary.
The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
. New York: Random House, 1962.

Starr, Kevin.
Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940–1950
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Sterling, Forest.
Wake of the Wahoo
. Riverside, CA: R. A. Cline, 1999.

Stevenson, Robert Louis, and Jenni Calder.
Island Landfalls: Reflections from the South Seas
. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1987.

Stillwell, Paul, ed.
Air Raid, Pearl Harbor! Recollections of a Day of Infamy
. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981.

Stimson, Henry L., and McGeorge Bundy.
On Active Service in Peace and War
. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1947.

Stoler, Mark A.
Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and U.S. Strategy in World War II
. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Tagaya, Osamu.
Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator 1937–45
. Oxford: Osprey, 2003.

Takeyama, Michio.
The Scars of War: Tokyo During World War II: The Writings of Takeyama Michio
, ed. Richard H. Minear. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.

Taylor, Theodore.
The Magnificent Mitscher
. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991.

Terasaki, Gwen.
Bridge to the Sun: A Memoir of Love and War
. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1957.

Tillman, Barrett.
Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II.
New York: New American Library, 2005.

Toland, John.
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945.
New York: Random House, 1970.

Tolischus, Otto David.
Through Japanese Eyes
. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945.

Tregaskis, Richard.
Guadalcanal Diary
. New York: Random House, 1943.

Twining, Merrill B., and Neil G. Carey.
No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal: The Memoir of Gen. Merrill B. Twining USMC (Ret.)
. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1996.

Ugaki, Matome.
Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941–1945
, trans. Masataka Chihaya. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991.

Vandegrift, A. A., and Robert B. Asprey.
Once a Marine: The Memoirs of General A. A. Vandegrift, United States Marine Corps
. 1st. ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1964.

Victoria, Brian Daizen.
Zen at War
. New York: Weatherhill, 1997.

Weinberg, Gerhard L.
Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

________.
A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Werneth, Ron, ed.
Beyond Pearl Harbor: The Untold Stories of Japan's Naval Airmen
. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2008.

Westcott, Allan, ed.
Mahan on Naval Warfare: Selections from the Writings of Rear Admiral Alfred T. Mahan
. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1999.

White, William Lindsay.
They Were Expendable
. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1942.

Wolfert, Ira.
Battle for the Solomons
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1943.

Wooldridge, E. T., ed.
Carrier Warfare in the Pacific: An Oral History Collection
. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1993.

Wukovits, John F.
One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa
. New York: NAL Caliber, 2006.

Yamashita, Samuel Hideo, ed.
Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies: Selections from the Wartime Diaries of Ordinary Japanese
. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005.

Yoshimura, Akira.
Battleship Musashi: The Making and Sinking of the World's Biggest Battleship
, trans. Vincent Murphy. New York: Kodansha International, 1999.

________.
Zero Fighter
. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.

Zich, Arthur, and the Editors of Time-Life Books.
The Rising Sun
. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1977.

Articles

Arlen, Lorna. “The Year in Retrospect.”
Paradise of the Pacific
, December 1944. (Reprinted in Dye, ed.,
Hawaii Chronicles II
, p. 217.)

Baldwin, Hanson W. “Solomons Action Develops into Battle for South Pacific.”
New York Times
, September 27, 1942.

________. “U.S. Hold in Solomons Bolstered; Damage to Japanese Fleet in Stewart
Islands Battle Strengthens Guadalcanal's ‘Hell, Yes, We'll Stay' Stand.”
New York Times
, November 3, 1942.

Beach, Edward L. “Culpable Negligence.”
American Heritage
, December 1980. (Reprinted in Sears, ed.,
Eyewitness to World War II
.)

“Bull's-Eye.”
Time
, July 23, 1945.

Danton, Lt. J. Periam. “The Battle of the Philippine Sea.”
Proceedings
(U.S. Naval Institute), Vol. 71, Part 2, September 1945.

Downes, Lawrence. “How a War Was Won and a City Vanished at Pearl Harbor.”
New York Times
, December 7, 2006.

Clark, J. J. “The Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
American Heritage
, October 1967. (Reprinted in Sears, ed.,
Eyewitness to World War II
.)

Hammer, Captain Harry D. “Organized Confusion.”
Proceedings
(U.S. Naval Institute), Vol. 73, Part 1, April 1947.

Hersey, John. “The Sinking of the Wasp.”
Time
, November 2, 1942.

“Honolulu: Island Boomtown.”
Paradise of the Pacific
, May 1944. (Reprinted in Dye, ed.,
Hawaii Chronicles II
, pp. 186–89.)

“Interracial Marriage in Hawaii.”
Paradise of the Pacific
, October 1944. (Reprinted in Dye, ed.,
Hawaii Chronicles II
, p. 212.)

Kittredge, George William. “Savo Island: The Worst Defeat.”
Naval History
, August 2002.

Kristof, Nicholas D. “Shoichi Yokoi, 82, Is Dead; Japan Soldier Hid 27 Years.”
New York Times
, September 26, 1997.

Lake, M. “The Desire for a Yank: Sexual Relations Between Australian Women and American Servicemen During World War II.”
Journal of the History of Sexuality
, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1992, p. 623.

Lamar, H. Arthur. “I Saw Stars.” Fredericksburg, Texas: Admiral Nimitz Foundation, 1985.

Lippmann, Walter. “The Awkward Giant.”
Washington Post
, August 25, 1942.

Lodge, J. Norman. “Halsey Predicts Victory This Year.” Associated Press. (Reprinted in
New York Times
, January 3, 1943.)

“Mid-Pacific Stronghold.”
New York Times
, December 27, 1943.

Ramage, James D. “Raid on Truk.” Online at
http://www.cv6.org/1944/truk/
(accessed October 4, 2014).

“Return Visit.”
Time
, February 28, 1944.

“Sacrifice Will Win, Says Admiral King.”
New York Times
, June 20, 1942.

Sherrod, Robert. “Marines' Show.”
Time
, December 6, 1943.

“ ‘Shocking' Street Scenes at Night: Lord Mayor Disgusted.”
Herald
, June 3, 1942.

Sullivan, Walter. “The Ship Ahead Just Disappeared.”
New York Times Magazine
, May 7, 1995.

Trumbull, Robert. “All Out with Halsey!”
New York Times Magazine
, December 6, 1942.

________. “Big Bombers Won.”
New York Times
, June 12, 1942.

________. “Repair: VI.” December 19, 1942, 1. Unpublished dispatch (rejected by navy censor). Online at
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/20061207_pearl6.pdf
(accessed April 4, 2013).

Vollinger, John. “The World War II Memoirs of John Vollinger.” Online at http://www.janesoceania.com/ww2_johann_memoirs (September 12, 2012).

Wallin, Homer N. “Rejuvenation at Pearl Harbor.”
Proceedings
(U.S. Naval Institute), Vol. 2, No. 526, December 1946.

“Washington in Wartime.”
Life
, Vol. 14, No. 1, January 4, 1943.

Wilson, Cory. “War Workers as a Social Group.”
Paradise of the Pacific
, August 1944. (Reprinted in Dye, ed.,
Hawaii Chronicles II
, p. 201.)

Wilson, Willard. “Soldier and a Jukebox.”
Paradise of the Pacific
, December 1944. (Reprinted in Dye, ed.,
Hawaii Chronicles II
, p. 215.)

Zurlinden, Pete. “Prelude to Saipan, 15 June, 1944.”
Proceedings
(U.S. Naval Institute), Vol. 73, Part 1, May 1947.

AUTHOR'S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A decade ago, as I began the long work of assembling the research for a multivolume history of the Pacific War, I had to overcome some doubts in my own mind. A few minutes browsing in any large bookstore or library was enough to remind one of the vast historical literature of the Second World War. Even considering only the most recent publishing cycle—say, titles brought out since 1990—there appeared to be enough on the shelves to occupy even the most voracious history buff for a lifetime of reading. Was it possible, I asked myself, for any writer to add anything useful to the sea of ink that has already been spilled on World War II?

Wading chest-deep into this metaphorical sea, my misgivings soon fell away and were replaced by growing conviction in the justice of my cause. As large as the World War II literature is, it is strikingly lopsided. Certain aspects of the great conflict have been worked over to the point of exhaustion, while others have been surprisingly neglected. Studies of the Allied high command have never quite succeeded in pulling together a convincing across-the-board account of its deliberations and decisions affecting the Pacific theater. The Allies made “Europe-first” the basis of their global strategy—they agreed to regard Nazi Germany as the prime enemy, to be defeated first—but the Americans could never afford to treat the Pacific as an afterthought. The essential role of Admiral Ernest J. King, the relatively obscure wartime leader of the U.S. Navy, who insisted on an early Pacific counteroffensive over the objections of virtually everyone else whose opinion mattered, has for various reasons been overlooked or undervalued. There has been a propensity (axiomatic of all military history, one might say) to treat land campaigns as the “main plot” while demoting naval operations to the status of a subgenre to be handled by specialists. In the case of the Pacific War, that tendency has done real damage. A glance at a map of the Pacific
will drive home the point: the war against Japan was chiefly a naval and air campaign, in which the destruction of the Japanese fleet was the basic strategic problem. Conquering islands was never a goal in itself, and when an enemy-held island served no purpose it was simply bypassed, its occupiers left to “wither on the vine.” Specialized amphibious forces seized an island only if it was needed as a new sea or air base, with an airstrip carved out of the jungle and a harbor blasted out of the coral, to allow the fleet and bombers to consolidate their westward advance and gather strength for the next offensive thrust. The naval campaign belongs at the narrative spine of any history of the Pacific War, and I have worked in that spirit.