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The Pacific

by Ambrose, Hugh.

Format: Large Print 2011
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Large Print Non-Fiction LP 940.5426 A41
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Large Print Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  LP 940.5426 A41
 
 

Summary
A New York Times Bestseller -- Companion to the HBO#65533; miniseriesBetween America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, five men connected by happenstance fought the key battles of the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, their solemn oaths to their country later led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home.In The Pacific, Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of the five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as The Pacific and the brave men who fought.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "A project conceived by the late historian Stephen Ambrose and carried through by his son, this work tracks several marines and a navy pilot through WWII in the Pacific Ocean. If extant combat memoirs render several names in this group recognizable to serious WWII readers (and form the foundation of Ambrose's chronicle), a new HBO combat drama advertised on Super Bowl XLIV no less that debuts in tandem with the book will accord even wider renown to the warriors. Inhabiting the same volume, the main characters, nevertheless, enact separate narratives that cross intermittently in battles such as the harrowing amphibious landings on Peleliu and Iwo Jima and the ghastly campaigns on Guadalcanal and Okinawa. The account of the pilot is even more autonomous, because it is framed by aircraft-carrier warfare at Midway and elsewhere. Although structurally this work collects more than unifies the biographies, its author's original research, which textures the five individuals, should rekindle interest in Ambrose's sources classics in war literature such as Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow (1957) or Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed (1981).--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "In this follow-up to his late father's Band of Brothers, which tracked a single army unit from Georgia to the battlefields of Europe, historian Ambrose turns his attention to the Pacific theater, following four individual marines and one Naval Aviator through their time in combat. The book opens with the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the capture of U.S. Forces on the Bataan peninsula and Corregidor Island. First-hand accounts from U.S. combatants describe vividly the horrific conditions of the island-hopping campaign and the ferocity of the fighting, but also the lengths to which young men would go to join up: subject Eugene B. Sledge purposely flunked out of college to enlist in the Marine Corps. Captain Austin Shofner recounts the brutality of his internment in a Japanese prison war camp, his daring escape, fighting alongside Philippine guerillas, and his eventual repatriation with the U.S. Marine Corps. Ambrose also reveals how, at the time, many marines expressed contempt for Gen. MacArthur, receiving accolades back home while they made halting, bloody progress across such islands as Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Doing for the war against Japan what Band of Brothers did for the war against Germany, Ambrose's history effectively immerses readers in the Good War's second front. (Mar.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information."

Additional Information
Subjects United States. -- Marine Corps -- Biography.
United States. -- Marine Corps -- History -- World War, 1939-1945.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Pacific Area.
Marines -- United States -- Biography.
Large type books.
Publisher Thorndike, Me. :Large Print Press,2011
Edition Large print ed.
Other Titles Pacific (Television program)
Pacific :
Language English
Notes The official companion book to the HBO miniseries.
Description 1033 pages (large print) : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 9781594134678 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1594134677 (pbk. : alk. paper)
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