Read this book!
Every American should read this book. It is William Manchester's memoir of the Pacific War of World War II, as he saw it. Manchester, who later became one of the most distinguished of American Writers, was a sergeant in the USMC and fought nearly every one of the bloody island campaigns of that war. His is a history, written by a gifted historian, from the viewpoint of the ?sharp end? of combat. No studious academic can approach the insights that he took from seeing the battles of those blood soaked sands.
In the Pacific war, the USA had divided its command: Admiral Nimitz, under whom Manchester served, took the Eastern part of the Pacific, and General MacArthur took the Western part. Manchester, although recognizing the vanity and theatricality of the great General, says that MacArthur was much to be admired as the theater commander of World War Two who was most careful not to waste the lives of American troops. That is enough to secure his reputation against all the revisionists who write today.
