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A good introduction to the topic, although I will say I much preferred Hampton Sides Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Missionas a single battle story of a similar time. It also gives a good idea of the "fog of war" and how easy it is for results to be innacurately reported and then misunderstood. Evan Thomas' naval history of the last surface fleet battle in WWII is well written and an exciting read, although I suspect serious military history buffs will find it a "history-lite" version. The book is strong when it focuses on the personalities of the four major characters: on the American side, Admiral William Halsey, and destroyer captain Ernest Evans and on the Japanese side Admiral Takeo Kurita and Admiral Matomi Ugaki.
Well done. Now that these events are 50 years in the past, much more material is available and the readers benefit. The author is at his best making sense of action spread across the Pacific and the personalities that shaped the battle.
It would probably make a decent introduction to the naval side of the Pacific War. How very simplistic.Sea Of Thunder isn't a bad book. Ernest Evans, the commander of a destroyer at Leyte Gulf who was killed while fighting a superior Japanese force, is attacked, with 63 years of hindsight, for being "foolhardy." Vice Admirals Matome Ugaki and Takeo Kurita are portrayed in a sympathetic light, but Thomas seems intent on reducing the entire Japanese military establishment to brutish war criminals and noble zen warriors.
Mostly, I was reminded of older, better books that weren't quite as readable but at least gave me a whole lot more to chew on.To be fair, Evan Thomas does provide some interesting insights into the Fog of War and the problems of divided command. Thomas's character depictions range from being insightful to large cliche. The back cover of "Sea of Thunder" is littered with glowing praise on the book's "jaw dropping psychological insights," "impressive scholarship," and "brilliant penetrating studies." Perhaps I'm just a cranky old amateur naval historians, but nowhere in the previous 415 pages did I find much approaching this level of hype.
Halsey is largely idolized for the first third and harshly criticized for the remainder. Still, it's Military History Lite at it's most obvious, riddled with technical errors and written with too much modern-day politically correct hindsight for it's own good. If you find serious naval history intimidating, you'll probably enjoy Thomas's easygoing writing style and general avoidance of complex technical and strategic factors.Unfortunately, I found "Sea of Thunder" to be largely uninspiring and milquetoast.
Just about everything it describes - the battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese warrior mentality, the racist attitudes of both sides, Halsey's command failures, and so on - has been done before and done better as well.
If anything this provides an interesting summary without going in-depth into too many battle details. Evan Thomas delivers another excellent naval history in his work on the pacific battles of World War II. For those who have read widely on World War II this will probably not add much to their understanding as it is largely an overview but if you are new to the subject this is a great place to start to get the basics along with the perspectives of the soldiers. While assessing many of the events that led to the US domination and the fall of the Japanese navy, the book spends most of its time recreating the battle of Letey Gulf. While this is a massive topic to take on in a one volume work Thomas does it well addressing the men who fought and the tactical maneuvers that determined the outcomes of the battles. Focusing on the main commanders who fought it goes really beyond four to address the majority of the major players giving a fair look at each and their contributions to the pacific theater.
I especially enjoyed learning about the key Japanese generals, something I knew little about. This is a well researched and well written book.
For myself, someone with a general interest in history, this book mostly kept my attention, and I learned a lot. For those with a great interest in WW2 naval warfare, this book is sure to engage.
This book starts and ends well. In between those introductions and the battle, the book is a bit slow.
It is good, readable history. I loved the beginning, where we get introduced to key figures on both the American and Japanese sides.
The last third of the book is on the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and is pretty fascinating reading.
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