The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944

by Ian W. Toll Narrated by P.J. Ochlan

Overview

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island.

This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas. It was the largest, bloodiest, most costly, most technically innovative and logistically complicated amphibious war in history, and it fostered bitter interservice rivalries, leaving wounds that even victory could not heal.

Often overlooked, these are the years and fights that decided the Pacific War. Ian W. Toll's battle scenes - in the air, at sea, and in the jungles - are simply riveting. He also takes the listener into the wartime councils in Washington and Tokyo, where politics and strategy often collided, and into the struggle to mobilize wartime production, which was the secret of Allied victory. Brilliantly researched, the narrative is propelled and colored by firsthand accounts - letters, diaries, debriefings, and memoirs - that are the raw material of the telling details, shrewd judgment, and penetrating insight of this magisterial history.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Walter R. Borneman

The Conquering Tide picks up where [Toll's] Pacific Crucible left off and provides a gripping narrative of the central Pacific campaign…Toll is strong on the operational details of battle, but he is no less skilled at presenting something that is frequently missing from military histories, a well-rounded depiction of the home front on both sides.

Publishers Weekly

07/06/2015
This solid second volume in naval historian Toll’s planned three-volume history of the U.S. Navy in the WWII’s Pacific Theater (after 2012’s Pacific Crucible) follows the campaign from the summer of 1942 through the summer of 1944. Those two years constituted the critical period where the war’s momentum shifted from the Japanese to the Americans. Based on archival and respected secondary sources, the work focuses on the Central Pacific and begins with the Guadalcanal campaign, with Toll clearly describing the narrow American victory. Through the book’s middle he describes the strategic decision-making that drove the direction of the campaign. Toll diverges into specialized topics that parallel or compliment the major naval campaign, including submarine warfare, naval logistics, and activities on the home front and within industry. The work ends with him addressing the decisive victory of U.S. forces in the battle for the Marianas Islands, where American numerical and technological superiority unmistakably pointed toward the war’s inevitable outcome. Toll has an engaging writing style and he deftly weaves biographical sketches of the strategic leadership together with strong descriptions of the tactical battles and personal combat narratives. Experts may find nits to pick, but this is an accessible and balanced overview for lay history buffs. (Sept.)

Walter R. Borneman

"A gripping narrative of the central Pacific campaign…. Toll is strong on the operational details of battle, but he is no less skilled at presenting something that is frequently missing from military histories, a well-rounded depiction of the home front on both sides."

Dallas Morning News - S. I. Dunn

"Heavily researched…. Toll’s absorbing text flows smoothly and quickly, helped along by anecdotes and stories involving combatants and political leaders on both sides."

Evan Thomas

"In The Conquering Tide, Ian Toll takes his place as one of the great storytellers of war. He is equally vivid and commanding describing landing on a carrier at night, making grand strategy in Washington, and brawling in a bar in Australia. Toll is a master; he is writing for the ages."

Wall Street Journal - Jonathan W. Jordan

"A beautiful blend of history and prose and proves again Mr. Toll’s mastery of the naval-war narrative, carrying the reader smoothly from the marble halls of Washington to the Pacific’s gritty, red-stained beaches."

James D. Hornfischer

"A lucid and learned exposition of the grand chess match between high commanders in the middle years of the Pacific War, vividly evoking the grit and gristle of its many horrors and triumphs. Ian W. Toll is a superb historian whose writing appeals to both the head and the heart."

Library Journal

★ 06/01/2015
World War II has generated enormous amounts of literature, and there's no shortage of studies on the American struggle against the Japanese empire after Pearl Harbor. Best-selling author Toll (Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy) has plans for a three-volume treatment of the Pacific contest, and this book, the second in the trilogy, is a worthy successor to Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942, which dealt with the period between the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941) and the Battle of Midway (June 1942). Toll's well-written narrative carries the action forward from the Battle of Midway to the summer of 1944. Told with verve, this account sweeps the reader along with a fascinating detailing of the personalities and strategy on both sides of this grim series of battles on the water and in the air. VERDICT Toll successfully captures the drama and excitement of the Pacific War. Readers of military history will anticipate the final volume in this excellent history that should be a part of every library's collection on World War II. [See Prepub Alert, 3/23/15.]—Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2015-05-06
The second volume of naval historian Toll's Pacific War trilogy (Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific: 1941-1942, 2011, etc.). The author's interspersing of personal tales of World War II with the official histories not only brings the action to life, but also clarifies certain facts advanced in personal memoirs. Focusing on the theater led by Chester Nimitz, Toll conscientiously presents characterizations of the Navy, Air Force, and Marine leaders. The divisions of the Pacific theater between the Army and Navy resulted from Gen. Douglas MacArthur's demands for sole leadership, and the bitter rivalries between the services plagued leaders throughout the war, greatly affecting communications and targets. The author devotes a considerable portion of the book to the battle for Guadalcanal, as the fighter and bomber squadrons and naval bombardments paved the way for amphibious landings. With almost as much information about the Japanese leaders as the Americans, Toll's wide view of the Pacific war is enlightening. He lauds the submariners whose primary job was to eliminate Japanese provisioning by sinking merchant shipping and tankers. The policy of hopscotching islands sped up Allied victories, and they avoided invading chosen islands, using bombardment and aerial bombing to neutralize them. The decisive capture of the Marianas in July 1944 signaled the end of Japan's war, but it would take another year to convince them. Toll provides a solid picture of the mindset of the Japanese: their horror of surrender, their rigidity in operational procedures, which made them easy to predict, the rivalries that far surpassed those of the Allies, and the obdurate demands of Emperor Hirohito to fight to the death. Just as well-researched and -written as the first volume, this story of how air and submarine power replaced the Navy's reliance on battleships is an education for all and an enjoyable read in the bargain.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169785449
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/21/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	529,164

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