War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay Review

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(More customer reviews)I was very disappointed with this book. Considering that it was published in 1995, I was shocked at the amount of out-of-date and incorrect information it contained. You would be better off purchasing the biased but informative volumes written by Morrison. In fact, this book is little more than a rehash of previous works.
I was particularly struck by blatant errors contained in this book. Three examples will suffice:
1. The reference on page 195 (paperback version) to the Japanese Battleship 'Kumano.' There was no such ship. There was a 'cruiser' of that name however.
2. The everchanging description of the Japanese Battleship 'Ise.' Page 153: it's a 'battleship.' On Page 354 it's a 'half-carrier.' On page 363 it's a 'converted battleship.' And on page 478 it's a 'battleship' again. This may seem minor but it indicates a complete ignorance on the part of the author that the ship was modified ONCE with a deck added in place of the aft 14" gun turrets. This was not explained and an uninformed reader may be confused or assume that there is more than one 'Ise.' It also raises the possibility that the author's research in some places goes little beyond quoting other sources uncritically.
3. The bizarre restating of the since-discredited (or at least now much in doubt) theory that the American submarine 'Nautilus' sank the Japanese Carrier 'Soryu' during the battle of Midway. This was shocking to me since one of the books listed in the bibliography lays to rest this apparently false notion (Fuchida's 'Midway' which the author should have read-- he clearly didn't). It was the 'Kaga' the sub attempted to torpedo: and the torpedos all failed to detonate or hit the carrier. NOTE: Part of the 'Kaga's' remains have been located in the Pacific. The 'Soryu' may be near-by...
I lastly note that I am not an expert on United States Naval History during the Second World War. I am however a former history teacher and have had a life-long interest in this subject. I point this out because I strongly suspect that many other errors are contained in this book which I simply failed to notice.

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