Eagle Against the Sun

The American War With Japan

By: Ronald H. Spector

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

Historian Ronald H. Spector, drawing on declassified intelligence files, an abundance of British and American archival material, Japanese scholarship and documents, and the research and memoirs of scholars, politicians, and the military men, presents a thrilling narrative of American war in the Pacific.

Spector reassesses US and Japanese strategy and offers some provocative interpretations. He shows that the dual advance across the Pacific by MacArthur and Nimitz was less a product of strategic calculation and more a pragmatic solution to bureaucratic, doctrinal, and public relations problems facing the Army and Navy. He also argues that Japan made its fatal error not in the Midway campaign but in abandoning its offensive strategy after that defeat and allowing itself to be drawn into a war of attrition.

Combining impeccable research with electrifying detail, Spector vividly recreates the major battles, little-known campaigns, and unfamiliar events of this brutal 44-month struggle.

©1985 Ronald H. Spector (P)2019 Tantor

if you want a detailed history...

if you want a detailed history of WWII in the Pacific, then: this is it

Great Introduction

This is a classic overview of the Pacific War that has largely stood the test of time.

Great Book

Great book about the war. Told with great detail and historical prescience. Well written. Great voice artist.

In depth coverage of WW2 Japan vs USA

This is one of most thorough books on WW2 vs Japan. I’ve read/listened to many WW2 history books and this one shows different ideas.

A fine book and a decent narration

This book gives a good overview of American military perspective on the Pacific Theater, with some insight into the Japanese mentality. It is definitely not a book about the general American perspective, nor about the political aspects. This one reserves itself to talking about the military alone. Personally, I'd prefer a book with broader perspective than just that, but this does pretty well for the topics that it does take on.

History as a circle.

The fault of humanity lies in the faults found in the people and organizations detailed in this book -- communication and organization. The amount of lying (input/output) to redirect, siphon resources, or troops allayed the abilities of all invloved to conduct a properly thought out strategy diplomatically or militarily prior, during or after the war.

The same problems persist, albeit in drips and drabs, though if one believes a world conflagration is not on the horizon is not paying attention.

a broad survey of the Pacific War Theatre.

The book is very broad and covers much of the Pacific Conflict between The United States and Japan though not always in great detail. informative for someone new to the Subject but may lack depth for aficionados of the conflict.

Excellent

Great overview. Just enough detail so the story can be told in an acceptable amount of time.

Required reading

I am a junior historian of the Pacific War and have read, to date, a zillion books on this portion of that great conflict. This book is simply marvelous in its scope, breadth and detail. A great overview read with excellent diction and just enough factual (read dry) statistics to make it one of my all time favs.

Informative, dry and suffers from narrator's perf.

I bought this for a general overview of the pacific. It's a great book. But its scope is so large it is easy to space out. The narrator's performance is lack luster and very much radio voice-esk. Less entertaining than Neptune's Inferno by Hornfischer which is how I came across Eagle Against the Sun.
That being said this is a classic benchmark for this theater and I'm glad I got it done. I'm better off for it being in the library.