The Conquering Tide

War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944

By: Ian W. Toll

Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan

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.

©2015 Ian W. Toll (P)2015 Recorded Books

Outstanding

Once again Toll captured the detail and understanding of the Pacific conflict. An outstanding narrative with a great narrator. Couldn't recommend this one enough

absence of a natural conclusion.

I felt disappointed that the author did not bring the story to its natural conclusion which was the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. there was no discussion of Okinawa. nor of the political situation in both Japan and the US which concluded with the decision to use the A-bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. it seemed a strange way to end the story.

Great history

This is a very comprehensive history of the Pacific war 1942 to 1944. It includes chapters on the homefront in America Australia and Japan as well. It is a very in-depth telling of the Pacific war. In my opinion at times it meanders away from the actual battles more than I would like but that is my personal preference.

The Ballance of a Wide Brush with Fine Grains

As the title says this is filled with a lot of details such as the individual pilot's mission radio chatter, while maintaining the macro view of issues such as competing demands on Pacific force strength - both internal and external.

As an audiobook I would have rated it higher if they had bothered with a PDF map of the region and significant atolls. And I know this is an individual opinion, but for me the dictation was dry and poor quality more like a cloud AI reading so I struggled at times.

Great story terrible narrator pronunciation

Outstanding work by Ian Toll. However a quick google search on how to pronounce the names of many places would have really helped. How do you not know how to pronounce Yokosuka, Tarawa etc...Hearing the wrong name again and agian and again. Come on who ever produced this.

One of the best I've listened to

Not only is it a great read on the war in the Pacific, but it's a suberb review of commanders, politicians, and civilians also. really enjoyed this trilogy.

Great Listen

Covers a lot of information. Lots of detail with many first hand accounts and experiences. Narrator was clear and easy to listen to.

Really interesting

Very well done. Interesting detail I had not heard before. Looking forward to hearing the next book.

Essential Reading

The second of three in Toll’s trilogy of the Pacific War is essential reading. Well documented, well written, and just excellent history!
The audio, however, not as good. The narration overall is wooden but more disturbing is the narator’s pronunciation of Japanese that is far too often horrendous. Also, why is it that the chapters in the audio version have no relation to the chapters in the book? The audio version has 20 chapters, and the book has 14, making it a arduous task to listen, then go to the book for some reading and trying to find where I had left off. This makes the experience very irritating and time consuming!

Awesome!

Amazing continuation from book 1. I was disappointed at a new narrator since I love Grover Gardner. It took me a couple of chapters until I got used to a different narrator but ended up enjoying his performance.