W. W. Norton & Company Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945

Excellent. This is the third book in Ian Toll's Pacific War trilogy. I thought the earlier two, Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide, were excellent, and I think that Twilight of the Gods is excellent.It is a history that is very much focused on the United States effort against the Japanese. For a broader view of the last year of the war then Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings is worth buying and reading in addition to Ian Toll's Twilight of the Gods.Ian Toll starts with the meeting of President Roosevelt with General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii. It deals with the battle for Peleliu, Leyte Gulf and Admiral Kurita, the strategic bombing of Japan, Iwo Jima, Manila, Okinawa, and, of course, the bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki, the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, and the Japanese surrender of 15 August 1945. There are bits on what happened on the Japanese and United States home fronts both during and after the war.Although he does not always clearly express his opinions, possibly preferring to keep them close to his chest, Ian Toll touches on all the main controversies of the later stages of the Pacific War: (i) Were islands invaded that could have been bypassed - Peleliu, Iwo Jima, the Philippines. (ii) Why did Admiral Kurita not bash the Americans harder in Leyte Gulf. (iii) Admiral Halsey's performance as commander of the Third Fleet. (iv) The Bombs and, in particular, that second bomb on Nagasaki.As hinted at above, I think that there is a much broader picture to the Pacific War than Ian Toll's trilogy covers, and then I can recommend John Toland, James Hornfischer, and Richard Frank ... in addition to Ian Toll.

We have all had a meal that was so good we did not want it to end. Or child with an ice lolly or ice cream wishing it were never ending. That is exactly how I felt about volume three of Ian Toll’s masterly study of the naval war in the pacific: The Twilight of The Gods.The book covers the period from the summer of 1944 to August/September 1945 in almost 800 compelling pages.I liken the book to a bobsleigh ride on the Cresta run; once you are on you cannot get off, hurtling down at increasing speed to a devastating climax.I have read a great many books about the war in the Pacific and Burma and believe me it was brutal. I have read the ‘Marines in World War II Commemorative Series’ booklets which recount the exploits of the US Marine Corps as they fought from island to island (I was truly fortunate to receive the copies courtesy of the USMC). I am thus fully seized of the ferocity of the action in the jungles of countless islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean. Toll’s books emphasise the centrality of the naval war to victory, simply put if the USN did not wrest command of the Pacific from the IJN then victory over Japan may have eluded the Allies (the British Pacific Fleet played a supporting role after the defeat of Germany).Toll covers all aspects of the conflict from the American and Japanese home fronts to the highest offices of Government. The extent of the inter-service conflicts among the America and Japanese armed forces is quite extraordinary; Douglas MacArthur’s long running dispute with the senior officers of the USN for example. The rivalry between the Japanese army and navy was almost certainly responsible for speeding their defeat.As we know them the kamikaze were a terrifying phenomenon, but I did not fully grasp just how serious a threat they were to US warships. And while most Japanese pilots did volunteer to dash themselves and their aircraft again US warships a significant number were resentful and some contrived to abort their mission.Toll reminds the reader the USN was fighting everyday from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the surrender in August 1945 while the US Army and USAAF (sic) had a slow start.Toll does also cover the ground war in significant detail.The author goes into considerable detail about the deliberation of the Japanese government in the aftermath of the raids upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Incredibly some senior figures wanted to continue the war clinging desperately to the banzai ethos.I cannot recommend this book and its two companion volumes too highly. I suspect this three-volume study will become the seminal work about the naval war in the Pacific.

The final part of his excellently written Pacific Trilogy, covering the final year of the war with US retaking the Phillipines, and the final battles on Iowa Jima and Okinawa. He writes clearly and well, with some nice subtle touches of humour added in. The opening of the book is entirely about the very under-discussed role of the media and censorship from the government, which while less exciting than battles is an interesting topic I knew nothing about.I feel he does skip over the carrier campaigns over Japan a little, happening inbetween Okinawa and the atom bombs there's little said about them.Also he is totally US focused, which is fine it was very much a US led fight - but he almost seems to be purposely ignoring the other allied forces; The British naval operations off the Dutch East Indies get no mention, and the BPF itself gets nothing more than a couple of offhand mentions, also the entire Bougainville campaign with the Australians is entirely ignored.

This is just too good to put down. In Ian W Tolls third and final book of his Pacific War Trilogy it really does end with a bang. The first 100 pages are political, until we get right into the action, with the landings in Pelieu, lauded by the 2010 tv show The Pacific.Next there are over 100 pages alone on the Battles of Leyte Gulf, plus the US landings on Leyte. It's incredibly detailed, as was the aftermath, and it's importance overall on the outcome of the war in the Pacific. There was more political stuff afterwards, until the reconquest of the Philippines, with the emphasis on Luzon and retaking the capital Manilla.I really liked the next part about the sinking of the Yamato, then just one chapter on the landings and battle for Iwa Jima. There was a lot on the battle for Okinawa and subsequent landings, the bombing of Tokyo and most of Japan's cities, then the book goes out with a bang with the chapter on the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Overall a great end to one of the greatest trilogies on World War 2 in the Pacific ever written.

Well written and absorbing but a major binding error renders the book useless. It jumps from page 654 to repeat pages 623 to 654, then jumps to page 687. Pages 655 to 686 are nowhere to be seen. This is unforgivable in a book costing £28 and I'm unsure a replacement will make any difference as presumably the entire print run will have been affected. Great pity, as it happens just as the book approaches the last cataclysmic months of the war. Amazon, you need to sort this out.