At War with the Wind

The legacy of the fanatical kamikaze fighters of World War II—and how it still echoes today—in "a superb narrative of life, death, and incredible heroism" (Jim Hartz).

A Main Selection of the Military Book Club and a Featured Alternate of the History Book Club

In the last days of World War II, a new and baffling weapon terrorized the United States Navy in the Pacific. To the American sailors, the self-sacrificing warriors of Japan were known as "suiciders," but among the Japanese, they were named for the "divine wind" that once saved the home islands from invasion: kamikaze.

This is the harrowing story of a war within a war—a relentless series of furious and violent engagements pitting men determined to die against men determined to live. Its echoes resonate hauntingly at a time of global conflict, when suicide as a viable weapon remains a perplexing and terrifying reality.

Told from the perspective of the men who endured this horrifying tactic, At War with the Wind is the first book to recount in nail-biting detail what it was like to experience an attack by Japanese kamikazes. David Sears, acclaimed author of The Last Epic Naval Battle, draws on personal interviews and unprecedented research to create a stunningly vivid narrative of war.

In "the finest account of the American reaction to the furious suicide raids that attempted to turn the course of the War in the Pacific," these unforgettable stories reveal one of the most horrifying and misunderstood chapters of World War II (Donald L. Miller).