The Conquering Tide

July 6, 2015
This solid second volume in naval historian Toll’s planned three-volume history of the U.S. Navy in the WWII’s Pacific Theater (after 2012’s Pacific Crucible) follows the campaign from the summer of 1942 through the summer of 1944. Those two years constituted the critical period where the war’s momentum shifted from the Japanese to the Americans. Based on archival and respected secondary sources, the work focuses on the Central Pacific and begins with the Guadalcanal campaign, with Toll clearly describing the narrow American victory. Through the book’s middle he describes the strategic decision-making that drove the direction of the campaign. Toll diverges into specialized topics that parallel or compliment the major naval campaign, including submarine warfare, naval logistics, and activities on the home front and within industry. The work ends with him addressing the decisive victory of U.S. forces in the battle for the Marianas Islands, where American numerical and technological superiority unmistakably pointed toward the war’s inevitable outcome. Toll has an engaging writing style and he deftly weaves biographical sketches of the strategic leadership together with strong descriptions of the tactical battles and personal combat narratives. Experts may find nits to pick, but this is an accessible and balanced overview for lay history buffs.

June 1, 2015

World War II has generated enormous amounts of literature, and there's no shortage of studies on the American struggle against the Japanese empire after Pearl Harbor. Best-selling author Toll (Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy) has plans for a three-volume treatment of the Pacific contest, and this book, the second in the trilogy, is a worthy successor to Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942, which dealt with the period between the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941) and the Battle of Midway (June 1942). Toll's well-written narrative carries the action forward from the Battle of Midway to the summer of 1944. Told with verve, this account sweeps the reader along with a fascinating detailing of the personalities and strategy on both sides of this grim series of battles on the water and in the air. VERDICT Toll successfully captures the drama and excitement of the Pacific War. Readers of military history will anticipate the final volume in this excellent history that should be a part of every library's collection on World War II. [See Prepub Alert, 3/23/15.]--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

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