At War With The Wind

by David Sears

Told from the perspective of the men who endured the horrifying kamikaze suicide bombers of World War II, a vivid recounting of the attacks draws on personal interviews and extensive research to create a nail-biting narrative of war. Original.

Genres: History, Military History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, World War II, Military Fiction

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

David Sears is a New Jersey-based author, speaker and business consultant.

David's early career included service as a United States Navy officer with extensive sea duty aboard destroyer Gearing (DD-710) and a tour of duty as an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy during the Vietnam conflict. David's Navy service and sea-going experience brings unique authenticity, perspective and passion to his books and his presentations to veteran, school, civic and business groups.

David has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MS in Industrial Relations from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He lives in northern New Jersey.

Reviews

[Jenn Ravey]

The only other book that's ever taken me this long to read was Anna Karenina, and I despised that book as well.

I felt compelled to finish this, but it was not the insightful book on kamikaze pilots I sought out. In fact, as other reviewers mention, the first 135 pages of this book don't even really discuss kamikaze pilots. I've read quite a bit of Pacific War nonfic at this point, so I didn't need the primer and would have appreciated more research into the Japanese mindset and the kamikaze pilots than continual lists of damage.

*sigh*

[Alan Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid stories of the warriors and ships engaged in the kamikaze battles in the Pacific in World War II, on both sides. Loses a point, partially for intermittent errors, but mainly for once again almost entirely ignoring the risks run and contributions made by the US Merchant Marine.

(My father spent weeks off Okinawa in April 1945, as the ground forces ashore slowly unloaded the artillery shells and other ammuntion loaded aboard the SS Pierre Victory. Sears' account makes brief reference to the destruction by kamikazes of two sister ships that arrived with the Pierre Victory, but without noting that those were manned by the Merchant Marine.)

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read.

A good book for all of the revisionist historians and apologists for American actions that brought WWII to an end.

The fanaticism of the Japanese armed forces, and civilians would have killed a million more Americans and Tens of millions of Japanese. Japan would have ceased to exist as a nation

[Jacqueline Nieves-Goss · Rating 3 out of 5]

As many have stated, I read this book hoping to learn more about the mindset and history of the kamikaze pilots, but instead was met with a recap Pacific theatre events. It was fine, but did not hold my interest long.

[Jan Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a WW2 history buff, you'll appreciate the writing and research of this author. Well worth the time to absorb all the sad facts of the Pacific Theater

[Jim Swike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Passed Kindle deadline, was interesting. Enjoy!

[Guillermo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new presented in this narrative. Just a general history of the Pacific War with some first hand accounts of Kamikaze victims and flyers added at the end. Stale read.

[C. G. Telcontar · Rating 2 out of 5]

David Sears has migrated from the Civil War to WW2. He can be a lucid writer with some interesting turns of phrase. I've liked his CW work in the past and was expecting a similar result this time, but it seems he missed his target with the kamikaze campaign.

There is too much material from the American side and we see only snippets of the Japanese thought process and strategy in the waning days of the war. In addition, far too much time is spent in a blow by blow summary of the Pacific War from the Pearl Harbor all the way through the Marianas, surely something that any reader of a book like this does not need. One does not casually pick up a campaign history of the kamikaze without background knowledge of the conflict it encompasses.

We are deluged by sailors' remembrances of their ordeals and it is impossible to remember more than two or three, a common failing these days in grunt eye views of combat.

There are also asides that have nothing to do with the main topic, such as the typhoon fiasco.

It seems this this kind of dispersion of effort is all to typical of the kamikaze sub genre in WW2 history. I am still in search of the definitive study of this topic.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't let the glowing reviews on Amazon.com fool you - this is not the be all, end all of kamakaze books. It's a good book, mind you, but it is more a collection of vignettes than a detailed history of the kamakaze phenomenon. It's also a bit of a slow starter - the whole first section of the book is spent covering the early Pacific war and introducing some of the US leaders that are only tangentially associated to the fight against kamakaze attacks, such as Kelly Turner. As I read this book I found myself thinking, "come on, when are we going to get to the kamakazes?" One positive takeaway I got out of this book is the observation that by the latter half of the war heavy US Marine and Army casualities were expected from each invasion of a Japanese-held island. However, it wasn't until the kamakaze attacks started that the US Navy began taking heavy casualties with each such campaign. It took the kamakaze attacks to bring the level of pain to the USN that the US ground forces were already feeling.

[Roger Myles · Rating 1 out of 5]

The start is somewhat disappointing. Page 123 and scene setting is still underway and the word "Kamikaze" has yet to be seen. Despite this the presentation is easy to read and understand.

On completing the read, the most astonishing fact to emerge was the level of damage actually achieved by the Kamikaze operation. It was much greater than the majority of previous references describe, and the impact was also more widespread. Overall worth reading to get a better view of the details of the Kamikaze campaign from both sides.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drawing on materials from both Japan and America, Sears traces the creation, destruction and fight of Japan's suicide bombers in World War II.

Why I started this book: Always looking for more audio books about Japan and/or military history.

Why I finished it: Solid history of WWII and the Kamikaze planes. But they weren't the only suicide solution that Japan's military turned to in the last years of the war. I was surprised at how many attacks were made on the ships in the Philippines before Okinawa.

[Harry Foxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the 70th anniversaries of the major Pacific naval battles of 1944 and 1945 approach, At War with the Wind is a terrific tale to read of the carnage wrought by the Japanese "Divine Wind" -- the Kamikazes. Described as an "epic battle between those determined to live and those determined to die", the fight against the suicide pilots, their motivations, and the efforts of the defenders makes fascinating historical reading.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deep look at the the people and damage inflicted by the kamikaze pilots of Japan in WW II. A must read for any history buff