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Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45
With an introduction read by Max Hastings. A companion volume to his best-selling Armageddon, Max Hastings' account of the battle for Japan is a masterful military history.
Featuring the most remarkable cast of commanders the world has ever seen, the dramatic battle for Japan of 1944-45 was acted out across the vast stage of Asia: Imphal and Kohima, Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Soviet assault on Manchuria.
In this gripping narrative, Max Hastings weaves together the complex strands of an epic war, exploring the military tactics behind some of the most triumphant and most horrific scenes of the 20th century. The result is a masterpiece that balances the story of command decisions, rivalries, and follies with the experiences of soldiers, sailors, and airmen of all sides as only Max Hastings can.
Featuring the most remarkable cast of commanders the world has ever seen, the dramatic battle for Japan of 1944-45 was acted out across the vast stage of Asia: Imphal and Kohima, Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Soviet assault on Manchuria.
In this gripping narrative, Max Hastings weaves together the complex strands of an epic war, exploring the military tactics behind some of the most triumphant and most horrific scenes of the 20th century. The result is a masterpiece that balances the story of command decisions, rivalries, and follies with the experiences of soldiers, sailors, and airmen of all sides as only Max Hastings can.
615 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2007
About the author
Max Hastings
121 books1,818 followersSir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, FRSL, FRHistS is a British journalist, editor, historian and author. His parents were Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and war correspondent, and Anne Scott-James, sometime editor of Harper's Bazaar.
Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.After leaving Oxford University, Max Hastings became a foreign correspondent, and reported from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.
Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.
After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. He has won many awards for his journalism, including Journalist of The Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year for his work in the South Atlantic in 1982, and Editor of the Year in 1988.
He stood down as editor of the Evening Standard in 2001 and was knighted in 2002. His monumental work of military history, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 was published in 2005.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sir Max Hastings honoured with the $100,000 2012 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.After leaving Oxford University, Max Hastings became a foreign correspondent, and reported from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.
Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.
After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. He has won many awards for his journalism, including Journalist of The Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year for his work in the South Atlantic in 1982, and Editor of the Year in 1988.
He stood down as editor of the Evening Standard in 2001 and was knighted in 2002. His monumental work of military history, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 was published in 2005.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sir Max Hastings honoured with the $100,000 2012 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
January 11, 2016
Una bona història d'una part del conflicte sovint bastant oblidada. Bona combinació d'història militar, política i de relats personals. S'agraeix també que s'intenti analitzar les decisions d'un i altre bàndol de forma imparcial. He trobat especialment interessant la descripció de la guerra al mar desde el punt de vista dels mariners que tripulaven portavions i destructors. La descripció del fenòmen kamikaze també és bona. El llibre acaba amb una bona reflexió sobre els dilemes morals que suposa el llançament de la bomba atòmica.
Tot i això, el llibre no és un 5-estrelles perque em queda una sensació del que podria haver estat i no ha estat. Hi ha tantíssims aspectes que reclamen un anàlisi psicològic o de les mentalitats com el que fan altres historiadors com Orlando Figes que aquesta història a base només del relat dels fets i de la opinió de l'autor es queda coixa. Temes com el racisme vs els japonesos, el relat i el seguiment de la campanya en la retaguardia o la sensació dels soldats que estan protagonitzant una campanya secundària i que el reconeixament se l'emporta la guerra a Europa demanaven a crits una història cultural i de les mentalitats i és una llàstima no trobar-la.
En resum, un bon llibre que dóna tota la informació necessària de forma amena sense perdre profunditat, però que es queda a les portes de ser un gran llibre.
Tot i això, el llibre no és un 5-estrelles perque em queda una sensació del que podria haver estat i no ha estat. Hi ha tantíssims aspectes que reclamen un anàlisi psicològic o de les mentalitats com el que fan altres historiadors com Orlando Figes que aquesta història a base només del relat dels fets i de la opinió de l'autor es queda coixa. Temes com el racisme vs els japonesos, el relat i el seguiment de la campanya en la retaguardia o la sensació dels soldats que estan protagonitzant una campanya secundària i que el reconeixament se l'emporta la guerra a Europa demanaven a crits una història cultural i de les mentalitats i és una llàstima no trobar-la.
En resum, un bon llibre que dóna tota la informació necessària de forma amena sense perdre profunditat, però que es queda a les portes de ser un gran llibre.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review