- Reaction score
- 184
- Points
- 1,210
Goodbye, Darkness
Book Review
by Danjanou
For those real literary bargain hunters out there, this book would seem to be a real treat. It is in fact three separate although interrelated tales in the same volume.
All done by the acclaimed military historian, biographer, ad writer William Manchester.
Manchester is a more than acceptable military historian. He's perhaps best well known for his biography of General Douglas Mac Arthur "American Caesar" and his history of the German industrial dynasty, the Krupps. To be honest he would probably be best categorized as a popular historian. At least that is the label that several of my old History Professors at University would have hung on him.
Actually they would have ****ed him with it, finding fault with anyone who dares to make their works interesting, readable and profitable. They of course were purists who preferred to publish rather than come out of their dingy little book lined tombs to teach. Of course no one read their works aside from the poor undergraduates who were forced to buy the mandatory texts for the course.
I still have a lot of those tomes on my book shelf. I'm hanging onto them in the event I ever begin to suffer from severe insomnia. I personally have never had a problem with the idea of making history interesting and readable.
Manchester does just this. He is more a story teller than a mere scriber of dates names and places. His narrative style, especially in this work is extremely readable and enjoyable. Rather than suffering through dry text, the pages seem to fly by, almost impossible to put down.
It is important that we know our past. If more people wrote like Manchester, than perhaps more students would look upon this subject as a pleasure than a chore.
The "first" tale is a rather straight forward, if brief, history of the Pacific Area of Operations in the Second World War. From Pearl Harbour through to VJ Day, Manchester takes us to all the important campaigns and battles. It is his area of expertise and he shows it to us with small but interesting and important details he interjects into this off told tale.
There is a brief description on the reasons Japan declared war and just how unprepared the United States was in this region, despite gearing up for the conflict for almost three years. The early Japanese conquests of the Philippines, the small Pacific Islands and New Guinea and the threat to Australia are all covered. Then there are the slow and often bloody campaigns to reclaim these places.
The names are all known to most readers, Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island, Papua, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Midway, Saipan, Guam and others. Eventually the trail leads us to Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the end of the war.
It is not the most definitive version of these campaigns ever written. But it is adequate. Manchester does show throughout it his admiration of Mac Arthur. He continually points out the man's strategic brilliance, and the fact that this theater of war was always shortchanged.
He also goes into some detail regarding the political infighting and the General's numerous enemies, not all of whom were Japanese. To be fair he also does bring out Mac Arthur's not insubstantial ego and love of showmanship. He implies though that these character flaws were minor compared to his strengths.
The "second" tale is a little more personal. Manchester himself is a veteran of the Pacific War. He enrolled in the Marines soon after Pearl Harbour and as a twenty something young Sergeant saw action and was wounded on Okinawa.
Here he gives us his tale from enlistment, through boot camp at San Diego, to his first experience under fire. It is a private side that is revealed. It also goes along way to explaining the author's own values and ideas that are presented elsewhere in the book.
The second tale is intertwined with the first and unfortunately one initially gets the feeling that Manchester was present at a great number of the battles which is incorrect. At the end he admits to a little dramatic license in the manner in which his own story is presented.
Inter spacing his own experiences with chapters detailing the battles and campaigns does make it a more enjoyable read than dividing the two sections, but it does present a false sense of exactly where he fought.
Discussing his own experiences under enemy fire for the first time, after describing the vicious battles on Guadalcanal and elsewhere in the Solomon Islands, one can be forgiven for actually thinking that it was here that he had these experiences.
The "third" tale is where the book's title comes from. Manchester, to expunge "ghosts" from his past, made a pilgrimage to those far off battlefields and islands. Both to those he personally was present at and the others.
This tale, also intertwined with the other two, is perhaps the best of the three. Here we have a middle-aged man confronting his past, his youth and lost glory, both his own personally, and that of his generation.
Manchester visits the Philippines as the honoured guest of then President Marcos. this is more than a little embarrassing as he points out. He wades ashore at Leyte retracing Mac Arthur's steps. He solemnly visits Bataan and Corregidor now still, silent, and yet full of memories.
On Guadalcanal he climbs Bloody Ridge, and digs a small fox hole in which to spend a sleepless and uneasy night. Upset at the uncaring attitude he finds on Betio (Tarawa) he wades out into the surf to retrace the long steps of so many of his comrades.
In various jungles he discovers memorials and graves, some abandoned, some still lovingly tended to. At the end he, accompanied by his Marine escorts, he finds the very spot where the war ended for him on Okinawa as almost did his life.
There are some readers, particularly those reared in the politically correct world, who may take offense at his descriptions of and comments about the Japanese. He expresses surprise and not a little anger at the presence of visiting Japanese warships at Pearl Harbour. Later when he encounters the numbers of Japanese businesses and tourists on the hard fought over islands, it makes him question who really won this conflict, and perhaps why it was thought. His own personal comments on the Japanese both he and his generation fought are also perhaps to some wrong.
Manchester is however not racist in this respect. Underlying any comments are his grudging respect for his former enemies martial skills. His attitude reminds me of that I've seen in other veterans of his generation.
Many of my Uncles fought in the Second World War, mainly in Europe. Some of them were professional soldiers, most were just young men who joined up because it was the thing that had to be done then. Listening to their comments on their former enemies after I had grown up and joined the army myself was interesting.
In a way they were much like Manchester, respectful but still wary and perhaps a little angry. It was hard for me to accept this personally. I had been based in Germany, and what they saw as an enemy, were trusted allies to me, professional and worthy of my respect. With the demise of the cold War, it may be interesting to see how the next generation views my take on the Soviets.
Individually each of Manchester's three tales are worthy of reading. When combined into this one volume, they make for a powerful and entertaining read. I would without hesitation recommend this to any student of Military History, and/or those who wish an introduction to this part of the Second World War.
Book Review
by Danjanou
For those real literary bargain hunters out there, this book would seem to be a real treat. It is in fact three separate although interrelated tales in the same volume.
All done by the acclaimed military historian, biographer, ad writer William Manchester.
Manchester is a more than acceptable military historian. He's perhaps best well known for his biography of General Douglas Mac Arthur "American Caesar" and his history of the German industrial dynasty, the Krupps. To be honest he would probably be best categorized as a popular historian. At least that is the label that several of my old History Professors at University would have hung on him.
Actually they would have ****ed him with it, finding fault with anyone who dares to make their works interesting, readable and profitable. They of course were purists who preferred to publish rather than come out of their dingy little book lined tombs to teach. Of course no one read their works aside from the poor undergraduates who were forced to buy the mandatory texts for the course.
I still have a lot of those tomes on my book shelf. I'm hanging onto them in the event I ever begin to suffer from severe insomnia. I personally have never had a problem with the idea of making history interesting and readable.
Manchester does just this. He is more a story teller than a mere scriber of dates names and places. His narrative style, especially in this work is extremely readable and enjoyable. Rather than suffering through dry text, the pages seem to fly by, almost impossible to put down.
It is important that we know our past. If more people wrote like Manchester, than perhaps more students would look upon this subject as a pleasure than a chore.
The "first" tale is a rather straight forward, if brief, history of the Pacific Area of Operations in the Second World War. From Pearl Harbour through to VJ Day, Manchester takes us to all the important campaigns and battles. It is his area of expertise and he shows it to us with small but interesting and important details he interjects into this off told tale.
There is a brief description on the reasons Japan declared war and just how unprepared the United States was in this region, despite gearing up for the conflict for almost three years. The early Japanese conquests of the Philippines, the small Pacific Islands and New Guinea and the threat to Australia are all covered. Then there are the slow and often bloody campaigns to reclaim these places.
The names are all known to most readers, Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island, Papua, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Midway, Saipan, Guam and others. Eventually the trail leads us to Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the end of the war.
It is not the most definitive version of these campaigns ever written. But it is adequate. Manchester does show throughout it his admiration of Mac Arthur. He continually points out the man's strategic brilliance, and the fact that this theater of war was always shortchanged.
He also goes into some detail regarding the political infighting and the General's numerous enemies, not all of whom were Japanese. To be fair he also does bring out Mac Arthur's not insubstantial ego and love of showmanship. He implies though that these character flaws were minor compared to his strengths.
The "second" tale is a little more personal. Manchester himself is a veteran of the Pacific War. He enrolled in the Marines soon after Pearl Harbour and as a twenty something young Sergeant saw action and was wounded on Okinawa.
Here he gives us his tale from enlistment, through boot camp at San Diego, to his first experience under fire. It is a private side that is revealed. It also goes along way to explaining the author's own values and ideas that are presented elsewhere in the book.
The second tale is intertwined with the first and unfortunately one initially gets the feeling that Manchester was present at a great number of the battles which is incorrect. At the end he admits to a little dramatic license in the manner in which his own story is presented.
Inter spacing his own experiences with chapters detailing the battles and campaigns does make it a more enjoyable read than dividing the two sections, but it does present a false sense of exactly where he fought.
Discussing his own experiences under enemy fire for the first time, after describing the vicious battles on Guadalcanal and elsewhere in the Solomon Islands, one can be forgiven for actually thinking that it was here that he had these experiences.
The "third" tale is where the book's title comes from. Manchester, to expunge "ghosts" from his past, made a pilgrimage to those far off battlefields and islands. Both to those he personally was present at and the others.
This tale, also intertwined with the other two, is perhaps the best of the three. Here we have a middle-aged man confronting his past, his youth and lost glory, both his own personally, and that of his generation.
Manchester visits the Philippines as the honoured guest of then President Marcos. this is more than a little embarrassing as he points out. He wades ashore at Leyte retracing Mac Arthur's steps. He solemnly visits Bataan and Corregidor now still, silent, and yet full of memories.
On Guadalcanal he climbs Bloody Ridge, and digs a small fox hole in which to spend a sleepless and uneasy night. Upset at the uncaring attitude he finds on Betio (Tarawa) he wades out into the surf to retrace the long steps of so many of his comrades.
In various jungles he discovers memorials and graves, some abandoned, some still lovingly tended to. At the end he, accompanied by his Marine escorts, he finds the very spot where the war ended for him on Okinawa as almost did his life.
There are some readers, particularly those reared in the politically correct world, who may take offense at his descriptions of and comments about the Japanese. He expresses surprise and not a little anger at the presence of visiting Japanese warships at Pearl Harbour. Later when he encounters the numbers of Japanese businesses and tourists on the hard fought over islands, it makes him question who really won this conflict, and perhaps why it was thought. His own personal comments on the Japanese both he and his generation fought are also perhaps to some wrong.
Manchester is however not racist in this respect. Underlying any comments are his grudging respect for his former enemies martial skills. His attitude reminds me of that I've seen in other veterans of his generation.
Many of my Uncles fought in the Second World War, mainly in Europe. Some of them were professional soldiers, most were just young men who joined up because it was the thing that had to be done then. Listening to their comments on their former enemies after I had grown up and joined the army myself was interesting.
In a way they were much like Manchester, respectful but still wary and perhaps a little angry. It was hard for me to accept this personally. I had been based in Germany, and what they saw as an enemy, were trusted allies to me, professional and worthy of my respect. With the demise of the cold War, it may be interesting to see how the next generation views my take on the Soviets.
Individually each of Manchester's three tales are worthy of reading. When combined into this one volume, they make for a powerful and entertaining read. I would without hesitation recommend this to any student of Military History, and/or those who wish an introduction to this part of the Second World War.
