From Publishers Weekly
Forrest Gump novelist Groom offers another of his nonfiction labors of love, centering his story of a pivotal year on the war against Japan. No revisionist, Groom delivers the traditional worshipful portrait of General MacArthur while admitting he made several key blunders that doomed the Philippines in the year's early months. In May the two fleets met in the Coral Sea. While the Japanese came out ahead, they abandoned their invasion of New Guinea, and Groom follows the standard account of calling it an American victory. He adds that brains and luck win more battles than courage, providing a perfect illustration in Midway, fought in June 1942. Having broken Japan's naval code, American forces surprised a vastly superior Japanese fleet and sank all four of its carriers. In August, the First Marine Division was deposited on an obscure island, Guadalcanal, then hastily retreated. For the next four months, in what is the book's highlight, the marines fought with epic heroism against repeated efforts to expel them. Almost as an afterthought, Groom shows American forces taking their first step against Germany, landing in North Africa in November and quickly bogging down. Heroism was not in short supply, but much of it occurred in 1943. A talented writer, Groom has written a page-turner; readers needing an introduction will love it. Agent, Theron Raines. (May)
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The first few months of 1942 saw perhaps the greatest threat in history to the survival of liberal democratic societies. In the Pacific, the American fleet had been devastated at Pearl Harbor, Singapore had fallen, and Japan seemed invulnerable behind a military screen stretching for thousands of miles. In Europe, Hitler had established Fortress Europe. But by the end of the year, the tide had clearly turned. The Japanese advance had been halted at Midway and the Coral Sea, the Afrika Corps had been defeated at El Alamein, and German forces were bogged down at Stalingrad. Groom is both a celebrated novelist (Forrest Gump, 1994) and historian, and he brings his skills as a master storyteller to chronicle the great events and the men, both powerful and ordinary, who pulled our societies back from the abyss. Groom sets the stage by showing both the confusion and bravery as Americans were defeated at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, and his account of the subsequent death marches is heartbreaking. In recounting the steady recovery and then advances of Allied arms, Groom intersperses experiences of individual soldiers and sailors with the broader strategic picture. This is a superb work of popular history that is a worthy addition to World War II collections. Jay Freeman
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