This brief but comprehensive history of the Pacific War's last two years is written in a style that should please both general readers and undergraduates studying military history. Journal of Military History Thomas Zeiler successfully re-creates the fury of the Pacific War and shows us the ferocity, brutality, and fanaticism-of both sides-that was the reality of the Pacific War. -- Mark P. Parillo, Kansas State University At last, a worthy historian has taken on the task of examining the issue of unconditional surrender in the Pacific Theater from the perspective of those actually waging that conflict. In clear and decisive prose, Thomas W. Zeiler looks at the Pacific War's last eighteen months and presents the strategic controversy and the personal tragedy that have too often been subsumed in less nuanced interpretations of America's march to final victory. This book should find its way onto the reading list of any serious student of the strategy and the experiences of that era. In a fast-moving narrative that still manages to put the events in context, Zeiler demonstrates the consequences of the Allied decision to push for a final and complete victory over Japan in what he sees as Japan's inability to act decisively to avoid 'unconditional defeat.' -- Theodore F. Cook, William Paterson University of New Jersey Excellent book for enthusiasts of World War II, military history, and Japanese history Military History Of The West, 2008, Vol 38 A concise and readable military history of the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. -- Akira Iriye, Department of History, Harvard University
