Rate this book

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy At Guadalcanal (2011)

by James D. Hornfischer(Favorite Author)

4.23 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

055380670X (ISBN13: 9780553806700)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Bantam

review 1: Tremendous accounting about the battle that truly was the beginning of the end of the Japanese Empire. This book describes the five month ordeal in which the US Navy took the mighty steps forward into the very new and modern world of warfare. A huge price was paid by the Navy, which lost over 5,000 men in the battle, compared to over 1,500 US Marines. It took a while for the Service Arm to recognize and winnow out officers not up to the task and replace them with warriors who knew how to fight, learn from prior mistakes, and take advantage of emerging technologies. The book is also written to describe human strengths and weaknesses, and the impact of stress on man. Great read!
review 2: I really enjoyed this but the book is not without one key shortcoming. if y... moreou are completely new to naval warfare then some primer would have been helpful. While the book as great at explaining the tactical uses of radar and gunnery tactics it would have helped to also provide some perspective on the classes of shops themselves. It took me sometime to figure out the difference between a cruiser, battleship and destroyer. Also I could have used some more background on why the Navy felt the carriers were so important to safeguard and while at the end I could understand the difference between surface ships I never got any information on the flattop. It doesn't hurt the book in the end but it left me wanting more. Beyond this the history of compelling and well explained even for the novice and importantly told in a compelling narrative. The prose while never quite rising to the levels of beevor or Atkinson is quote good on bringing drama and setting the scene. Overall it's a good introduction to naval warfare, highly accessible while also illuminating an important part of the Pacific theatre that has not been covered so well before. less

Download links for: Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

Advertising