Challenge for the Pacific: Guadalcanal: The Turning Point of the War

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Review“Leckie puts you in the foxhole.”—_The New York Times Book Review_“Fast-paced and informative . . . Characters are very much alive on the printed page.”—_Navy Times _ “[A] stirring story of America’s survival in its grimmest hour . . . as readable and gripping as a novel.”—_Patriot Ledger_Product DescriptionFrom Robert Leckie, the World War II veteran and _New York Times_ bestselling author of _Helmet for My Pillow_, whose experiences were featured in the HBO miniseries _The Pacific_, comes this vivid narrative of the astonishing six-month campaign for Guadalcanal. From the Japanese soldiers’ carefully calculated—and ultimately foiled—attempt to build a series of impregnable island forts on the ground to the tireless efforts of the Americans who struggled against a tenacious adversary and the temperature and terrain of the island itself, Robert Leckie captures the loneliness, the agony, and the heat of twenty-four-hour-a-day fighting on Guadalcanal. Combatants from both sides are brought to life: General Archer Vandegrift, who first assembled an amphibious strike force; Isoroku Yamamoto, the naval general whose innovative strategy was tested; the island-born Allied scout Jacob Vouza, who survived hideous torture to uncover the enemy’s plans; and Saburo Sakai, the ace flier who shot down American planes with astonishing ease. Propelling the Allies to eventual victory, Guadalcanal was truly the turning point of the war. Challenge for the Pacific is an unparalleled, authoritative account of this great fight that forever changed our world.