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jeffmauch's review against another edition
4.0
I'm slowly trying to learn more about the historic events of the past that I feel were glossed over or too briefly covered during my education both in high school and in college. Now I'm not saying we didn't cover WWII, we definitely did, but it seems that other than Pearl Harbor and dropping the bombs on Japan, we mostly ignored the Pacific side of the war. I took courses in college that solely covered WWII and even than, the focus was mostly on the Eastern front, the politics, and the dropping of the bombs. It was almost like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Midway, Okinawa, and a number of other battles on other no name islands were merely an afterthought.
I was really turned on the this author after he was portrayed in the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" which was a sequel of sorts to the "Band of Brothers" miniseries. The Pacific was an incredible presentation that tied together the stories of a handful of men that fought in the pacific war, island by island. I found it most interesting that it relied heavily on first person source material via the memoirs of these soldiers. One of those soldiers was Robert Leckie, the author of this book, who went on to be a distinguished author after the war. His book, "Helmet for my Pillow" told of his war experiences and was used heavily for the HBO miniseries. He went on to write over 40 books on military/war history. I read his memoir a year or so ago and really enjoyed his candid thoughts on his experiences.
Okinawa is not a memoir. It is more a military history of the battles surrounding and on Okinawa and why they were important. There was also a large focus here of the Japanese side of the war, which we almost never hear in our America first culture. I found the in depth look at the Japanese kamikaze tactics to be both eye opening and sad. The glimpses of humanity among the Japanese leadership on the island is also something we don't see in the movies and stories about this side of the war.
While I did find this to be a very informative, albeit a bit dry, book. I think it struggles to convey tactics to the reader without visuals. I read this on a kindle, so maybe the paper copy includes maps or diagrams that my copy didn't. I also found it hard to keep track of who was going where at times because of all the different companies, regiments, battalions, and of course different military branches. It was also hard to follow the names of all the different ships involved, the author easily named over a hundred of them. I think that this is more of a matter of being an very thoroughly and meticulously researched subject than it was the author just throwing information out there. This is clear by his source material. Overall, I know a lot more about a large portion of the Pacific war side of WWII and I will definitely be reading more of Leckie's works in the future.
I was really turned on the this author after he was portrayed in the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" which was a sequel of sorts to the "Band of Brothers" miniseries. The Pacific was an incredible presentation that tied together the stories of a handful of men that fought in the pacific war, island by island. I found it most interesting that it relied heavily on first person source material via the memoirs of these soldiers. One of those soldiers was Robert Leckie, the author of this book, who went on to be a distinguished author after the war. His book, "Helmet for my Pillow" told of his war experiences and was used heavily for the HBO miniseries. He went on to write over 40 books on military/war history. I read his memoir a year or so ago and really enjoyed his candid thoughts on his experiences.
Okinawa is not a memoir. It is more a military history of the battles surrounding and on Okinawa and why they were important. There was also a large focus here of the Japanese side of the war, which we almost never hear in our America first culture. I found the in depth look at the Japanese kamikaze tactics to be both eye opening and sad. The glimpses of humanity among the Japanese leadership on the island is also something we don't see in the movies and stories about this side of the war.
While I did find this to be a very informative, albeit a bit dry, book. I think it struggles to convey tactics to the reader without visuals. I read this on a kindle, so maybe the paper copy includes maps or diagrams that my copy didn't. I also found it hard to keep track of who was going where at times because of all the different companies, regiments, battalions, and of course different military branches. It was also hard to follow the names of all the different ships involved, the author easily named over a hundred of them. I think that this is more of a matter of being an very thoroughly and meticulously researched subject than it was the author just throwing information out there. This is clear by his source material. Overall, I know a lot more about a large portion of the Pacific war side of WWII and I will definitely be reading more of Leckie's works in the future.
scoobygirl93's review against another edition
3.0
In the chapter discussing Japanese history the author has a very clear bias against Japan and Japanese people. Otherwise if you want to know about this battle, this part of WW2, this is a good one to read.
jaxboiler's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very interesting read about the battle for Okinawa. I actually liked the way he wrote this better than he did on his other book, Helmet for my Pillow.
venkyloquist's review against another edition
3.0
In this stirring war memoir, Robert Leckie provides a first hand view of the final battle of World War II that pitted the resilient Americans against their resolute Japanese foes. The battle of Okinawa represented a conflict of attrition as two unrelenting and unyielding sets of brave soldiers engaged in an unforgiving clash in a battlefield that was as much dangerous as the warring combatants themselves, if not more! Even after Adolf Hitler and his maniacal bunch of Nazis had either given up their ghosts or surrendered to the mighty onslaught of the Allied Forces, the battle at the Pacific was still ongoing, albeit in its death throes and the siege of Okinawa signaled the beginning of the end for the Axis force of Japan.
Leckie himself a decorated war hero, narrates in an impeccable fashion the American initiative to wrest supremacy of the strategic terrain of Okinawa from Japanese occupation. Ridge by Ridge, Cave by Cave, Escarpment by Escarpment and peak by peak, the US Army - , aided by a remorseless barrage of artillery and bombing from their imposing naval armada - overturned entrenched Japanese positions, and in the process absorbing substantial casualties themselves. While currency of war is primarily death, destruction and wanton loss of property, Leckie regales the reader with references to the most heart warming and indelible by product of any armed conflict - acts of bravery and valour. Privates and Corporals throwing themselves upon enemy grenades so that their comrades continue to live and fight, Lieutenants and Sergeants alike, pitchforking their bodies into the barracks and gun emplacements while simultaneously hurling satchel bags of explosives, a Seventh Day Adventist and a conscientious objector, Desmond Doss, who abhorring the tenets of war, choose never to touch a weapon, but still served in the front line as a medic and ended up saving a staggering 75 lives before getting his legs badly mangled, courtesy a fusillade of enemy fire. Stories like these warm the cockles of every heart not to mention the moistening of every eye!
Leckie's writing is factual, impartial, unbiased and wholesome. Not refraining from praising the courage of the fanatical Japanese who charged the Yanks with terrifying cries of "Banzai" and not afraid to criticise the tactics of the Americans where such errors proved to be vital, for instance, the inexplicable delay in charging the relatively unprotected beach of Minatoga - an act which subsequently put a temporary spanner in the invasion works, Leckie lays out things as they are and for what they are. This is exactly what makes "Okinawa" such a compelling read! Unlike an arm chair critic who after attaining extraordinary perspective and vision on hindsight, proceeds to set out a tome on debacles, blunders and sacrileges, Leckie prefers to highlight the intuitive thinking, instinctive reactions and immediate strategies that are both intrinsic to and inevitable in a war of immense gravity and intense magnitude.
Leckie's "Okinawa" is a grim reminder of the courageous brave hearts who willingly and voluntarily sacrificed their precious lives so that a vast majority of humanity would go on living. For this noble deed, a major part of the world would be forever indebted to them, and rightly so!
Leckie himself a decorated war hero, narrates in an impeccable fashion the American initiative to wrest supremacy of the strategic terrain of Okinawa from Japanese occupation. Ridge by Ridge, Cave by Cave, Escarpment by Escarpment and peak by peak, the US Army - , aided by a remorseless barrage of artillery and bombing from their imposing naval armada - overturned entrenched Japanese positions, and in the process absorbing substantial casualties themselves. While currency of war is primarily death, destruction and wanton loss of property, Leckie regales the reader with references to the most heart warming and indelible by product of any armed conflict - acts of bravery and valour. Privates and Corporals throwing themselves upon enemy grenades so that their comrades continue to live and fight, Lieutenants and Sergeants alike, pitchforking their bodies into the barracks and gun emplacements while simultaneously hurling satchel bags of explosives, a Seventh Day Adventist and a conscientious objector, Desmond Doss, who abhorring the tenets of war, choose never to touch a weapon, but still served in the front line as a medic and ended up saving a staggering 75 lives before getting his legs badly mangled, courtesy a fusillade of enemy fire. Stories like these warm the cockles of every heart not to mention the moistening of every eye!
Leckie's writing is factual, impartial, unbiased and wholesome. Not refraining from praising the courage of the fanatical Japanese who charged the Yanks with terrifying cries of "Banzai" and not afraid to criticise the tactics of the Americans where such errors proved to be vital, for instance, the inexplicable delay in charging the relatively unprotected beach of Minatoga - an act which subsequently put a temporary spanner in the invasion works, Leckie lays out things as they are and for what they are. This is exactly what makes "Okinawa" such a compelling read! Unlike an arm chair critic who after attaining extraordinary perspective and vision on hindsight, proceeds to set out a tome on debacles, blunders and sacrileges, Leckie prefers to highlight the intuitive thinking, instinctive reactions and immediate strategies that are both intrinsic to and inevitable in a war of immense gravity and intense magnitude.
Leckie's "Okinawa" is a grim reminder of the courageous brave hearts who willingly and voluntarily sacrificed their precious lives so that a vast majority of humanity would go on living. For this noble deed, a major part of the world would be forever indebted to them, and rightly so!
gustavius's review against another edition
3.0
Here is a book that is easy to read (unless you end up reading about the gruesome death of an ancestor of yours), although it has not aged well. You certainly would not find a book with this vocabulary being written nowadays, but we shall give it a pass for "historical" reasons.
My main motive behind not giving it four stars is the constant sense of superficiality that permeates the second half of the book. In some parts it felt as if we were merely grazing over events and situations that certainly could not have been as straightforward in real life. So it feels as if something is being hidden from us, the readers, which becomes a bit worrisome when you start questioning if you are reading a simplified historical account or just propaganda. The feeling of unease is reinforced with the epilogue, which switches from the aforementioned historical account to a short (and still superficial) position paper on the merits and necessities of dropping the atomic bombs. I almost felt as if the author was saying "I wrote a fun book for you to read, now pay me back by agreeing with me on this one point".
You know when someone tells you something that you already agree with, but they present it in such a one-sided manner that you actually start questioning your original opinion? That's the sort of bad taste that this book left my mouth with, and therefore I cannot give it a higher rating. However, I did enjoy the added knowledge it brought me on many aspects of the Pacific theater.
My main motive behind not giving it four stars is the constant sense of superficiality that permeates the second half of the book. In some parts it felt as if we were merely grazing over events and situations that certainly could not have been as straightforward in real life. So it feels as if something is being hidden from us, the readers, which becomes a bit worrisome when you start questioning if you are reading a simplified historical account or just propaganda. The feeling of unease is reinforced with the epilogue, which switches from the aforementioned historical account to a short (and still superficial) position paper on the merits and necessities of dropping the atomic bombs. I almost felt as if the author was saying "I wrote a fun book for you to read, now pay me back by agreeing with me on this one point".
You know when someone tells you something that you already agree with, but they present it in such a one-sided manner that you actually start questioning your original opinion? That's the sort of bad taste that this book left my mouth with, and therefore I cannot give it a higher rating. However, I did enjoy the added knowledge it brought me on many aspects of the Pacific theater.
justaguy's review against another edition
3.0
Well, the book was stale in my opinion. Cause this book was written in two views from the author's view on both of them. Then add with so many jargons accord to formats and groups etc etc. Due to that, the talk about movements and clashes in the Okiwana was so foreign to me. This book gave zero visual materials like a map, line of maneuvers, frontlines, or demonstration of geography. Without those materials make it hard to imagine facing the battle or intense that this battle was supposed to give in the narrative. That's why I felt it was stale in some ways where the narrative gave a lot of information but zero follow up materials.
mlytylr's review
3.0
Very -- almost too -- detailed and precise account of the battle. Some language and cultural representations that might seem a bit dated (written by a vet of the Pacific).
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