The Fleet at Flood Tide
America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945
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Narrated by:
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Pete Larkin
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Written by:
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James D. Hornfischer
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •
The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower
Winner, Commodore John Barry Book Award, Navy League of the United States • Winner, John Lehman Distinguished Naval Historian Award, Naval Order of the United States
With its thunderous assault on the Mariana Islands in June 1944, the United States crossed the threshold of total war. In this tour de force of dramatic storytelling, distilled from extensive research in newly discovered primary sources, James D. Hornfischer brings to life the campaign that was the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender—and that forever changed the art of modern war.
With a close focus on high commanders, front-line combatants, and ordinary people, American and Japanese alike, Hornfischer tells the story of the climactic end of the Pacific War as has never been done before. Here are the epic seaborne invasions of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, the stunning aerial battles of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, the first large-scale use of Navy underwater demolition teams, the largest banzai attack of the war, and the daring combat operations large and small that made possible the strategic bombing offensive culminating in the atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the seas of the Central Pacific to the shores of Japan itself, The Fleet at Flood Tide is a stirring, authoritative, and cinematic portrayal of World War II’s world-changing finale.
Illustrated with original maps and more than 120 dramatic photographs
“Quite simply, popular and scholarly military history at its best.”—Victor Davis Hanson, author of Carnage and Culture
“The dean of World War II naval history . . . In his capable hands, the story races along like an intense thriller. . . . Narrative nonfiction at its finest—a book simply not to be missed.”—James M. Scott, Charleston Post and Courier
“An impressively lucid account . . . admirable, fascinating.”—The Wall Street Journal
“An extraordinary memorial to the courageous—and a cautionary note to a world that remains unstable and turbulent today.”—Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, author of Sea Power
“A masterful, fresh account . . . ably expands on the prior offerings of such classic naval historians as Samuel Eliot Morison.”—The Dallas Morning News
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What listeners say about The Fleet at Flood Tide
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JLAR
- 2018-08-01
Captivating Page Turner (Even for an audio book)
Excellent book that details the end game of the pacific war. It does gloss over some of the later battles like Iwo Jima but in my opinion it does a great job of summarizing 1944-45. The bulk of part 1 really goes into detail about the battle of Saipan and gives an overview of how Paul Tibbets came to be the pilot of the "Enola Gay". Very good narrator in Pete Larkin. The material by the author with superb narration really puts the book over the top.
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- Binky
- 2021-11-11
Decent history of the end and aftermath of WWII
This book was a detailed and competent history of the end of the war in the Pacific. Content is quite well-researched and comprehensive. It does, however, read like a book of an earlier era. Neither a good thing or a bad thing. :-)
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