Best Books About Japan & The Pacific War During WW2
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The Best Books About Japan & The Pacific War During WW2

“What are the best books about The Pacific Theater and Japan In WWII?” We looked at 268 of the top books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 18 titles, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Pacific Theater” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 200+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!



Top 18 Japan & World War 2 Books



18 .) At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prange

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • The Christian Science Monitor

This authentic record of the planning and execution of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and its impact on American culture tells about Americans as a people and American leadership, thoughts and actions

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17 .) Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Library Thing

“On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation.

In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.”

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16 .) Kokoda by Paul Ham

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Goodreads 2

“In a unique and balanced portrayal, renowned journalist Paul Ham recounts both the Australian and Japanese perspectives of the events on the hellish Papuan jungle trail where thousands fought and died during World War II.

It was a war without mercy, fought back and forth along 90 miles of river crossings, steep inclines and precipitous descents, with both sides wracked by hunger and disease, and terrified of falling into enemy hands. Defeat was unthinkable: the Australian soldier was fighting for his homeland against an unyielding aggressor; the Japanese ordered to fight to the death in a bid to conquer “”Greater East Asia.”””

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15 .) Pacific War Ghosts by Tony Maxwell

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 2
  • Goodreads 2
  • History Of War

“A personal account of author Tony Maxwell’s travels to the South Pacific in search of the fast disappearing relics left behind in the jungles and on the islands by that titanic struggle against the invading forces of the Empire of Japan.

Maxwell’s book is profusely illustrated with over 100 B&W photographs of the wrecked aircraft, tanks and guns left behind on the battlefields of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Bougainville and Tarawa.”

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14 .) Samurai! by Saburo Sakai

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • War bird Forum

Written by Martin Caidin from Saburo Sakai’s own memoirs and journalist Fred Saito’s extensive interviews with the World War II fighter pilot, Samurai! vividly documents the chivalry and valor of the combat aviator who time after time fought American fighter pilots and, with 64 kills, would survive the war as Japan’s greatest living ace. Here are the harrowing experiences of one of Japan’s greatest aces: from fighter pilot school — where the harsh training expelled over half of his class — to the thrilling early Japanese victories; from his incredible six hundred mile fight for life from Guadalcanal to his base in Rabaul, to the poignant story of the now-handicapped veteran’s return to the air during the final desperate months of World War II.

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13 .) Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Reddit

Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange’s bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement. Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida’s Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle.

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12 .) The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Library Thing

With these words, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland addressed the crew of the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts on the morning of October 25, 1944, off the Philippine Island of Samar. On the horizon loomed the mightiest ships of the Japanese navy, a massive fleet that represented the last hope of a staggering empire. All that stood between it and Douglas MacArthur’ s vulnerable invasion force were the Roberts and the other small ships of a tiny American flotilla poised to charge into history.

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11 .) The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 2
  • The Christian Science Monitor
  • War bird Forum

In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered—a death toll exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Using extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents, Iris Chang has written what will surely be the definitive history of this horrifying episode. The Rape of Nanking tells the story from three perspectives: of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese. Among these was the Nazi John Rabe, an unlikely hero whom Chang calls the “Oskar Schindler of China” and who worked tirelessly to protect the innocent and publicize the horror. More than just narrating the details of an orgy of violence, The Rape of Nanking analyzes the militaristic culture that fostered in the Japanese soldiers a total disregard for human life. Finally, it tells the appalling story: about how the advent of the Cold War led to a concerted effort on the part of the West and even the Chinese to stifle open discussion of this atrocity. Indeed, Chang characterizes this conspiracy of silence, that persists to this day, as “a second rape.”

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10 .) The Rising Sun: The Decline & Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-45 by John Toland

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Library Thing

This Pulitzer Prize–winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, “a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened—muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox.”

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9 .) Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Reddit

“On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.”

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8 .) With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Reddit

“In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed “”one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war.”” John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as “”one of the most arresting documents in war literature.”” And Studs Terkel was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his book, “”The Good War.”” What has made E.B. Sledge’s memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and compassion.
Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting, fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later called “”Sledgehammer”” by his Marine Corps buddies) joined the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943 to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience.”

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7 .) Eagle Against the Sun by Ronald H. Spector

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • History Of War
  • Library Thing

A stunning history of the war in the Pacific written by award-winning military historian Ronald Spector. Drawing on declassified intelligence files, an abundance of British and American archival material, Japanese scholarship and documents, and research and memoirs of scholarly and military men, Spector focuses on the major battles in the Pacific theater as well as the smaller details, from the various rivalries between branches of the U.S. armed services to the problems of command and allocating resources.

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6 .) Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Goodreads 2
  • Reddit

Robert Leckie, one of America’s greatest military historians, was both an eyewitness and participant to some of the greatest battles in the Pacific. This is Leckie’s vivid account of combat and survival in World War II. In January 1942, in the aftermath of the infamous Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States Marines Corps. From boot camp in Parris Island to the bloody war in the Pacific, Robert Leckie experienced it all. The booze, the brawling, the loving on sixty-two-hour leave; the courageous fighting and dying in combat as the US Marines slugged it out, inch by inch, island by island across the Pacific to the shores of Japan.

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5 .) Miracle at Midway by Gordon W. Prange

Lists It Appears On:

  • Early Bird Books
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • The Christian Science Monitor

Here is the definitive history of the battle of Midway, an American victory that marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific during World War II. Told with the same stylistic flair and attention to detail as the bestselling At Dawn We Slept, Miracle at Midway brings together eyewitness accounts from the men who commanded and fought on both sides. The sweeping narrative takes readers into the thick of the action and shows exactly how American strategies and decisions led to the triumphant victory that paved the way for the defeat of Japan.

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4 .) The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians by Brian Garfield

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Library Thing
  • Reddit

The 1942 Japanese invasion of two of the Aleutian Islands, the thousand-mile archipelago west of Alaska, represents the only time in modern history that American territory has been occupied by a foreign power. The ensuing fifteen-month campaign, memorialised in John Huston’s extraordinary documentary film, was ‘the weirdest war ever waged’: a terrible, elemental and always three-sided battle, between the Americans, the Japanese and the weather. Frozen puddies of oil could be lifted like boards. Servicement burned summer clothing for fuel. Aircrews flew amidst icy rain, driven upside-down by gales. The eventual liberation of the island of Attu was second only to Iwo Jima in the percentage of American casualties. Brian Garfield’s book, never before published in the UK, is the definitive history of this ‘Forgotten War’.

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3 .) Flags Of Our Fathers by James D. Bradley

Lists It Appears On:

  • Early Bird Books
  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Reddit
  • The Christian Science Monitor

“In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island’s highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.

Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.

To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of Easy Company. Following these men’s paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific’s most crucial island—an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man.”

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2 .) Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-1945 by Max Hastings

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • Goodreads 2
  • Library Thing
  • Reddit
  • The Christian Science Monitor

By the summer of 1944 it was clear that Japan’s defeat was inevitable, but how the drive to victory would be achieved remained to be seen. The ensuing drama—that ended in Japan’s utter devastation—was acted out across the vast stage of Asia, with massive clashes of naval and air forces, fighting through jungles, and barbarities by an apparently incomprehensible foe. In recounting the saga of this time and place, Max Hastings gives us incisive portraits of the theater’s key figures—MacArthur, Nimitz, Mountbatten, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. But he is equally adept in his portrayals of the ordinary soldiers and sailors—American, British, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese—caught in some of the war’s bloodiest campaigns.

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1 .) The Pacific War: 1941-1945 by John Edmond Costello

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads 1
  • History Of War
  • Reddit
  • The Christian Science Monitor
  • War bird Forum

The definitive one-volume history of World War II in the Pacific theater, The Pacific War was the first book to weave together the separate stories of the fighting in China, Malaya, Burma, the East Indies, the Philippines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Aleutians. Now available with a new cover, John Costello’s classic work provides a brilliantly clear account of one of the most massive movements of men and arms in military history.

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The 200+ Additional Best WWII Books About Japan & The Pacific Theater



 

#BooksAuthorsLists
(Titles Appear On 2 Lists Each)
19A Pledge of SilenceFlora J. SolomonGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
20Adventure, romance and war in the Far East: The Iris Hay-Edie Diary: A historical memoirIris Hay-EdieGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
21Burma: The Longest War 1941-45Louis AllenGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
22Conduct Under FireJohn A. GlusmanGoodreads 1
Library Thing
23Coral Hare: Atomic AgentClive LeeGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
24Danger’s Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled HerMaxwell Taylor KennedyGoodreads 1
Reddit
25Day of InfamyWalter LordEarly Bird Books
Goodreads 1
26Empires on the Pacific: World War II and the Struggle for the Mastery of AsiaRobert Smith ThompsonQuestia 1
Questia 2
27End of Empire: 100 Days in 1945 that Changed Asia and the WorldDavid P. ChandlerGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
28Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific WarJohn D. LukacsGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
29Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific WarWilliam ManchesterGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
30Japan at War: An Oral HistoryHaruko Taya CookGoodreads 2
War bird Forum
31Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at GuadalcanalJames D. HornfischerGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
32Oba, the Last Samurai: Saipan 1944-45Don JonesReddit
Goodreads 1
33Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942Ian W. TollGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
34
Rikugun – Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945 – Volume 1: Tactical Organization of Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces
History Of War
History Of War
35Rising SunHistory Of War
History Of War
36Sea of ThunderEvan ThomasReddit
Goodreads 1
37Silent VictoryClay Blair
The Christian Science Monitor
Goodreads 1
38Sorties into Hell: The Hidden War on Chichi JimaChester HearnQuestia 1
Questia 2
39Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against JapanRobert LeckieGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
40Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its AftermathMichael NormanGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
41The Battle of MidwayCraig L. SymondsGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
42The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy’s Most Powerful Strike ForceDavid HobbsGoodreads 1
History Of War
43The First TeamJohn B. LundstromReddit
Goodreads 1
44The Naked and the DeadNorman MailerEarly Bird Books
Goodreads 2
45The Pacific War: Japan versus the AlliesAlan J. LevineQuestia 1
Questia 2
46The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa, 1945: The Last Epic Struggle of World War IIBill SloanGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
47They Were Expendable: An American Torpedo Boat Squadron in the U.S. Retreat from the PhilippinesWilliam Lindsay WhiteLibrary Thing
Goodreads 1
48Thirty Seconds Over TokyoTed W. LawsonGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
49War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific WarJohn W. DowerReddit
Goodreads 2
50We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the JapaneseElizabeth M. NormanGoodreads 1
Goodreads 2
(Titles Appear On 1 Lists Each)
51A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in PapuaPeter BruneGoodreads 2
52A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1941-1945)Paul S. DullGoodreads 1
53A Boy Called HLibrary Thing 2
54A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron EightRobert J. MrazekGoodreads 1
55A Special Piece of HellBill D. RossGoodreads 1
56A Town Like AliceNevil ShuteGoodreads 2
57AlexanderHistory Of War
58American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964William ManchesterGoodreads 1
59An Artist of the Floating WorldKazuo IshiguroGoodreads 2
60And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway–Breaking the SecretsEdwin T. LaytonGoodreads 1
61Attack on Pearl Harbor – StrategyHistory Of War
62Battle CryLeon UrisEarly Bird Books
63Battleship: The Loss Of The Prince Of Wales And The RepulseMartin MiddlebrookGoodreads 1
64Beauty Behind Barbed Wire: The Arts of the Japanese in Our War Relocation CampsAllen H. EatonGoodreads 2
65Ben’s War with the U. S. MarinesPeter H. GreenGoodreads 2
66Black RainIbuse MasujiLibrary Thing 2
67Blue Water Red BloodD.L. HavlinGoodreads 1
68Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944–The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific WarBill SloanGoodreads 1
69Bulldozing The Way: New Guinea To JapanPeter D. DavidsonGoodreads 1
70
Burma Road 1943-44 – Stilwell’s assault on Myitkyina
History Of War
71Burma: The Forgotten WarJon LatimerGoodreads 1
72Burnt ShadowsKamila ShamsieLibrary Thing 2
73Buz Sawyer, Vol. 1: The War in the PacificRoy CraneGoodreads 2
74Cage on the SeaKaoru OhnoGoodreads 2
75Campaign in the MarianasPhilip A. CrowlQuestia 2
76Cherry Blossoms in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese GirlYaeko Sugama WeldonGoodreads 2
77
Children of the Camps: Japan’s Last Forgotten Victims
History Of War
78Clear the Bridge!: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. TangRichard H. O’KaneGoodreads 1
79Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War IIJohn PradosGoodreads 1
80Conspiracy at Mukden: The Rise of the Japanese MilitaryTakehiko YoshihashiQuestia 1
81
Crisis in the Pacific – The Battles for the Philippine Islands by the Men Who Fought Them
History Of War
82Cultures of WarReddit
83Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul – Australia’s Worst Military Disaster of World War IIBruce GambleGoodreads 1
84Darkness before the DawnHistory Of War
85Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945William SlimGoodreads 1
86Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War IIW. J. HolmesGoodreads 1
87
Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
War bird Forum
88Dragon by the Tail: American, British, Japanese, and Russian Encounters with China and One AnotherJohn Paton Davies Jr.Goodreads 2
89East of West, West of EastHamish BrownGoodreads 2
90Elephant RunRoland SmithGoodreads 2
91
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
Library Thing 2
92Empire of the Sun (Empire of the Sun, #1)J.G. BallardGoodreads 2
93
Escape from the Japanese – The Amazing Story of a PoW’s Journey from Hong Kong to Freedom
History Of War
94Every Day a Nightmare: American Pursuit Pilots in the Defense of Java, 1941-1942William H. BartschGoodreads 1
95Fire In The Sky: The Air War In The South PacificEric M. BergerudGoodreads 1
96
First into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War
Library Thing
97Flights of Passage: Reflections of a World War II AviatorSamuel Hynes
The Christian Science Monitor
98Flyboys: A True Story of CourageJames D. BradleyGoodreads 1
99From Here to EternityJames JonesGoodreads 2
100From the Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor: Japan’s Entry into World War IIDavid J. LuQuestia 1
101
George Kenney Reports: A personal recollection of the Pacific War
Reddit
102Ghosts of Bungo Suido (World War 2 Navy)P.T. DeutermannGoodreads 2
103GhostwrittenIsabel WolffGoodreads 2
104Given Up for Dead: America’s Heroic Stand at Wake IslandBill SloanGoodreads 1
105God Isn’t Here: A Young Man’s Entry Into World War II, and His Participation in the Battle for Iwo JimaRichard E. OvertonGoodreads 1
106Grass for my PillowSaiichi MaruyaLibrary Thing 2
107GuadalcanalReddit
108Guadalcanal DiaryRichard TregaskisReddit
109Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark BattleRichard B. FrankGoodreads 1
110Harm’s WayJames BassettGoodreads 2
111Hell’s BattlefieldPhillip BradleyGoodreads 2
112
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
War bird Forum
113Hirohito’s War: The Pacific War, 1941-1945Francis PikeGoodreads 2
114History of US Naval Operations in WWII, 15 VolsSamuel Eliot MorisonGoodreads 1
115
Hong Kong 1941-45 – First strike in the Pacific War
History Of War
116Hooper’s WarPeter Van BurenGoodreads 2
117
In Bitter Tempest: The Biography of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
History Of War
118In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its SurvivorsDoug StantonGoodreads 1
119In the Highest Degree Tragic: The Sacrifice of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in the East Indies during World War IIDonald M. Kehn JrQuestia 2
120In the Ruins Of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar AsiaRonald H. SpectorGoodreads 2
121Incredible Victory: The Battle of MidwayWalter LordGoodreads 1
122Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War IIJoseph A. SpringerGoodreads 1
123Into the Shadows Furious: The World War II Assault on New GeorgiaBrian AltobelloQuestia 2
124Island FightingRafael SteinbergGoodreads 1
125Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the PacificR.V. BurginGoodreads 2
126Iwo Jima: Legacy of ValorBill D. RossGoodreads 1
127Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle: United States Marines at War in the PacificEric HammelGoodreads 1
128Japan 1931-1945: Militarism, Fascism, Japanism?Ivan MorrisQuestia 1
129Japan since 1931, Its Political and Social DevelopmentsHugh BortonQuestia 1
130Japan: 1941Eri Hotta
The Christian Science Monitor
131Japan’s Economy in War and ReconstructionJerome B. CohenQuestia 1
132Japan’s Imperial ConspiracyLibrary Thing
133Japan’s Struggle to End the WarQuestia 1
134Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway – The Great Naval Battles As Seen Through Japanese EyesTameichi HaraGoodreads 1
135Japanese Militarism: Its Cause and CureJohn M. MakiQuestia 1
136Joe Rochefort’s War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at MidwayElliot CarlsonGoodreads 1
137Journey to the MissouriToshikazu KaseQuestia 1
138
Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941
War bird Forum
139
Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers
Library Thing 2
140
Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms and Nationalism: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History
Library Thing 2
141King Rat (Asian Saga, #4)James ClavellGoodreads 1
142Last Man Standing: The 1st Marine Regiment on Peleliu, September 15-21, 1944Dick CampGoodreads 1
143Leyte 1944 – The Soldiers’ BattleHistory Of War
144Leyte: The Return to the PhilippinesM. Hamlin CannonQuestia 2
145Little Ship, Big War: the Saga of DE343Edward P. StaffordGoodreads 1
146Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the SolomonsWalter LordGoodreads 1
147Lost Souls of the River KwaiHistory Of War
148Love Letters from the Fires of WarReddit
149Marine at WarRussell G. DavisGoodreads 2
150MatterhornKarl MarlantesGoodreads 2
151McMillanHistory Of War
152Memories of War: Micronesians in the Pacific WarSuzanne FalgoutGoodreads 2
153My Name Was Five: A Novel of the Second World WarHeinz KohlerGoodreads 2
154Nan’yō: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia, 1885-1945Mark R. PeattieGoodreads 2
155NemesisMax HastingsReddit
156NimitzE.B. PotterGoodreads 1
157Nip the buds, shoot the kidsKenzaburo OeLibrary Thing 2
158No-no BoyJohn OkadaLibrary Thing 2
159
Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939
War bird Forum
160Not The Slightest Chance: The Defense Of Hong Kong, 1941Tony BanhamGoodreads 2
161Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War IIRobert LeckieGoodreads 2
162Okinawa: Victory in the PacificChas. S. Nichols Jr.; Henry I. Shaw JrQuestia 2
163OmamoriRichard McGillGoodreads 1
164One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for TarawaJohn F. WukovitsGoodreads 1
165Pacific Alamo: The Battle for Wake IslandJohn F. WukovitsGoodreads 1
166Pacific Glory (World War 2 Navy)P.T. DeutermannGoodreads 2
167Pacific InterludeSloan WilsonEarly Bird Books
168Pacific Turning Point: The Solomons Campaign, 1942-1943Charles W. KoburgerQuestia 2
169
Pacific: Hell on Earth (DVD). Eight documentaries looking at different battles of the Pacific War
History Of War
170Peleliu: Tragic Triumph: The Untold Story of the Pacific War’s Forgotten BattleBill D. RossGoodreads 1
171Phantom Warrior: The Heroic True Story of Private John McKinney’s One-Man Stand Against theJapane se in World War IIForrest Bryant JohnsonGoodreads 1
172
Picture Letters from the Commander-in-Chief
Library Thing 2
173
Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific
War bird Forum
174Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War IIGeorge MacDonald FraserGoodreads 1
175Railroad of DeathJohn CoastGoodreads 2
176Return to ManzanarJeanne WakatsukiLibrary Thing 2
177Road Of Bones: The Siege Of Kohima 1944 The Epic Story Of The Last Great Stand Of EmpireFergal KeaneGoodreads 1
178S.O.P.H.I.A.Pierre BoulleGoodreads 2
179Senso: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War: Letters to the Editor of Asahi ShimbunFrank GibneyGoodreads 2
180Sentinels of Fire (World War 2 Navy)P.T. DeutermannGoodreads 2
181Shadows In The Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines In World War IILarry AlexanderGoodreads 1
182Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR’s Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her SurvivorsJames D. HornfischerGoodreads 1
183Singapore Burning: Heroism And Surrender In World War IIColin SmithGoodreads 1
184Sketches of a Black Cat: Story of a Night Flying WWII Pilot and ArtistRon MinerGoodreads 2
185
So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War
Library Thing 2
186Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account of the Bataan Death March and the Men Who Lived through ItManny LawtonGoodreads 2
187
Special Operations South-East Asia 1942-1945: Minerva
History Of War
188Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45Barbara W. TuchmanGoodreads 1
189
Storming the City – U.S. Military Performance in Urban Warfare from World War II to Vietnam
History Of War
190
Sunburst: The Rise of the Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941
War bird Forum
191
Survivors: The A-bombed Trees of Hiroshima
Library Thing 2
192
Tank Tracks to Rangoon – the story of British armour in Burma
History Of War
193Tarawa: The Story of a BattleRobert SherrodGoodreads 2
194Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl HarborJames M. ScottGoodreads 1
195Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic BombGeorge FeiferGoodreads 1
196Terry and the Pirates: Grand Finale (Terry and the Pirates, #25)Milton CaniffGoodreads 2
197The “Caine” MutinyHerman WoukGoodreads 2
198The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King—the Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at SeaWalter R. BornemanGoodreads 1
199The Amphibians Are Coming! Emergence of the ‘Gator Navy and Its Revolutionary Landing Craft (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII, Vol. 1)William L. McGeeGoodreads 1
200The Ash GardenDennis BockGoodreads 2
201The Atomic Bomb: Voices from Hiroshima and NagasakiMark Selden; Kyoko SeldenQuestia 1
202The Battle for OkinawaReddit
203The Battle for TinianHistory Of War
204The Battle of Okinawa: The Blood and the BombGeorge FeiferGoodreads 2
205The Black Sheep: The Definitive History of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War IIBruce GambleGoodreads 1
206The Bridge Over the River KwaiPierre BoulleGoodreads 2
207The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942-45Frank McLynnGoodreads 2
208The Cabanatuan Prison RaidHistory Of War
209The Comfort Women: Japan’s Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World WarGeorge L. HicksGoodreads 2
210The Commodore (World War 2 Navy)P.T. DeutermannGoodreads 2
211The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944Ian W. TollGoodreads 1
212
The Coral Sea 1942: The First Carrier Battle
History Of War
213The Defeat of JapanDavid ReesQuestia 1
214The Emperor’s Sea EagleAbe ZenjiGoodreads 2
215The Fan Tan PlayersJulian LeesGoodreads 2
216The Fight for the PacificMark J. GaynQuestia 1
217The Final Storm (World War II: 1939-1945, #4)Jeff ShaaraGoodreads 2
218The First HeroesReddit
219
The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign
Reddit
220The Fleet the Gods ForgotLibrary Thing
221The Forgotten Highlander: My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far EastAlistair UrquhartGoodreads 2
222The Garden of Evening MistsTan Twan EngGoodreads 2
223The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea–The Forgotten War of the South PacificJames CampbellGoodreads 1
224The Gift of RainTan Twan EngGoodreads 2
225The Golden CatchRoger WestonGoodreads 2
226The House Of Trembling LeavesJulian LeesGoodreads 2
227The Kobe HotelLibrary Thing 2
228The Last Epic Naval Battle: Voices from Leyte GulfDavid SearsQuestia 2
229The Lonely ShipsLibrary Thing
230The Making of the Atomic BombRichard RhodesGoodreads 1
231The Midway Campaign, December 7, 1941-June 6, 1942Jack GreeneQuestia 2
232The Orchid TreeSiobhan DaikoGoodreads 2
233The PacificHugh AmbroseGoodreads 2
234The Pacific CampaignHistory Of War
235
The Pacific: Hell was an Ocean Away
History Of War
236The Quiet AdmiralHistory Of War
237The Real TenkoHistory Of War
238The Rice Paddy NavyHistory Of War
239
The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Imperial Naval Air Service
History Of War
240The Road Past Mandalay: A Personal NarrativeJohn MastersGoodreads 1
241The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: Britain’s Forgotten Wartime TragedyTony BanhamGoodreads 2
242The Southwest Pacific Campaign, 1941-1945: Historiography and Annotated BibliographyEugene L. RasorQuestia 2
243The Street of a Thousand BlossomsGail TsukiyamaLibrary Thing 2
244The Thin Red LineJames JonesEarly Bird Books
245The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought ItRobert GandtGoodreads 1
246The Two Ocean WarLibrary Thing
247The Typhoon Of War: Micronesian Experiences Of The Pacific WarLin PoyerGoodreads 2
248The War Diaries of Weary DunlopEdward DunlopGoodreads 1
249The War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo BayHarry A. GaileyQuestia 2
250The Way of a Boy: A Memoir of JavaErnest HillenGoodreads 2
251The World War DeceptionHamad SubaniGoodreads 2
252The Yellow BarJohn FalchGoodreads 2
253The Yokota Officers ClubSarah BirdLibrary Thing 2
254Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From The Kokoda Trail To Gona Beach 1942Peter BruneGoodreads 1
255Three Came HomeLibrary Thing
256Thunder Below!: The USS *Barb* Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War IIEugene B. FluckeyGoodreads 1
257To The Bitter End: The Japanese Defeat at Buna and Gona 1942-43Lex McAulayGoodreads 2
258Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South PacificEric M. BergerudGoodreads 1
259
US Navy Ships vs Kamikazes 1944-45
History Of War
260Victory in PapuaSamuel MilnerQuestia 2
261Wake Island 1941History Of War
262WheelerHistory Of War
263When We Were OrphansKazuo IshiguroGoodreads 2
264World War II in Asia and the Pacific and the War’s aftermath, with General Themes: A Handbook of Literature and ResearchLoyd E. LeeQuestia 2
265World War II in the North Pacific: Chronology and Fact BookKevin Don HutchisonQuestia 2
266World War II Jungle Warfare TacticsHistory Of War
267
World War Two: U.S. Military Plans for the Invasion of Japan
History Of War
268Yoko’s DiaryPaul HamGoodreads 2


11 Best Japan In World War 2 Book Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Early Bird Books 7 Books About the War in the Pacific
Goodreads 1 Best Books on the Pacific War
Goodreads 2 World War II – Pacific Theatre
History Of War Second World War in the Pacific
Library Thing Good books on the Pacific War
Library Thing 2 World War II from the Japanese side
Questia 1 Japan, World War II Period
Questia 2 World War II Pacific Theater
Reddit Best books on World War II Pacific Theater?
The Christian Science Monitor 9 best books about the Pacific War
War bird Forum Ten good books about Japan at war