Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle

I've probably read about 20 to 30 books which cover the Guadalcanal campaign in one aspect or another, and this book is still the best single reference on the campaign that I've found. By making the effort to obtain the relevant volumes of the Senshi Sosho, Japan's official war history, which isn't widely available in English, Frank set a standard for Pacific War books in presenting the Japanese side that other western war historians have not, unfortunately, always emulated. Not only does Frank do an excellent job of presenting the perspectives of all the adversaries involved in the battle, but he's also an excellent writer. Frank brings history alive with vivid, clear, and compelling prose. Moreover, he doesn't scrimp on the important details, giving important data on casualties, losses, troop numbers, and ship names, so that the book can serve as a important reference for researchers as well as a great story for all.

Although this book is now almost 20 years old, it has withstood the test of time. Updated information from more recently available Japanese records, such as those presented in Stanley Jersey's "Hell's Islands" book, have so far revealed few errors or omissions in Franks work. For anyone interested in learning about the Guadalcanal campaign, I suggest that this book be your first read. If greater detail is then desired, I suggest John Lundstrom's "First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign" and Michael Smith's "Bloody Ridge: The Battle That Saved Guadalcanal".

The book received is in fair shape. It was published in 1990
and shows its age in a dignified manner. I have not yet read
the book and probably won't until Jan. 2010, when my wife and
I go to St. Maarten and spend three weeks reading books. Hope
this meets your requirements.

This six month campaign along with the naval victory at Midway was the turning point of the Pacific War. This land battle was the first major defeat for the Japanese and the beginning of pushing the enemy back to its homeland.
In 800 pages, Mr Frank has succinctly told the story of the operational history of the land, sea and air battles of this campaign. There is little anecdotal experiences that you'll find in a Hammel book but if you want to follow all the key engagements in a logical, chronological manner then you should read this book. The Table of Contents is excellent and will help you find what you're looking for, especially if you have some knowledge of the campaign. There are many black and white maps, including sea battles that are helpful but for some reason the author forgot to include a Map Table.
In addition to the thorough narrative, there is an extensive Appendix that includes a detailed Order of Battle, a casualties list, ships destroyed, number of planes lost and more. Also included is one of the most extensive Notes sections I've ever seen; it also has a wealth of information for your study.
A very good book and highly recommended.

Good read, but description of land actions are hard to follow in parts because of the lack of useful maps. What I most would have appreciated is a simple full page map of the island showing the locations of the key landmarks referred to in the text. Don't get me wrong, there are maps of specific battle sites and a map of the north coast of the island, but I found myself spending way too much time poring over these maps to try to orient the description of movements/battles discussed in the text.

Also date of landing of Ichiki's force is muddled. On p. 147, Ichiki's troops land on 8/19, but on the next page Marine engineers have a chance encounter with them on 8/12, 7 days before they landed.

Appreciated research on actual losses vs. reported enemy losses by both sides, especially aviators. Amazing how much the reported varied from the actual.

Hard to believe the U.S. persevered despite things like the defective torpedoes vs. the highly effective Japanese "long lance" torpedoes. Also amazed by how terribly ineffective the U.S. SPD dive bombers were compared to their Japanese counterparts. Time and again, Frank describes inept SPD attacks of Japanese transports/ships by SPDs and almost completely useless U.S. TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. At least the TBFs had an excuse. Not sure what the problem was with the SPDs, and would have appreciated more insight in this issue.

But what was most striking is the Japanese military command's seemingly absolute disregard for the welfare of their soldiers on G -- Tokyo Express landing more and more equipment and men without providing adequate food, medicine, etc.; Army commanders marching their men for days on end through malarial jungle and ordering attacks without giving troops chance to rest, eat or scouting American lines much less providing artillery/air support. Yikes.

Despite my anal retentive whining, the book is still well worth the read.

I'm a huge Pacific war buff so I'm probably the perfect audience for this book and yet I cannot get through it. Every few months, I'll go back to it but this book doesn't have a heartbeat...it's all troop movements and unit designations and no "feel". I'm all for good history which undoubtedly this is, but I also want to enjoy myself and I don't when reading this book. This book reads like an after action report. I don't "know" any of the protagonists and I don't get the sounds and smells of the place like I do from heart poundingly well written military history.

Someone like a Halberstam (r.i.p.), please write the book we all want about Guadalcanal and use this as a fantastic source.