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Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa

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Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa

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By: Joseph H. Alexander

(32 customer reviews)

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EDITORIAL REVIEW

"The first complete and definitive account of the Battle of Tarawa."

--Maj. Gen. Mike Ryan, USMC (Ret.)

Navy Cross recipient

Green Beach, Tarawa

On November 20, l943, in the first trial by fire of America's fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, five thousand men stormed the beaches of Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress barely the size of the Pentagon parking lots (three-hundred acres!). Before the first day ended, one third of the Marines who had crossed Tarawa's deadly reef under murderous fire were killed, wounded, or missing. In three days of fighting, four Americans would win the Medal of Honor. And six-thousand combatants would die.

Now, Col. Joseph Alexander, a combat Marine himself, presents the full story of Tarawa in all its horror and glory: the extreme risks, the horrific combat, and the heroic breakthroughs. Based on exhaustive research, never-before-published accounts from Marine survivors, and new evidence from Japanese sources, Colonel Alexander captures the grit, guts, and relentless courage of United States Marines overcoming outrageous odds to deliver victory for their country.

"Without a doubt the best narrative of the struggle ever produced."

--Richard B. Frank, Author of Guadalcanal

A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB

Winner of the 1995 General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Award, awarded to the year's best nonfiction book pertinent to Marine Corps History

Winner of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Outstanding Writer of the Year, presented by the Navy League of the United States

Winner of the Roosevelt Naval History Prize, awarded by the Naval War College

PRODUCT DETAILS

Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Pub. Date: 15th September 2008
Catalog: Book
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 328
Ean: 9781591140030
Isbn: 159114003X

ABOUT THIS BOOK

USER REVIEWS

The best book on Tarawa there is!
~ Written on Aug 24, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

This book is by far one of the best ever written on the bloody battle for Betio. Alexander's in depth study provides the reader with a complete understanding of the battle and what it was like to fight there. The author includes many personal stories from the men who were there to bring the savagery of the fighting home to the reader. Perhaps most interesting is the authors discussion on what was learned from Tarawa. The island was the starting point for the central Pacific drive in WWII and a great deal of information was learned from this gruesome battle. There had to be a Tarawa and this is the best book out there that explains the battle.

No Sugar-Coating
~ Written on Nov 11, 2008. 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

The 1943 invasion of Tarawa was a horror story. The freakish tides, the islands fortifications and a number of other factors made the Marines first major attack on the Gilbert Islands a blood bath.

It is not a happy tale but it is told well and contains lessons that soldier and civilians alike would do well to remember.

An indispensable addition to World War II military history shelves
~ Written on Sep 5, 2008. 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

An award-winning historical account written by marine combat veteran and award-winning military historian Joseph H. Alexander, Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa is a close look at one of the deadliest battles of the Pacific Theater during World War II. First published in 1995, and now available in a new paperback edition, Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa tells of America's struggling amphibious assault on a seemingly invulnerable Japanese island fortress of scarcely three hundred acres. Six thousand men died, yet lessons were learned from their sacrifice; Alexander puts forth a persuasive argument that without the hard-won strategic wisdom garnered at Tarawa, the larger amphibious victories that followed at Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa might never have happened. Utmost Savagery remains an indispensable addition to World War II military history shelves.

Tarawa First Step
~ Written on Jun 28, 2008. 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

This is a must read for the Marine historian. Gives a great overview and detail of the battle and the those who fought there.

Re: Clinical
~ Written on May 20, 2008. 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

I am a Marine Corps wife and I enjoyed reading Utmost Savagery immensely. The combination of history from both sides added a wonderful dimension. After finishing the book and reading through all of Col. Alexander's notes and references I was amazed- this book could have been so much longer! He did a wonderful job consolidating everything and making this account so readable. And he also goes so far as to recommend further reading on Tarawa.
And to you Tom Winberry (writer of original comment- Clinical) Did you even read the front cover? If you had read it you would have known that it was not written by an ARMY historian. It obviously states that this author is a MARINE. There is a difference. Being merely a wife of a Marine I am amused that you would say this is written for historians and soldiers.

Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa

EDITORIAL REVIEW

PRODUCT DETAILS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

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