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Winner of the Northern California Book Award for Nonfiction

"Both a serious work of history…and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative." ―San Francisco Chronicle

On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible―through a dramatic narrative relying predominantly on primary sources and eyewitness accounts of heroism and sacrifice from both navies―tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history to seize the strategic initiative.

24 pages of illustrations; 12 maps

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (November 26, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 656 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393343413
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393343410
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.02 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1.7 x 9.2 inches
Reviewer: JK
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: War in the Pacific, bloody and harsh
Review: Best description of Pearl Harbor attack and Battle of Midway I have read. This book answered many questions I had. Reads like a novel and is well researched. I was a kid when this was all happening and I remember the troop trains well and the steam engines. Flat cars with tanks and Jeeps. People were determined to whip the Japanese. Radio news of the war every morning with breakfast. People feared for sons and brothers and even daughters. But the war came first and there were shortages of gas, meat, tires, and the reason was always the same, “there is a war on you know”. This book is outstanding history, well told. Recommend highly!

Reviewer: M Tucker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: It’s About Time the Pacific War Gets More Attention
Review: I so thoroughly enjoyed Mr Toll’s second volume in this series that I decided to read his first installment and I am very glad I did!Many good reviews have been written so instead of a review I would like to indulge in a little critique but I would like to make clear that just because Mr Toll did not fashion his story to include a few things that I think important and just because he indulges in a theme that I think is a red herring does not detract from his wonderful narrative. The red herring theme is not really a very important part of the overall story.The author makes reference a few times to a supposed rivalry or competition between naval air and the battleship folks. It comes across as if the “black shoe” navy did not really trust that aircraft could make any meaningful impact in war. On page 57 (paperback) he says:“The fate of Force Z…settled old and bitter arguments. …it was a conceptual triumph within naval circles all over the world for the cause of aviation, and did more than even Pearl Harbor to undermine the power of the Mahanian ‘big gun club.’”There was no power to undermine. The navy, to include the “black shoe” admirals, had fought hard to keep control of its investment in its air wing. They wanted aircraft and the platforms to launch them. In the run up to the attack on Pearl Harbor it was the Japanese carrier fleet that was getting all the attention. President Roosevelt, the War and Navy Departments all were concerned about the tremendous threat posed by the Kido Butai. This was before Pearl Harbor and before the demise of Force Z. The fate of Force Z was a Churchill decision against the advice of his admirals. That those two attacks had a major influence on “the cause of aviation” is a story that has been retold over and over. The thing is, history, facts and naval spending going on in America in the run up to war show that to be wrong. A fiction. A myth.Back in 1940 Carl Vinson, Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee said, "The modern development of aircraft has demonstrated conclusively that the backbone of the Navy today is the aircraft carrier. The carrier, with destroyers, cruisers and submarines grouped around it[,] is the spearhead of all modern naval task forces."He had just got a massive naval spending bill through the House. It called for 18 Essex Class carriers and the planes to stock them. It is called the Two Ocean Navy Act. Mr Toll mentions that bill but he gets the amount of expenditure wrong. The proposal CNO Admiral Stark delivered to Vinson was for 4 billion but Vinson bumped it to 8 billion. The above quote from Vinson came from the news conference after passage. Reporters wanted him to explain why the government was spending so much money. The government and the navy would not invest so much treasure and resources unless the navy really wanted naval air power and the carriers to launch it. Among other classes of ships, the bill also called for 2 Iowa Class battleships and 5 Montana Class battleships. The US Navy wanted a powerful modern force that would not ignore the battleship but it did want a preponderance of carriers that would be the backbone and spearhead of the modern task force. The navy was committed to air power to be the decisive striking force of the fleet well before that terrible week in December 1941.Since the aircraft carriers, and the six major carrier duels between the US and Japan, had such a tremendous influence on the fighting and the outcome of the Pacific War it would have been nice if the author could have told the reader what the two carrier forces looked like at the start. And, since his narrative refers to the doctrine and influence of Mahan, it would have been nice to get a picture of the battleship fleets of both countries as well. For the sake of taking stock of the US Navy’s actual combat doctrine he should have also investigated the influence of war gaming at the Naval War College and fleet exercises conducted in the 1930’s. The author discussed the importance of Theodor Roosevelt to modernizing the navy in his day but did not mention Carl Vinson once, the man responsible for the navy that won the war in the Pacific.In the epilogue to this fine book the author does a superlative job of summarizing the Battle of Midway and the fate of Joe Rochefort. He does a fine job of illustrating how Rochefort is remembered by historians but does not paint a complete picture of how he is remembered today by his country. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1985, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1986 by Ronald Reagan and he was inducted into the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Hall of Fame in 2000.Then the author continues with the carriers vs battleships theme:“Now [after Midway], somewhat belatedly, the Japanese navy acknowledged the primacy of carriers over battleships and other surface units. Hulls that had originally been laid down as battleships were converted on the stocks to new carriers.”I know of only one battleship that was converted to a carrier after Midway, the Shinano, a Yamato Class battleship. No other battleships or battlecruisers were laid down. There was a plan for a super Yamato Class but those plans did not get very far. Meanwhile the Japanese planned for six Taiho Class carriers, 1 was built, and 15 Unryu Class carriers, three were built. The Unryu Class were laid after Midway. It seems the evidence points to the Japanese really wanting carriers but that does not fit in with the author’s desire to depict a preference for battleships.That said, I think Mr Toll has still produced a richly detailed story that does a great job of examining the issues that influenced Japan’s decision to make war with the US and the events of the first six months of the war. This is, I think, a very necessary contribution to Second World War literature. There are many books covering the war against the Nazis but not so many that cover the war against Japan.A very curious thing about the paperback edition I received: the text is missing the notes citation numbers. I have a nice list of notes in the back of the book but I have to really struggle to figure out which part of the text they refer to. I am considering buying the hardcover.

Reviewer: Canopus
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Number one in the series-how it really was
Review: In this first of a volume of three, I learned quickly the nature and detail of these books. Loived it. It fiilled in all the gaps and details.I was lucky. I read all the biographies of McArthur, Nimitz, Spruance, Halsey, Leahy, Stark, etc before this first in a series of great books. This helped me a lot, since these three books filled in the details, and what GREAT details they were. This series is a MUST for any serious war history buff. I recommend this highly, It is not a "revised history made appropriate for today's shielded poor students". It is real, to the point, factual, descriptive, and most of all, well annoted and documented.

Reviewer: Alan Dale Daniel
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent Book
Review: Pacific Crucible, the War at Sea 1941-1942 is the first volume of a three-book series by Ian W. Toll. This review covers Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide, the second volume in the series. I have not read the third volume, The Fleet at Flood Tide.Ian W. Toll is a gifted writer. He manages to plug in interesting details, gluing the reader to the page. While most of these tidbits are not of immense importance, they are exactly what makes reading history fascinating. Mr. Toll moves a story along at speed, avoiding wording and phrasing leading to boredom. Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide are appealing as fact based books and as compelling stories.Pacific Crucible begins at Pearl Harbor and explains Japanese decision making behind the raid. The author points out how the attack impacted the Japanese command structure, a detail often omitted in other histories. Ian Toll carefully points out that the main targets of Yamamoto’s attack were the American aircraft carriers, none of which were in port. He also describes the main Japanese offensive moves into Southeast Asia, which secured the oil and other military necessities for Japan. All this is done in a fast moving style that leaves the reader anticipating the next sentence.The author is even handed in his evaluation of the leaders on both sides. Yamamoto’s attack plan was good, but far from perfect. The American military leaders General Short and Admiral Kimmel were unjustly charged with dereliction of duty in the defense of Pearl Harbor, even though they certainly made mistakes. Admiral King is evaluated well and his faults are disclosed along with his ability to lead the Navy in a tough time. All the leaders Mr. Toll discusses, Japanese and American, are approached with respect as well as an opened eyed realism.The Conquering Tide tells the story of the Pacific War after Guadalcanal and details how the Japanese were defeated by American ingenuity, bravery, and industrial power. It is clear that the Japanese were hampered by pre-set conclusions concerning how the war would be fought and how the Americans would fail in the face of the spiritual superiority of their enemies. The Japanese leadership was stunned by the speed of the American advance across the Pacific, and the power of the Pacific Fleet by the end of 1943. Ian Toll tells us of the many false assumptions made by Japan and the helplessness felt by the population as their leaders became oppressive and outright stupid in their handling of the people during the war.Like any author telling any story Ian Toll has his failings. All major battles are covered, most not in deep detail; however, some events, such as the first few voyages of the Wahoo, are reported in extreme detail. In other cases, Mr. Toll fails to adequately discuss items that were important to the Pacific theater of war. The horrible failure of Admiral King to adopt the convoy system at the outset of war, and its costs, are not well explained and lost to the reader. The story of American torpedo failures is split up and difficult to follow.In this old warrior’s opinion, the author is too soft on some of the personalities he reviews. MacArthur is one example. He changed War Plan Orange and adopted junk in its place, and his superiors in Washington allowed it. Why? After the outright debacle following Pearl Harbor and the complete destruction of US air power in the Philippines, with consequences at least as bad as Pearl Harbor, he stayed in command. Why? Mr. Toll does complain about MacArthur, but he does not tell us he was incompetent. In fact, he more or less defends MacArthur’s leadership. It is the same with several other leaders. Mr. Toll gives them the benefit of the doubt too often.I enjoyed both books and highly recommend them for anyone interested in World War II in the Pacific

Reviewer: Bücher-Zebra
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 5 Sterne für 5 tolle Qualitäten des Buches:1. Kompakt gegliedert, straff geschrieben, keine Längen.2. Ein toller Sprachgebrauch begünstigt ein flüssiges Lesen, ohne flapsig zu werden.3. Es wurde so viel zu dem Thema geschrieben und trotzdem erfährt man interessante Neuigkeiten.4. Menschen entscheiden Kriege. Er schaut auf die Menschen hinter den Epauletten.5. Obwohl ich das Ende aller Schlachten kenne, hatte ich einen Lesedrang, wie bei einem guten Thriller.

Reviewer: Geralt
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is the first in a three volume set. And quite simply is the best telling of the Pacific theatre of war II.Sublimely written. It goes into detail about the start of the conflict through to 1942.The major thing is that it's not dry in it's writing. Some WWII books are hard to follow, due to the laborious way they're presented. This book is not in that category. And flows effortlessly, while describing in detail every event.I had to wait a week for these three volumes to arrive from the u.s. and can honestly say that I was glad I did.Extremely reccomended.

Reviewer: Julio Ichaso
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Profundo análisis de las causas y desarrollo de la guerra del Pacífico, magníficamente escrito y documentado. Es de lo mejor que he leido en literatura histórica.

Reviewer: Jacqueline Stillman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Je n'ai commencé à le que récemment mais je ne peux pas laisser tomber!

Reviewer: P2
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ian Toll has written a first-class history of the first stage of America's war in the Pacific, from 1941-42. War in the Pacific during World War 2 was incredibly complex, even though for the Western Allies it began nearly 2.5 years later than war with Germany. Toll has wisely decided to divide his history of America's Pacific War into 3 separate volumes, of which "Pacific Crucible" is but the first. It is well written and includes many of the smaller, but significant, human details of individual lives and experiences that makes for an attractive page-turner. Even though many books on this subject have previously appeared, I still learned interesting new things that I had not seen in at least a dozen other books by well known and lauded writers. Ian Toll's second volume in this series, "The Conquering Tide", covering the war from 1942-44, is now available and I am about half way through reading it. It too is an absolutely splendid read! One must keep in mind, however, that given the complexity of the subject, even Toll's use of three volumes to cover 3.5 years of war experience only results in a "relative synopsis" of the Pacific War. Entire volumes as long and longer than Toll's have been written on each of the major battles he covers in his books, and Toll has provided a good bibliography of many of the best of these works for the reader who wishes further details. Toll's books are an excellent place to start for the budding student of America's Pacific War, and a great read for the more experienced historian as well!