A comprehensive view of World War Two in the Asia Pacific. In early 1942, the Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all fronts, humiliating their US, British and Dutch foes throughout the Asia Pacific. In a matter of just months, the soldiers and sailors of the Rising Sun conquered an area even bigger than Hitler's empire at its largest extent. They seemed invincible. Hawaiians and Australians were fearing a future under Hirohito. For half of mankind, fate was hanging in the balance. Fast forward to the end of 1943, and the tables had been turned entirely. A reinvigorated American-led military machine had kicked into gear, and the Japanese were fighting a defensive battle along a frontline that crossed thousands of miles of land and ocean. Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943 by acclaimed author Peter Harmsen details the astonishing transformation that took place in that period, setting the Allies on a path to final victory against Japan. The middle installment in the trilogy, Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943 picks up the story where its predecessor volume Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941 left off. The common theme of the series is a comprehensive view of World War Two in the Asia Pacific, giving due emphasis to the central Japanese-American struggle, but also encompassing the other nations that were engulfed in the vast showdown: British, Australians, Soviets, Filipinos, Indians and Koreans. Above all, the central importance of China is highlighted in a way that no previous general history of the war against Japan has achieved. AUTHOR: Peter Harmsen, PhD, is the author of New York Times best seller Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze and Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City. He studied history at National Taiwan University and has been a foreign correspondent in East Asia for two decades. He has focused mainly on the Chinese-speaking countries, but has reported from nearly every corner of the region, including Mongolia and North Korea. His books have been translated into Chinese, Danish and Romanian. Read his blog at www.chinaww2.com
Industry Reviews
"New York Times best-selling author and noted East Asia expert Peter Harmsen continues his outstanding War in the Far East trilogy with its second installment, Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943. It is rare in English-language literature to treat the Pacific War as an integrated whole. Most histories emphasize the U.S. drives through the South and Central Pacific--often to the exclusion of "lesser" theaters. But MacArthur did not return to the Philippines in a vacuum. The Marines did not just land on Iwo Jima after battling their way across the Pacific on their own. Japanese or Allied actions in one isolated corner of the conflict often had repercussions felt across all the others. It is simply not possible to understand the war against Japan without understanding what happened in China and Southeast Asia as well as throughout the Pacific. What Harmsen does best is to drive home to the reader the full astonishing scope of the war and how all the disparate pieces fit together. His fast-paced narrative takes the reader from the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales off the coast of Malaya, to the desperate third battle of Changsha in central China, to the U.S. Marines landing on Tarawa. The reader quickly begins to feel not only the vastness of the Pacific war, but also its complexity and interconnectedness."--Daniel Jackson, author of "Famine, Sword, and Fire"
