- Paperback: 408 pages
- Publisher: Kodansha International Ltd; New edition edition (1 Oct 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 4770025394
- ISBN-13: 978-4770025395
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14.2 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,856,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
New York Times
"One of the most comprehensive and enlightening biographies available of a wartime leader."
The New Yorker
"Brilliant."
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
I have by me as I write a faded group photograph. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I have by me as I write a faded group photograph. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A clear and concise biography.,
By Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Reluctant Admiral: (Hardcover)
Yamamoto was regarded as one of Japan's most able pre-WW2 naval officers who rose to become Naval Vice Minister prior to returning to those sea-going duties which saw him in command of Japan's fleets when that war commenced.
Widely regarded as the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbour, from this exceedingly well researched book, we learn that the very idea of such an attack originated many years earlier. During 1927-8 Lieutenant Commander Ryunosuke Kusaka worked simultaneously as an instructor at the naval staff college and the aviation corps. His expertise was aerial tactics and he devised a training scenario which included an attack on Hawaii. He then went on to inject this "theory" into successive students - pilots and future staff officers, over that time. By 1940, therefore, the very idea of such an attack was firmly entrenched in to the minds of all those officers. Defensive and attack scenarios are a basic part of the teachings of all armed forces. Japan's senior naval staff had devised a training plan whereby Japan would attack the Philippines in the full expectation that the US Fleet would come the aid of that country whereupon the Japanese Fleet would then destroy the US Fleet at sea. When one officer attending such a training session asked "what do we do if the US fails to respond as expected?", the official reply revealed an expectation of all Japanese officers to conform to the accepted thinking of their seniors! This book reveals Japan's pre-war tactical training as mostly wishful thinking and based on enemy forces doing exactly as was pre-determined by those in charge of strategic planning. In reality, all military plans are changed just as soon as the first shot is fired. Doubtless, had he survived the war, Yamamoto would have faced a war crimes tribunal. Instead, he lost his life during a conflict which, albeit not of his making, was one in which he went on to play a major role. This book is about this senior Japanese officer from WW2. It is written by a Japanese who clearly understands his subject better than most - perhaps in a way that only a Japanese could. Consequently, we have as complete a biography as one might hope to find. NM
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yamamoto Genius or not..................,
By
This review is from: The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy (Paperback)
Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto is one of the enigmas of the Second World War.He is variously described as "brilliant" and "the best brain in the Japanese Navy" going by both descriptions I can see how they lost the war. Granted he had little option but to launch a surpise attack and try to neutralise the American Pacific Fleet,but to attack them in a superbly equipped Naval dockyard where any casuatlites could be salvaged & put back into action,as indeed happened? Surely it would have been far better to lure them away from Pearl Harbour & sink them in the open sea? Riskier,granted but surely safer in the long run. His handling of the Japanese Fleet at Midway was another disaster where the plan was overly complex keeping his battlefleet too far away from his carrier group thus effectively neutralising both. Whilst sitting in no man's land he could offer no help when it was most desperately needed. How many carriers would he have lost had his battleships been sailing in consort at Midway? His eventual demise was, again,typical of the man.Not appeciating that the Americans were reading the Japanese codes, he set out on a well publicized tour of his far flung bases,giving his enemies a detailed time table, which enabled them to shoot his plane to bits.It,s easy to judge with hindsight but it seems to me that Yamamoto,like Montgomery, was vastly overrated as a strategist.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An affectionate Portrait,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy (Paperback)
This biography almost reads like a novel. The author has drawn a very affectionate portrait of the man (sometimes overly so), to the degree that you wonder if he had any faults at all. In this context, I think the reading of alternative biographies of the man is essential (finding them written in English is difficult though!). I also found the lack of chronology to be a bit distracting. Overall however, it gives a very revealling insight into an undoubtedly major personality.
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