Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

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Another very  interesting historical book by O'Reilly.  I read this several months ago but I am a laggard at posting my reviews.  As with all his Killing books, the author includes fascinating sidebars to emphasize the historical content.  The only slight criticism I have about this book is there are so many footnotes on most pages especially in the first half of the book, that I found those disruptive.  I read each one as they appeared and that resulted in then rereading the passage referenced with the additional information.  All the footnotes were compelling reading and I wondered why the authors did not merely include them along in the main body of the page as they amplified understanding.  This is by no means a solid negative about this work, just a comment.  Otherwise I absolutely enjoyed every page.

 I have not read much about the Pacific in WWII, and have  been fascinated with Truman and MacArthur. The background information on both makes this all the more interesting.  The maps that are included, especially of the Philippines in 1941 were very enlightening to me to begin to better understand the sieges, battles and strategies of the war over there against the Japanese.  I knew little about Peleliu before so the details about the importance of that island and its airstrip were educational to me as well.  The authors explain very comprehensively the culture of the Japanese and how the emperor was considered  a god to the Japanese people, this clarifies how surrender was considered disgraceful to them.

Another 5 ***** book which I heartily recommend, especially for a somewhat  brief presentation about the war with the Japanese, dropping the A-bomb and the dismissal of General MacArthur by President Truman.