Following the defeat of the Japanese at Midway and Guadalcanal, the United States launched a campaign to reclaim the two islands in the Aleutians which were occupied by the Japanese during the Midway operation, while also attacking the Japanese bases in Micronesia (Gilberts and Marshalls). Attu and Kiska were occupied by the Japanese and the thought of them on American soil outraged many Americans back home. Thus, a campaign was launched to retake them. After some hard fighting, the islands were recaptured, but the Japanese managed to evacuate their garrison from Kiska right under our noses, much the same way they did at Guadalcanal.

Operation "Galvanic", the invasion of the Gilbert islands, got underway in November, 1943. The main objective was the island of Tarawa. The island is completely surrounded by a dangerous coral reef, and the tides are very unpredictable as well. It was against these obstacles as well as a dug in enemy that the Americans made their attack. As fate would have it, it happened to be low tide when the Americans attacked, thus exposing the coral reef and forcing the landing craft to unload much further from the shore as was preferred. The Marines had to wade as much as 800 yards to the beach under horrific fire from the Japanese. The bombardment by the Americans did little to the well-fortified Japanese defenses, and they made the landings extremely costly for the Americans. Although Tarawa was secured in less than a week, the Americans suffered terrible losses which shocked the folks back home. However, the Americans now possessed an excellent air base to further their operations.

After the capture of Tarawa, the Americans moved to attack the Marshall islands, with the main objectives being Kwajalein and Eniwetok. The lessons of Tarawa had been well-learned. Both of these islands were subjected to a murderous bombardment by the American fleet and air forces, so the Japanese resistance; although spirited; was less effective here. The Americans managed to capture these islands in under a week and were now a step closer to Tokyo.

As with previous volumes of this excellent series, Mr. Morison has included numerous maps and photographs to expand upon the text. There are some good personal narratives in this volume as well. I recommend this volume along with the others of this series. It gives an excellent first-hand account of one of the early amphibious assaults by the Marines.

Although this book covers a good portions of the happenings in the Atlanic during World War II, questions remain unanswered. It doesn't go deep into the subject. But unlike other book on this subject, it doesn't just scratch the surface either.

Mr. Eliot Chapple, recently passed away, is my grandfather. This book gives an indepth and scientific look into biological culture and life. This book is intense and an amazing account on life. Excellent book!

I purchased this book while waiting for his other book: Jesus, Man of Joy to be re-released in Feb. This book started out excellent, then when he began writing about joyful people and stories other people wrote about joy, I began to get uninterested and drifted. So, all that he wrote about joy was absolutely and completely wonderful, but the other writings were a disappointment to me.

After the successful capture of Guadalcanal, the United States forces began to drive up the Solomon chain and into the Bismarcks. Rather than attacking each island individually, it became the policy of the United States to "hop" over some of the islands, thus leaving the defending Japanese to "wither on the vine". In effect, they were completely cut off from reinforcement and resupply. An excellent example of this tactic was employed against the great Japanese base at Rabaul. With over 100,000 Japanese troops defending the area, the Americans simply captured the islands surrounding Rabaul and strangled it to death.

This excellent work by Samuel Eliot Morison tells the heroic tale of the battles fought in and around the Bismarcks. Some of these battles included the battle of the Bismarck Sea, where the Japanese lost a dozen ships, thousands of men, and a large amount of aircraft, while the Americans lost only 5 planes. Admiral Yamamoto's last flight is told in vivid detail, and the other invasions are brought to life, as well. Interestingly, this campaign was fought largely without aircraft carriers. Destroyers, Cruisers, and PT boats helped win the day for the Americans.

As with other volumes in this series, this book contains helpful charts and maps to help the reader. I knew very little about this particular area of the Pacific campaign, but Morison's book opened a new chapter in the Pacific for me. I highly recommend this book. Its very helpful in describing the beginning of the long road toward Tokyo and final victory.

This is one of several books I have been reading to answer the currently raging debate over Christopher Columbus, explorer or Indian slaughterer? Written in the late 1940's, the author Morison spends the first pages of this book hailing Columbus as the "Discoverer of the New World", which we know is not true. Page 1 also states that "This was the most spectacular and most far-reaching geographical discovery ever recorded in human history." This and other terms of unbridled honor almost turned me off, but I later found that Morison balances his opinions well with candid observations of what Columbus did poorly. He clearly points out that Columbus was a terrible scientist and mathemetician, poor governer over people, a self defeating negotiator, and an absolute failure as a colony planner. Although Columbus was generally very compassionate toward the natives, his short comings eventually lead to absolute bedlam in the "Indies" and when faced with this strife, Columbus and his two brothers responded by killing both natives and Spaniards, which further lead to the expulsion of the Columbus brothers from the region. I found the book to be extremely informative and it gave me a clear picture of how Columbus came to be a hero, victim and tyrant at the same time. Morison makes the conclusion that Columbus was an extroardinary seaman and mariner, and he would have been best served if he had stuck with only that. Every other enterprise Columbus tried only lead to failure and shame. I highly recommend the book despite its antiquated writing style. Buy it.

Why produce a textbook on geriatric cardiology? The obvious answer is the incredible growth of the elderly population and the tremendous increase in the prevalence of cardiac disease (clearly and elegantly described in chapter one of this text by McLaughlin and Cassel). However, as a practising Geriatrician, I think there is another important reason to produce such a volume. There is ample evidence in the literature that effective treatments for cardiac disease (e.g. ASA, beta-blockers, and thrombolytic agents) are underused in the elderly. Any publication that might change this is indeed welcome.

Like any multi-authored text, there is some variability from chapter to chapter, and some authors do not use enough tables or charts, thus making their chapters intimidatingly dense. As well, the inevitable delay between writing a chapter and the publication date of the book means that few chapters have any references past 1997. Nevertheless this is an excellent text. It is not likely that any reader would read this text cover to cover. Rather the reader would use the book to review particular topics or answer specific clinical questions. The chapter on 'Physiology of the Aging Heart' is tremendously helpful to a practicing physician. The chapter on 'Management of Lipid Disorders' clearly summarizes the current literature and notes where data is insufficient for firm recommendations (primary prevention in the elderly), and gives practical management advice to the physician. The chapter on 'Congestive Heart Failure' unfortunately was written before the role of beta blockers and spironolactone were clearly established, but does review vasodilators, diuretics, and digoxin very clearly.

In summary, this is an ambitious, and for the most part, very successful textbook. It would be particularly useful for Geriatricians, Internists and Cardiologists. However, primary care providers with large numbers of elderly patients in their practice could also profit from purchasing this book.

Four Quartets is unarguably Eliot's masterpiece, one of the last things he wrote. It is a notoriously difficult work to read, but Helen Gardner is the authority on the matter.

Although I don't find her writing style to be as accessible as Reibetanz's book on the Four Quartets, she will help anyone to a deeper understanding of these beautiful, philosophical poems. Unfortunately such books tend to be out of print, but if you can find a copy somewhere and you want to come to a better understanding of Eliot's poems, grab it! Otherwise check your library.

1942 was a bleak period for the Americans in the Pacific, but within the span of one month, the Americans smashed back at the Japanese in two decisive battles and turned the tide of the war. The first of these battles was fought in the Coral Sea. The Japanese wanted to invade Port Morseby and use that as a springboard for a futute invasion of Australia. However, the Americans, with their top-secret code breakers, already knew the composition of the Japanese forces and where they planned to strike. In early May, 1942, the two sides engaged each other. The Coral Sea battle was the first sea battle fought where the opposing ships never saw one another. This was a tactical victory for the Japanese due to the fact that the American carrier Lexington was sunk along with a destroyer and a tanker, but it was a strategic victory for the Americans, because the Japanese recalled their Port Morseby invasion force.

The most important battle of the Pacific campaign was fought less than a month after the Coral Sea battle at a tiny island known as Midway. The Japanese hoped to capture Midway and use it as a springboard for a possible invasion of Hawaii or even the west coast. Once again, Nimitz knew of the Japanese plan thanks to his wonderous code-breakers. The Japanese launched a massive air assault from four carriers against Midway but failed to destroy the airfields. Aircraft were left on the decks of the carriers waiting for a second strike against Midway when the American torpedo and dive bombers appeared. The torpedo planes were slaughtered by Japanese fighters, but they didn't die in vain. They pulled the Japanese fighters down to sea level and gave the dive bombers a clear shot at the carriers. In a matter of minutes, three Japanese carriers were turned into blazing infernoes by accurately placed bombs. The fourth enemy carrier was sunk the next day. The tide had now turned against the Japanese. Never again would they regain the offensive.

This book does a good job of explaining both of these important battles. Important charts and maps are also included which made reading and understanding the battles much easier. Also included are early submarine attacks against the Japanese, the story of the Aleutian campaign, which was designed by the Japanese in the hopes of luring the American forces away from Midway. Fortunately, Nimitz recognized this as a feint and didn't bite. The opening stages of the Guadalcanal campaign are also discussed. The following volume in this series deals exclusively with Guadalcanal. I recommend this fine work of naval history. It will help the reader understand these two important battles and the role that they played in changing the course of the war in the Pacific.

Down Thunder Road is presented on the back cover as somehow contreversial and anti-Springsteen. Well, as a Springsteen fan, I did not found this book outrageous at all, but on the contrary fascinating. It is an amazing journey in the development of a new artist that will eventually become a popular music icon. Down Thunder Road is not only the recount of an adventure, it is also a music business case, full with a copy of the contracts, record company memos and court orders. Fascinating !