Bloody Pacific: American Soldiers at War with Japan

by Peter Schrijvers

Bloody Pacific tells the real story of the attitudes and behaviour of American fighting men in the war against Japan, revealing much about the nature of this terrifying conflict that has until now remained unknown. Based on years of research and using countless unpublished diaries and letters, Schrijvers sweeps across the battlefields, from the desperate stand at Guadalcanal to the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis, and from the daunting spaces of the China-Burma-India theatre to the fortress islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In a manner that is often unsettling, Bloody Pacific brings to life the GIs’ epic struggle with suffocating wilderness, debilitating diseases, and Japanese soldiers choosing death over life.

Amid the frustration and despair of this war, American soldiers abandoned themselves to an escalating rage against nature and man – and prayed for the bombs that would wipe away Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

299 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Dr. Peter Schrijvers (1963- ) is a Belgian academic and writer of history books. He earned a masters degree in Modern History from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) an a PhD in US Diplomatic and Military History from the Ohio State University.
Today (2014) he is a Senior Lecturer American and international history at the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Peter Schrijvers mainly writes academic books in English.

*****

Peter Schrijvers doceerde Amerikaanse geschiedenis in Australië, de VS en Zwitserland. Hij publiceerde zes non-fictieboeken over de Tweede Wereldoorlog, onder andere bij Cambridge en Yale, en was te zien op National Geographic. Momenteel is hij curator van Liberation Garden, het nieuwe museum over de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Leopoldsburg. Een hoofd vol vlammen is zijn eerste roman.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if my rating is fair, I was expecting a book about attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the Japanese army and soldiers by the USA army leaders and ordinary soldiers, in particular I expected an examination of the very often racist way the Japanese were presented in all sorts of official, semi official and unofficial mediums. But this was not that sort of book - it examines how American soldiers responded and understood 'Asia' or the 'Far East'. To do this it looks back at what most Americans knew about the far east/Asia (very little) what books were of importance (almost none) in forming existing views, etc. If most US GIs had a view of the Pacific theatre it was from films such as various south sea epics staring Dorothy Lamar. The information covered varies between the banal to the novel - it just doesn't amount to anything very substantial or interesting. But then I was expecting a different sort of book.

It is an 'acadenic' book so rather dull but I can't help feeling that it doesn't provide any real insights of importance.

[Boudewijn]

Be warned: this book does not cover the actual fighting in the Pacific, but tells rather about the 'culture' shock the American soldiers faced when fighting in the jungles of Guadalcanal, New-Guinea and The Philipines.

[IKO · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik hou erg van de eerste boeken van Schrijvers maar hier bleef ik toch wat op mijn honger zitten. Bovendien was het ook wat eenzijdig geschreven (iets wat je bijv ook ziet in het bronnenmateriaal)