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Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945

Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945

by Ian W. Toll

W. W. Norton Company ·2020 ·944 pages
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About This Book

Twilight of the Gods is a riveting account of the harrowing last year of World War II in the Pacific, when the U.S. Navy won the largest naval battle in history; Douglas MacArthur made good his pledge to return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized in atomic blasts. Ian W. Toll's narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are as gripping as ever, but he also takes the reader into the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo, where the great questions of strategy and diplomacy were decided. Lionel Barber of the Financial Times chose the second volume of the series (The Conquering Tide) as the preemiment book of 2016, calling it "military history at its best." Readers who have been waiting for the conclusion of Toll's masterpiece will be thrilled by this final volume.


Reviews

"Toll's account of the coup de grace, the atomic bomb, barely mentions the debate over its use because that began after the war."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"However, casual enthusiasts will appreciate as it compiles those works thoroughly."

Jason L. Steagall· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Written with flair and chock-full of stories both familiar and fresh, this monumental history fires on all cylinders."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"In some ways its story is the most morally complex, treating life-and-death decisions made on the cusp of victory and defeat ..."

Jonathan W. Jordan· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"This volume brings the author's truly epic trilogy to a close."

Jerry Lenaburg· The New York Journal of Books Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Toll's familiarity with this hitherto hidden tussle, while still incomplete, is elaborate enough to be provocative, which new historical ideas often are ..."

Mark Perry· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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