John L. Zimmerman (2) (1905–1957)

This is pretty much the official U.S. Marine Corps overview of the battle for the island of Guadalcanal, which was essentially the turning point of the war in the Pacific in World War II. While there are scattered throughout a very few personal anecdotes, this is primarily a well-organized recapitulation of troop movements and engagements between American and Japanese forces during the campaign. It gives a very clear picture of the actions of the campaign (between August, 1942 and February, 1943). The many fold-out maps included are far from clear, however, unless one happened to be part of the American military forces on Guadalcanal at the time, as they are marked with shorthand notations that are not explained to the non--participant. All in all, this is a useful and plain-spoken treatise, but not a terribly human one.… (meer)