Iwo Jima
Ernie's Take:
Iwo Jima, by Richard Newcomb, is a detailed examination of the penultimate battle of WWII in the Pacific. Newcomb interviews survivors from both sides and takes diary and battle reports in order to weave a fascinating narrative about the brutal struggle for Sulfur Island (the literal meaning of “Iwo Jima”): not only discussing the bravery and desperate struggle of the Marines to overrun the island but also detailing the fantastically detailed defenses prepared by the Japanese commander, Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who had lived in America before the war and opposed the idea of fighting the US. Newcomb’s book is a good way to understand this struggle.