Near fine condition.Little, Brown & Co,2003.First edition-third printing(10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3).The book is Signed and Dated(Seattle,10-28-03) by the Author on the title page with an inscription To Philip-A buddy since 1975!.The book also includes on the front of the Dj cover a cold sticker with the wording Autographed for University Bookstore,Seattle-Bellevue. Blue hardback with red borders(silver lettering to the spine,small nicks on the edges of the cover and spine) with Dj(small nicks,creases & scratch on the Dj cover),both in near fine condition.Illustrated inside the front and back cover,maps,b/w photos,cartoons.Nice and clean pages with a small ink mark and two nicks on the outer edges,a couple of small nicks and some creases on the edges of the pages.Nice and clean book with light shelf wear on the Dj cover.404pp including Notes,bibliography,index.Price un-clipped.A collectable signed first edition. This is another paragraph From Publishers Weekly: The author of Flags of Our Fathers achieves considerable but not equal success in this new Pacific War-themed history. Again he approaches the conflict focused on a small group of men: nine American Navy and Marine aviators who were shot down off the Japanese-held island of Chichi Jima in February 1945. All of them were eventually executed by the Japanese; several of the guilty parties were tried and condemned as war criminals. When the book keeps its eye on the aviators-growing up under a variety of conditions before the war, entering service, serving as the U. S. Navy's spearhead aboard the fast carriers, or facing captivity and death-it is as compelling as its predecessor. However, a chapter on prewar aviation is an uncritical panegyric to WWI aerial bombing advocate Billy Mitchell, who was eventually court-martialed for criticizing armed forces brass. More problematic is that Bradley tries to encompass not only the whole history of the Pacific War, but the whole history of the cultures of the two opposing countries that led to the racial attitudes which both sides brought to the war. Those attitudes, Bradley argues, played a large role in the brutal training of the Japanese army, which led to atrocities that in turn sharpened already keen American hostility. Some readers' hackles will rise at the discussion of the guilt of both sides, but, despite some missteps, Bradley attempts to strike an informed balance with the perspective of more than half a century.
