Okinawa

Robert Leckie, a U.S. Marine veteran, turns his attention to the Battle of Okinawa, the final major land campaign of the Pacific war in 1945. He traces the fighting from its opening moves through its brutal later stages, covering the military strategy, the soldiers on both sides, and the toll on the island's civilians.

Leckie's account is held together by flashbacks to his own wartime experience, reaching back as far as the Guadalcanal campaign. These personal passages add a human layer to the larger military history and give the battle a firsthand perspective.