Miracle At Midway: Amazon.ca: Gordon Prange: Books

Product Description

Book Description

How the Allies prevailed in the massive battle that turned the tide of the war. 2 cassettes. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

The late Professor Gordon W Prange was born in 1910, served in the US Naval Reserve during WWII and became Professor at the University of Maryland until his death. His books include the best-selling At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor: The Final Verdict and Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge Spy Ring. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews

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3 star:		(5)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but is it accurate?, May 18 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Miracle At Midway (Paperback)

In Chapter 31, the authors make a big deal about the use of the singular "enemy carrier" instead of the plural "enemy carriers" by the Japanese admirals as proof of the confusion the Japanese were in. But the Japanese language does not distinguish between singluar and plural forms so this is just an artifact of the English translation. This makes you wonder just how many conclusions the authors jumped to based on some poor English translation of the Japanese material.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Miracle at Midway is a Gripping Read!, April 19 2003

By

Alex Diaz-Granados "fardreaming writer" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Miracle At Midway (Paperback)

This book is one of the best works I have read about the Pacific War and it is one of my favorite accounts of the Battle of Midway. Even though it is not a Pearl Harbor-only volume like other books by Prange, Dillon, and Goldstein, I agree with Penguin's characterization of Miracle at Midway as a sequel to At Dawn We Slept, Prange's definitive account of the events before, during, and after the Day of Infamy.

Miracle at Midway picks up the narrative of events soon after the Pearl Harbor Striking Force under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo returns to Japan, hailed as heroes by everyone in the Empire. It then, economically and without bogging down in detail, describes the events that led to the battle of Midway, a small atoll at the far end of the Hawaiian island chains.

Attention to detail is given to the planning and execution of both American and Japanese operations in the Midway battle. Prange and his co-authors point out that Midway was Pearl Harbor in reverse; the Japanese, who had been careful and canny in December 1941, were overconfident and somewhat sloppy in planning and executing Operation MI. The Americans, who had been caught unprepared six months earlier, were able to break Japan's JN-25 Naval Communications Code and set a carefully laid ambush in the path of Japan's mighty First Air Fleet.

This book is highly readable (though I prefer Walter Lord's Incredible Victory), and I give it a strong recommendation, even though it has very few pictures and even fewer maps.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Indulgent Style Slows Down Great Story, Feb 11 2003

By

Malorie Hilscher (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Miracle At Midway (Paperback)

The Battle of Midway stands as the single most important American battle fought in WWII, and quite possibly was the most important engagment ever fought by the US Navy. In many ways, it was truly a 'miracle' for the American forces, as Prange's title claims. And he conveys the sense of urgency accompanying the battle on both sides well. Furthermore, his account is factually exhaustive (and adequately footmarked, most of the time). But Prange's writing style is too self-indulgent and verbose to handle the multitude of names, locations, and times thrown at the reader. Ironically (and frustratingly) he praises certain commanders for the sparse, just-the-facts style of their reports, orders, and so on. And yet Prange himself lacks any economy of words. This poor writing and the sparcity of maps & photographs (to serve as refrences) slowed the text down to a monotonous grind.
Nevertheless, Prange's attentiveness to facts, though obscured at times due to his writing style, is a breath of historical fresh air. This is very much an historian's account of the battle, and worth reading--just do a lot of skimming.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad maps -- good book.
Why is that so many good battle histories lack decent maps? The maps in this book, to use a adjective favored by my grandchildren,[are bad]. Read more

Published on Dec 8 2002 by Smallchief

5.0 out of 5 stars Will stand the test of time
Even when dealing with historical events that are, by their very nature, action-packed, it can be hard to balance storytelling with in-depth research and historical precision... Read more

Published on Jan 21 2002 by Andrew S. Rogers