The Second World War Asia and the Pacific Atlas (West Point Millitary History Series)

Great companion to the histories I’ve been reading.

Great book for anyone looking to expand on their reference collection. The maps are true military maps. Great for anyone that need precise information on any battles they may be doing research on.

A short summary: This Atlas is a good compilation of maps covering the entire WW II conflict involving the US for Asia & the Pacific. It appears to be chiefly aimed at undergraduate students, and those who are relatively new to the history of WW II in the eastern hemisphere.There are approx. 50 maps, each on large 11 by 14 inch pages, and in color. The spiral binding makes the book very easy to use. The maps are time-phased to depict the chronological progress of the conflict. One should be somewhat familiar with both standard military symbology, and the use of action symbols to convey the progress of a particular battle.I purchased the book in order to suppliment the US Army Official History volumes on the Pacific War - primarily because the companion atlas to those volumes is not in print, and has been unavailable on the re-sale market for some time. This atlas doesn't meet my needs in that area. However, that being said, it does do a fair job of keeping the overall strategic and tactical aspects of the Pacific campaigns in order.I was particularly pleased to see that this Atlas included wide coverage of Allied and Japanese military plans, objectives, and operations in both space and time from the 1930's onwards. This affords a wide view of the overall historical context. In addition, some atypical aspects of the Pacific war are included. Examples: the Soviet August 1945 offensive in Manchuria is sketched in, as is the Japanese Feb. 1945 "Ichi-GO" offensive in China. Finally, the post-Aug.1945 planned operations by the US ("Downfall") are outlined.The particular volume I purchased had a slight registration error between the print overlays - about 1/32 inch. This is somewhat annoying, but tolerable once understood.

excellent

Extremely well done atlas!

Great aid for studying the specific battles.

Most books on the Pacific do not have enough maps . Good supplement to those books ..

a little disappointed. it had nothing on the invasion of the Russell Islands which had fighter and bomber runways and was used as a PT Boat base and a maintenance and refueling base for planes. Also used as a R& R base for the Marines.

Gut gefallen hat mir die wissenschaftliche Art und Aufmachung des Buches. Der Paziffikkrieg wird chronologisch beschrieben. Leider stören die vielen Anmerkungen und Quellenangaben den Lesefluß erheblich. Die Schrift ist eine feine "New-Times-Roman", die ermüdend zu lesen ist. Die sehr spärlich eingestreuten Bilder, meist von Offizieren der US-Streitkräfte, sind von sehr einfacher Qualität: Wie die Zeitungsbilder aus den 70er Jahren.Ich hatte mir einen anschaulich geschilderten und gut aufbereiteten Einblick in den Pazifikkrieg gewünscht. Leider wird der Leser in die Bleiwüste verbannt und muß sich Sekundärmaterial bereitlegen, wenn er etwa wissen möchte, wie Admiral Nimitz oder die Insel Guadalcanal aussieht. Für den geschichtlich interessierten Leser ist das Buch wenig geeignet.

Frankly this needs more zoom in maps - the ones for the ETO are definitely better,

I was expecting maps that could stand by themselves and provide fresh insights into the Asian and Pacific Campaigns.I found the maps to be presented in a dated manner, not easy to understand and they certainly don't stand by themselves but are supporting maps to a text included elsewhere.You will find better maps in most modern books of war relating to these battles and this is no complete guide.It is spiral bound and some details are useful but unless you have the main text I wouldn't recommend this to a casual reader.