Part two of his three volume history of the pacific war. The book covered the middle war period, from the middle of 1942 through to the end of 1944 and encompasses the Solomon Islands campaign through to the Marianas invasion. The fundamental story is of US production overwhelming any hope of the Japanese ever prevailing. The battles became more and more one sided as the years passed, culminating in the massacre of the Marianas Turkey Shoot. Toll gives terrific blow-by-blow descriptions of all the major operations, weaving in first hand accounts from diaries and memoirs of the participants on both the American and Japanese sides, but there are also in depth backgrounds on the political landscape in both countries and interesting interludes on other aspects of the war, such as the effects of large numbers of US servicemen in Australia, the cruises of an American submarine, the Wahoo, and the strange jungle life of a lone Australian observer behind the Japanese lines in the Solomons. He even handedly describes the hatred and racism employed by both sides and the awful inhumanity of the fighting - much like the Eastern Front in Europe than, for example, the Western Desert campaign in North Africa. The awful tragedy of Japanese women and children committing suicide on Saipan rather than surrender to the Americans is a case in point. Toll is an excellent writer and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the series so far. Now looking forward to reading the final, and by far the largest volume, Twilight of the Gods.