Island Infernos

The US Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944

By: John C. McManus

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 25 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

In Fire and Fortitude—winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History—John C. McManus presented a riveting account of the US Army's fledgling fight in the Pacific following Pearl Harbor. Now, in Island Infernos, he explores the Army’s dogged pursuit of Japanese forces, island by island, throughout 1944, a year that would bring America ever closer to victory or defeat.

“A feat of prodigious scholarship.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Wonderful.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch • “Outstanding.”—Publishers Weekly • “Rich and absorbing.”—Richard Overy, author of Blood and Ruins • “A considerable achievement, and one that, importantly, adds much to our understanding of the Pacific War.”—James Holland, author of Normandy ’44

After some two years at war, the Army in the Pacific held ground across nearly a third of the globe, from Alaska’s Aleutians to Burma and New Guinea. The challenges ahead were enormous: supplying a vast number of troops over thousands of miles of ocean; surviving in jungles ripe with dysentery, malaria, and other tropical diseases; fighting an enemy prone to ever-more desperate and dangerous assaults. Yet the Army had proven they could fight. Now, they had to prove they could win a war.

Brilliantly researched and written, Island Infernos moves seamlessly from the highest generals to the lowest foot soldiers and in between, capturing the true essence of this horrible conflict. A sprawling yet thrilling narrative, the story spans the battles for Saipan and Guam, the appalling carnage of Peleliu, General MacArthur’s dramatic return to the Philippines, and the grinding jungle combat to capture the island of Leyte. This masterful history is the second volume of John C. McManus’s trilogy on the US Army in the Pacific War, proving McManus to be one of our finest historians of World War II.

©2021 John C. McManus (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A feat of prodigious scholarship and exhaustive research… The author’s brisk, engaging prose speeds the reader through a long and detailed narrative. If the third volume maintains the standards of the first two—surely a safe assumption—Mr. McManus will have produced a study of the American army in the Pacific as vast and splendid as Rick Atkinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Liberation Trilogy’ about its deeds in Europe.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Wonderful.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“McManus follows Fortitude and Fire with an outstanding second volume in his planned trilogy on the Pacific theater of WWII... Distinguished by informative deep dives into logistical and strategic issues and McManus’s storytelling prowess, this is an excellent study of how the U.S. turned the tide of the war in the Pacific.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Excellent, incisive and compelling

This book, and series, does a wonderful job of bridging the divided between strategic, operational, and tactical realities of the Pacific Theater while making it a interesting and enjoyable book to listen to.

Enthralling

Good historical narrative. Powerful storytelling and very informative. Just bought the next one! McManus is a great historian!

The Pacific war for a change.

I have not read much about the Pacific war and this was very well written and enlightening. I found it easy to follow.

Fantastic

John McManus weaves a compelling story which focuses on the US Army, and it’s campaigns in the Pacific. Highly recommend.

Great Book Save One Issue

John McManus is an incredible writer and historian. “Island Infernos” is a tale that tells itself in its ferocity. So many infamous battles are covered and through the wonderful lens of the Army. Sadly the army’s reputation was trashed during many island campaigns. McManus redeems Ralph Smith and so many others who got a bad rap. Well done. The only issue is inserting current day woke-Esau’s updates that aren’t necessary. He states upfront exactly how he feels about all things deemed unacceptable today to ad nauseum. But the work speaks for itself and any extra rambling can be oh noted. Excellent. And exceptional narration.

Wonderful book, but incomplete and poorly narrated.

McManus did a wonderful job of research and writing, though he chops off the story short of the invasion of Luzon. We never get anything after the Leyte campaign. No liberation of Manila, no battle of Okinawa, no Attu and Kiska, no occupation, no real focus on the Army Air Corps’s achievements. And yet we hear of Stillwell’s campaigns in Burma, which isn’t in the Pacific nor an island.

The narration was poor insofar as pronunciation of Japanese, Guamanian, and Filipino names. It was truly bad. The narrator botched the old pronunciation of the capital of Guam (I’ve been there…and my dad helped liberate it); he mispronounced the third largest island in the Philippine archipelago; he mispronounced Japanese names way more often than not. Early on he mispronounced one Japanese general’s name only to mispronounce it differently seconds later.

Reviewers have said McManus downplayed Japanese atrocities. Nonsense. He devoted an entire long and painful chapter to them.

Another reviewer viewed the book as “woke garbage” because McManus properly framed and accurately reported the American racism of the era. My uncle’s letters from that theater (he served on New Guinea and the Philippines) support McManus’s assertions. Since when is acknowledging an uncomfortable fact a sin? That’s honest work by any historian.

This is a good book to read on the heels of Thomas Ricks’ “The Generals”. Both are excellent studies on leadership.

Detailed description of WW2 army actions

Narration is clear, engaging, and professional.

It is refreshing to hear in detail the US Army’s contributions to achieving victory in the pacific.

While there is no doubt of the Marine’s heroic contributions, it is massive disservice to the US Army to discount their overwhelming contributions which far exceed the Marine’s.

Both services made significant contributions, but the army’s was the greater, with their having effected a far greater number of landings, committed many more combatants, suffering a far greater number of casualties, and collaborating with Marines in prosecuting many campaigns for which the Marines have received exclusive credit.

In significant measure, it is the public relations arm of the Marines that is responsible for their exaggerated claims.

McManus sets the record straight with detailed statistics and meticulous descriptions of all major pacific campaigns.

Highly recommended.

Magnificent!

The second book in a trilogy of a long overdue look at the US Army and their battle against the military forces of the Japanese Empire. The US Marine Corps has gotten the bulk of credit in winning the war in the Pacific, and they definitely deserve their reputation as fierce warriors. However, not many know the Army fought more battles and made more amphibious landings than the Marines during the war. This trilogy corrects these misconceptions and places the US Army in its correct place in history. John McManus hits a home run, and Walter Dixon is the perfect narrator. I highly recommend this audio book.

Island campaigns

ggreat book. it shed a lot of light on the generals that ran the war. I had not heard any of this. Major egos. And the conditions these soldiers fought in. Jungle warfare. and the conditions of the Japanese POW camps. I had a lot of respect for the WW II men, including my Dad. I have only more respect now after reading this book.

A Slice of American History

Very informative. Full of background information and detailed descriptions of bloody conflicts. One problem; the narrator mispronounced the name of every Japanese participant.