Nimitz at War

Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

By: Craig L. Symonds

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

From America's preeminent naval historian, the first full-length portrait in over fifty years of the man who won the war in the Pacific in World War Two.

Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz transformed the devastated and dispirited Pacific fleet into the most powerful and commanding naval force in history.

Facing demands from Washington to mount an early offensive, he had first to revive the depressed morale of the thousands of sailors, soldiers, and Marines who served under him. And of course, he also confronted a formidable and implacable enemy in the Imperial Japanese Navy, which, until the Battle of Midway, had the run of the Pacific.

Craig Symonds's Nimitz at War captures Nimitz's composure, discipline, homespun wisdom, and most of all his uncanny sense of when to assert authority and when to pull back. As Symonds's absorbing, dynamic, and authoritative portrait reveals, it required qualities of leadership exhibited by few other commanders in history, qualities that are enduringly and even poignantly relevant to our own moment.

©2022 Craig L. Symonds (P)2022 Tantor

The greatest naval man

Thus is the greatest story of Nimitz ever told. It is a outstanding piece of literature !

A well put together and preformed story worthy of Nimitz’s name

I liked the dictation and story structure, it was easily digestible. It made me feel as if I knew the man personally.

Great all around

This book was quite informative. I would highly recommend it to any one that enjoys learning about what really went on in ww2 in the Pacifica theater.

Great leadership study

Doug vs Chester is quite interesting in seeing how great WWII military commanders approached being leaders.

Excellent!

If you know the war, it’s interesting to see this side of it. How Nimitz ran the war and kept it going in the direction needed. Phenomenal listen

A Good Story But..

I didn’t get a lot put of this book that I hadn’t read or heard elsewhere. There really wan’t that much info on Leadership style other than accounts of occasional references to conflict resolution. I do think Nimitz was a great man and leader and probably made decisions that won the war.

Great

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I have read everything I can about Chester Nimitz over the years. This book technically is not a biography as it only covers one item about Nimitz, his leadership skills.

Nimitz was Commander In-Charge of the Pacific Fleet and the Pacific Ocean Areas from 1941 to 1945. He had a difficult job implementing General George Marshall’s strategic plan for the war on Japan. Adding to his challenges were two difficult men, his boss, Admiral Ernest J. King, and the Army Pacific Theatre Commander, the egocentric General Douglas MacArthur. Nimitz’ leadership skills were on full display in leading his mercurial admirals such as Halsey, McCain, Mitscher, Fletcher and the methodical Spruance.

If you are interested in learning more about Nimitz, I recommend “Nimitz by E. V. Potter, 1976 and “Admiral Nimitz, The Commander of the Pacific Ocean Theatre” by Brayton Harris, 2012.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is fourteen hours and twenty-six hours. L. J. Ganser does an excellent job narrating the book.

A good listen

I enjoyed it. The story and the person reading were excellent. I highly recommend this.

Top notch.Very well narrated and insightful

Top notch.Very well narrated and insightful. I have read many books of the fighting in the Pacific but this is first one looking at the top down view.

Nimitz at War

Excellent medium length book on Fleet Admiral during the war. Well worth the listening while on the road.