The Fleet at Flood Tide

America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945

By: James D. Hornfischer

Narrated by: Pete Larkin

Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •

The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower

Winner, Commodore John Barry Book Award, Navy League of the United States • Winner, John Lehman Distinguished Naval Historian Award, Naval Order of the United States

With its thunderous assault on the Mariana Islands in June 1944, the United States crossed the threshold of total war. In this tour de force of dramatic storytelling, distilled from extensive research in newly discovered primary sources, James D. Hornfischer brings to life the campaign that was the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender—and that forever changed the art of modern war.

With a close focus on high commanders, front-line combatants, and ordinary people, American and Japanese alike, Hornfischer tells the story of the climactic end of the Pacific War as has never been done before. Here are the epic seaborne invasions of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, the stunning aerial battles of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, the first large-scale use of Navy underwater demolition teams, the largest banzai attack of the war, and the daring combat operations large and small that made possible the strategic bombing offensive culminating in the atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the seas of the Central Pacific to the shores of Japan itself, The Fleet at Flood Tide is a stirring, authoritative, and cinematic portrayal of World War II’s world-changing finale.

Illustrated with original maps and more than 120 dramatic photographs

“Quite simply, popular and scholarly military history at its best.”—Victor Davis Hanson, author of Carnage and Culture

“The dean of World War II naval history . . . In his capable hands, the story races along like an intense thriller. . . . Narrative nonfiction at its finest—a book simply not to be missed.”—James M. Scott, Charleston Post and Courier

“An impressively lucid account . . . admirable, fascinating.”—The Wall Street Journal

“An extraordinary memorial to the courageous—and a cautionary note to a world that remains unstable and turbulent today.”—Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, author of Sea Power

“A masterful, fresh account . . . ably expands on the prior offerings of such classic naval historians as Samuel Eliot Morison.”—The Dallas Morning News

©2016 James D. Hornfischer (P)2016 Random House Audio

The Rest of the Story

I am the son of a WWII Ace and twice escaped POW TURNED SAC wing commander, as well as a Vietnam veteran. As such, my interest in the war has never faded. I’ve lost count of the histories and “I was there” books. This fills in the blanks in a very engaging and personal way.
A must read.

Excellent detail

I had no idea just how excellent of a commander Admiral Spruance was. Through this book I gained a new appreciation for his genius and grasp of Leadership in command.

Good, not great

Not as good as his previous books but solid. I didn't feel much emotion while listening to this one as i did Neptune's Inferno or Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors

Perfection.

Absolutely wonderful. The narrator is perfect for the story and exposits the emotion and direction of the writing extremely well

Excellent

The Fleet at Flood Tide

By James D. Hornfischer

What a tremendous loss when James D. Hornfischer passed. As usual, he added compelling details about events which have been covered repeatedly elsewhere.

The book covers not only fleet actions, but personality details of the major players.

Also details usually left out. We normally hear about the war’s end and there the story ends. You have probably heard about Operation Magic Carpet which brought the millions of American servicemen and women home. But there was another massive transport effort. Millions of Japanese servicemen and civilians still in China and in the Pacific islands. Hundreds of thousands of American, British, Chinese, Korean, etc prisoners held in Japan. And then there were Japanese prisoners in Russia… who decided not to give them back.

These and many more details make this a fascinating read.

All good!

Easy to follow narrative. Great historical review. Professional sounding voice. I greatly appreciate this service. Thanks a lot!

Good at filling in all those other details

What did you love best about The Fleet at Flood Tide?

Getting a lot of the details from both USN and IJN about the final year of the war. I was disappointed that so little time was spent on the Battle of Samar, 25 Oct. The author has written a whole book about this and it is excellent.

Any additional comments?

Very good for those interested in WWII naval history that already know the overall picture.

great audio book. captivating and informative

This is an awesome audio book for anyone who enjoys ww2 history, aviation history, naval history, and the history of the atom bomb.

One of my new favorite WW2 audio books

This is the best book I've read or listened to about the war in the Pacific and one of the best about the entire war. The focus on Raymond Spruance, Draper Kaufman and Paul Tibbets were all wonderful. Besides Tibbets, I really didn't know much of anything about the other two and their stories are just incredible. I loved that the book was not just the rose tinted version of the history, but addressed the personal failings of the characters it covered, like Kelly Turner, who struggles with a drinking problem throughout the war, and the struggles of Kaufman and other commanding officers as their groups suffer heavy casualties is a reminder that these people were all human. On the other side, the Japanese characters they focus on from Sipan have incredibles stories. Parts of it reminded me of Stephen Ambrose book "Supreme Allied Commander" which was about Eisenhower in Europe, which is one of my all time favorites. This book is for Spruance, what that book did for Eisenhower, but where Ambrose's book has some small lulls, I feel like this book avoided some of those by keeping up with Kaufman, Tibbets, and other rank and file accounts of the moments, as well as the Japanese accounts to avoid a sole focus on Spruance. I'm a big fan of contemporary histories of WW2 and I loved this book. Great narrator and just so well written!

WW2

A very factual account of World War II in the Pacific theater, detailed ship engagements.