--- product_id: 299250698 title: "Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942" price: "61.57 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/299250698-pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-1942 store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 **Price:** 61.57 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 - **How much does it cost?** 61.57 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/299250698-pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-1942) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Audie Award Nominee, History, 2013 The planning, the strategy, the sacrifices and heroics - on both sides - illuminating the greatest naval war in history. On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative. Ian W. Toll's dramatic narrative encompasses both the high command and the "sailor's-eye" view from the lower deck. Relying predominantly on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that has revised our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in the country's highest circles thought they could win. The result is a pause-resistant history that does justice to the breadth and depth of a tremendous subject. Review: Superb - If volumes 2 and 3 reach the level of non-fiction story telling Ian Toll has achieved with "The Pacific Crucible," a new standard in Pacific War history will be set. This book is extremely well written and factual. Toll is blessed with the story teller's gift. This is a very solid work of non-fiction, but written with a style and cohesiveness that emphasizes the "story" in "history." There are no parts that are dry, or academic or drag. It is a thrilling tale very well told. I'm a history buff and have read a lot on World War II. One of the pleasure's of Toll's book is that even with that pedigree, I learned a lot. Not only about small actions like the Halsey raids with the Enterprise right after Pearl Harbor, but also great facets of the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway (about which I have read a fair amount). This is a volume that explores all levels of the struggle. National and military leadership and personalities are plumbed as well as the actions of individual pilots, crew members and soldiers. Toll does an excellent job of leaving the strategic level and enlivening execution of plans with a strong focus on the individuals who actually had to do something other than write and pass along papers. His background on Japanese military thinking and training as well as a very good examination of the political morass that led Japan to war (and the always fascinating story of inter service rivalry in Japan) are about the best I've read and validate the decision making and actions of Japanese during the conflicts covered (validate in terms of their rationale becomes clear given their culture). Also satisfying is that the author has produced a vast number of individual Japanese remembrances and commentary on the events and actions covered in this tome. Having both sides perspectives rounds out the conflicts well. Yammato and Nimitz are the primary strategic level actors and the backgrounds on both are short enough to not lead the reader astray of a fast paced story, but long enough to give the reader a sense of the man. Also well done is Toll's examination and telling of the great role American code breakers played in giving the (in the early war) over-matched Americans an equalizer by having a good idea where and when the Japanese would move. I can't be more positive about this book. It is excellent history well-told. Definitely compares well with and is similar to Rick Atkinson's marvelous trilogy on the American Army in the ETO. Review: The First in an Amazing, Well Written and Researched Series - This is the first of three seminal books by Ian Toll on the largest major naval-driven war in history. He is meticulous on laying the groundwork for why the Japanese believed they needed to start the war in the Pacific, and guides the reader through those first agonizing 18 months for the U.S., Australia, and all the small island nations. Toll is one of the small number of historians who is also a gifted writer and researcher, and he rewards the interested reader on almost every page with conversations, strategy, tactics and discussions of the context and mood of the aggressors and the defenders. An amazing work. If he only wrote these three books and nothing else, his place would be set among historians in general, and naval historians specifically. Luckily for us, the man continues to write. ## Images ![Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81mdgaTuanL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Superb *by W***H on February 1, 2021* If volumes 2 and 3 reach the level of non-fiction story telling Ian Toll has achieved with "The Pacific Crucible," a new standard in Pacific War history will be set. This book is extremely well written and factual. Toll is blessed with the story teller's gift. This is a very solid work of non-fiction, but written with a style and cohesiveness that emphasizes the "story" in "history." There are no parts that are dry, or academic or drag. It is a thrilling tale very well told. I'm a history buff and have read a lot on World War II. One of the pleasure's of Toll's book is that even with that pedigree, I learned a lot. Not only about small actions like the Halsey raids with the Enterprise right after Pearl Harbor, but also great facets of the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway (about which I have read a fair amount). This is a volume that explores all levels of the struggle. National and military leadership and personalities are plumbed as well as the actions of individual pilots, crew members and soldiers. Toll does an excellent job of leaving the strategic level and enlivening execution of plans with a strong focus on the individuals who actually had to do something other than write and pass along papers. His background on Japanese military thinking and training as well as a very good examination of the political morass that led Japan to war (and the always fascinating story of inter service rivalry in Japan) are about the best I've read and validate the decision making and actions of Japanese during the conflicts covered (validate in terms of their rationale becomes clear given their culture). Also satisfying is that the author has produced a vast number of individual Japanese remembrances and commentary on the events and actions covered in this tome. Having both sides perspectives rounds out the conflicts well. Yammato and Nimitz are the primary strategic level actors and the backgrounds on both are short enough to not lead the reader astray of a fast paced story, but long enough to give the reader a sense of the man. Also well done is Toll's examination and telling of the great role American code breakers played in giving the (in the early war) over-matched Americans an equalizer by having a good idea where and when the Japanese would move. I can't be more positive about this book. It is excellent history well-told. Definitely compares well with and is similar to Rick Atkinson's marvelous trilogy on the American Army in the ETO. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The First in an Amazing, Well Written and Researched Series *by S***R on March 23, 2026* This is the first of three seminal books by Ian Toll on the largest major naval-driven war in history. He is meticulous on laying the groundwork for why the Japanese believed they needed to start the war in the Pacific, and guides the reader through those first agonizing 18 months for the U.S., Australia, and all the small island nations. Toll is one of the small number of historians who is also a gifted writer and researcher, and he rewards the interested reader on almost every page with conversations, strategy, tactics and discussions of the context and mood of the aggressors and the defenders. An amazing work. If he only wrote these three books and nothing else, his place would be set among historians in general, and naval historians specifically. Luckily for us, the man continues to write. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ weaves it all together in a well-ordered story *by S***G on August 7, 2025* Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942. Ian W. Toll. 2011. Kindle ed. Writing this book was a massive undertaking and it is very well done. Toll used a vast number of sources but weaves it all together in a well-ordered story. He had to make choices, what to include, what to leave out, and he made the choices well. Reading the first pages, I thought it started out slow, with stuff about life at the Naval Academy, the influence of Alfred Thayer Mahan on naval strategic thought in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and Theodore Roosevelt. Then Toll jumps to Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. No mention of Japan’s invasion of China and Korea, the war in Europe, the ban on steel and oil exports to Japan, or Japan’s planning of the attack. Nothing on the failure of radar operators to recognize the attack. Toll focuses on the reactions of people in Honolulu, Pearl Harbor, and the White house. There are grizzly details of the wounded sailors. There are fine details of FDR’s study, how he began the afternoon, how the admirals, generals, and Eleanor were reacting. There are other books that give many more details about the Day of Infamy. Soon after the Pearl Harbor attack, Churchill arrived at the White House for a three-week visit, which Toll describes in great detail. Churchill’s overriding goal was to get Roosevelt committed to the war and victory. They worked out arrangements for how the Pacific war would be run by the Combined Chiefs of Staff, CCOS. Toll tells a lot about Admiral King. He is kinder to King than some historians. After the excitement of the Pearl Harbor attack, Toll backtracks to give many details about Yamamoto, Japan’s relations with the western powers before the war, the rivalry between Japan’s army and navy, and the increase of power of young Japanese officers. FDR ordered Nimitz to go to Oahu and take command, having fired Admiral Kimmel. Nimitz was promoted over many other admirals. He was the chief of the Bureau of Navigation, which was the navy’s personnel department. Toll gives good descriptions of Halsey’s attack on Japanese air bases in the Marshall Islands, the Japanese attacks on the Philippines, Singapore, and Java, mistakes made by MacArthur, and the Doolittle raid on Tokyo. The last half of the book is about the Battle of Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, including an excellent description of the intelligence work that broke the Japanese codes and identified the Japanese plan to attack Port Moresby, Midway and Alaska. The description of the Battle of Midway is mostly complete and very engaging with many details. I would have liked to have read more about why Stanhope Ring took the wrong heading and failed to find the enemy fleet, and why the torpedo bombers didn’t get protection from the F4F Wildcats. Maybe there just aren’t answers to those questions. There were two great scandals of the Battle of Midway. The American torpedo bomber attacks were failures, but not for lack of courage of the aircrews. The TBD bombers were slow and outdated, the torpedoes had insufficient range and often did not work, and the TBDs did not have fighter support. The bravery of the TBD crews, in spite of these shortcomings, was spectacular. Almost all of them died trying to attack the Japanese carriers. They contributed to the victory by keeping the Zeros and carriers occupied and distracted until the SBD dive bombers came in to kill the carriers. The other scandal is how Commander Joseph Rochefort was treated after the battle. He was in charge of Hypo, the Combat Intelligence Unit for the Pacific Command. Without his work on decoding messages, the battle would have been vastly different. After the battle, Captain John R. Redman and his elder brother, Rear Adm Joseph R. Redman, managed to take credit for the intelligence coup and to punish Rochefort for proving them to be wrong. In the weeks before the Battle of Midway, the Redmans disagreed with Rochefort’s assessments and opposed Nimitz’ plan to ambush the Japanese at Midway. John Redman was chief of OP-20-G, the Washington-based Navy Radio Intelligence Section. Joseph Redman was director of naval communications. Joseph Redman was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Rochefort was denied his and was recalled to Washington to waste his talents. I highly recommend this book and I am eager to read the other two volumes by Toll. It is better than Shattered Sword or Miracle at Midway, and about equal to Incredible Victory. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/299250698-pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-1942](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/299250698-pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-1942) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-08-02*