J.S.'s Reviews > Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

This is a very detailed and extensive history of the WWII Battle of Midway, but told from the Japanese side of the conflict. It's pretty high-level and focuses more on strategy and the decisions of the leaders, with an emphasis in correcting the record of what actually happened and why. As such, there's a lot of blame for Isoroku Yamamoto and Chūichi Nagumo, and especially for Mitsuo Fuchida who wrote a misleading account of the conflict several years after the war.

While I found the level of detail and discussion sometimes overwhelming and dull, it was actually a rather exciting book once the authors got to the actual day of battle and the events. I even felt very sad for the Japanese when the magnitude of their loss became evident (however, as an American, I'm happy it turned out the way it did). This most definitely isn't a book for the casual reader of WWII history, but it's a valuable book for the analysis and clarification of what really happened.