Audiobook15 hours
Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945
Written by Evan Thomas
Narrated by George Wilson
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
Evan Thomas takes us inside the naval war of 1941-1945 in the South Pacific in a way that blends the best of military and cultural history and riveting narrative drama. He follows four men throughout: Admiral William ("Bull") Halsey, the macho, gallant, racist American fleet commander; Admiral Takeo Kurita, the Japanese battleship commander charged with making what was, in essence, a suicidal fleet attack against the American invasion of the Philippines; Admiral Matome Ugaki, a self-styled samurai who was the commander of all kamikazes and himself the last kamikaze of the war; and Commander Ernest Evans, a Cherokee Indian and Annapolis graduate who led his destroyer on the last great charge in the last great naval battle in history. Sea of Thunder climaxes with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever fought, over four bloody and harrowing days in October 1944. We see Halsey make an epic blunder just as he reaches for true glory; we see the Japanese navy literally sailing in circles, torn between the desire to die heroically and the exhausted, unacceptable realization that death is futile; we sail with Commander Evans and the men of the USS Johnston into the jaws of the Japanese fleet and exult and suffer with them as they torpedo a cruiser, bluff and confuse the enemy -- and then, their ship sunk, endure fifty horrific hours in shark-infested water. Thomas, a journalist and historian, traveled to Japan, where he interviewed veterans of the Imperial Japanese Navy who survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf and friends and family of the two Japanese admirals. From new documents and interviews, he was able to piece together and answer mysteries about the Battle of Leyte Gulf that have puzzled historians for decades. He writes with a knowing feel for the clash of cultures. Sea of Thunder is a taut, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative of the last great naval war, an important contribution to the history of the Second World War.
Author
Evan Thomas
Evan Thomas is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestsellers JOHN PAUL JONES, SEA OF THUNDER, and FIRST: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR. Thomas was a writer, correspondent, and editor for thirty-three years at Time and Newsweek, including ten years as Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief. He appears regularly on many TV and radio talk shows. Thomas has taught at Harvard and Princeton.
Related to Sea of Thunder
Related audiobooks
Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Storm Over Leyte: The Philippine Invasion and the Destruction of the Japanese Navy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus Bridge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Operation Pedestal: The Fleet That Battled to Malta, 1942 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Admiral Bill Halsey: A Naval Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Morning Star, Midnight Sun: The Early Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign of World War II August–October 1942 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dawn's Early Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pacific Thunder: The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Challenge for the Pacific: Guadalcanal: The Turning Point of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sink ‘Em All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miracle at Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5China Marine: An Infantryman's Life After World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against Japan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In The Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat in Iraq Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South Pacific Cauldron: World War II's Great Forgotten Battlegrounds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhirlwind: The Air War Against Japan 1942-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strategy Masters: The Prince, The Art of War, and The Gallic Wars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Sea of Thunder
Rating: 4.777777777777778 out of 5 stars
5/5
9 ratings0 reviews