I truly wanted to love this book, really I did. I thought "interesting topic,loved the HBO series,what can go wrong?" It turns out that a lot can go wrong with a book like this. It's supposed to be a series tie-in, but although some of the people in the HBO series show up here, they aren't the focus of the narrative. The author tells us up front that he intends to broaden the focus to the other people and events that shaped the war in the Pacific. He just doesn't do a good job of the task he has set himself to. Ambrose's writing is choppy; the sentences don't flow together, and the narrative doesn't flow at all. He attempts to switch between points of view, a technique that done well is virtually invisible, unfortunately he doesn't do it well. On a positive note, I can say that the material is well researched and documented. The delivery is lacking, and that is too bad, because this is a story that every American should hear.