Thoughtful autobiography of General Alexander A. Vandegrift who commanded the 1st Marine Division when it assaulted Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942. It is interesting to hear General Vandegrifts views on the campaign and some of the main characters in it. He gives great credit to the soldiers, sailors and airmen he fought with but is reticent to claim any for himself. One of the greatest leaders the Marine Corp has ever produced and one of the greatest American soldiers of all time. His quotations from General Robert E. Lee are very revealing.

(2) Frank, Richard B., Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle, Penguin Books, New York, 1990.

Encyclopedic account of the battle for the island with many well researched details and references. If you have the time and are really interested in this campaign, this is the book to read.

(3) Miller, Thomas G., Jr., The Cactus Air Force, Harper & Row, New York, 1969.

Detailed account of the airmen, Marine, Army Air Corps and Navy, who served on Guadalcanal. Many interesting photographs.

(4) Miller, John, Jr., Guadalcanal: The First Offensive, Center for Military History, US Army, Washington, D.C., 1949, republished by Barnes and Noble Books, 1995.

The Army's perspective on the Guadalcanal campaign.

(5) Griffith, Samuel B., II, The Battle for Guadalcanal, Univ. of Illinois Press, Chicago, 1963.

Detailed history of the Marines, airmen, sailors and soldiers on Guadalcanal by a Marine who served there. Good references to decision making by both the Japanese and American high commands as well as many interesting details about the smaller scale aspects of the conflict. Very well written.

(6) Morrison, Samuel Elliott, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931 - April 1942, Volume III of the History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Little, Brown & Company, New York, 1948.

Issues leading up to the Pacific war and it's opening aspects are discussed by the Navy's official historian.

(7) Morrison, Samuel Elliott, The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 - February 1943, Volume V of the History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Little, Brown & Company, New York, 1948.

The Navy's perspective on operations concerning the Guadalcanal campaign.

(8)  Twining, Merrill B., USMC, (Retired), No Bended Knee - The Battle for Guadalcanal, Presidio Group, Random House, New York, 1996.

An account of the battle written by an officer on the staff of General Vandergrift on Guadalcanal. He was the officer tasked by Vandergrift to write the Marine history of the battle as he was directly involved in it.

(9) Tregaskis, Richard, Guadalcanal Diary, Random House, New York, 1943.

Personal account of the landing and fighting on Guadalcanal by a news correspondent who went in with the Marines and won their respect for his courage on the island. Written in the prose of the 1940's and interesting reading for that fact and the emotion it conveys.

(10) Leckie, Robert, Helmet for My Pillow, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1957.

Perspective of a Marine who fought on Guadalcanal in 1942.

(11) Jones, James, The Thin Red Line, Dell, New York, 1962.

Earthy, realistic and frightening story about the experience of the front line troops on Guadalcanal.

(12) Hoyt, Edwin P., Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict, Da Capo Press, New York, 1986.

Excellent overview of the campaign in the Pacific.

(13) Fuchida, Mitsuo, Okumiya, Masatake, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan - The Japanese Navy's Story, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1955.

Interesting account of this critical battle in the Pacific which turned the tide against the Japanese, told from the perspective of the Japanese themselves. Critical deficiencies in the Japanese high command are pointed out by these insightful writers. Fuchida himself led the air attack on Pearl Harbor and was in charge of Akagi's air group at the battle of Midway. Okumiya served on the Japanese Naval General Staff during the war.

(14) Davis, Burke, Marine: The Life of Chesty Puller, Bantam Books, New York, 1962.

Biography of one of the greatest Marines and greatest soldiers in United States history. Truly a Marine's Marine.

(15) Berry, Henry, Semper Fi, Mac, Living Memories of the U.S. Marines in World War II, Arbor House, New York, 1982.

Extremely well written dialogues with Marines who fought on the Pacific Islands in World War II. Shows the war as individual Marines saw and felt it.

(16) Owens, William, Green Hell: The Battle for Guadalcanal, Hellgate Press, Center Point, Oregon, 1999.

Very readable description of the Guadalcanal campaign. Even has some internet web site references at the back of the book.

(17) Mueller, Joseph N., Guadalcanal 1942: The Marines Strike Back, Osprey Publishing, London, 1992.

Excellent reproduction of period photographs of Guadalcanal and the Marines from 1942.

(18) Whelan, Joseph, Midnight in the Pacific: Guadalcanal, Da Capo Press, 2017.

Fine detail of the Guadalcanal campaign with many individual Marine stories related in the text.

(19) Bartsch, William H., Victory Fever on Guadalcanal, Texas A&M University Press, Collage Station, 2014.

Very detailed account of the initial landing up to the victory in the 1st battle of the Tenaru (Ilu).

(20) George, John B., Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman's Eye View of the Activities on the Island of Guadalcanal, first published by Small Arms Technical Publishing Company in 1947, current edition published in 2019, Lexington, Kentucky, ISBN 9781717905109.

Written by a soldier who fought on Guadalcanal beginning in December, 1942.

(21) Van der Vat, Dan, The Pacific Campaign: The U.S. - Japanese Naval War 1941-1945, Touchstone, New York, 1991.

Overview of the entire Pacific theater of war with attention to political as well as military issues.

(22) Prange, Gordon W., At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, Penguin Books, New York, 1981.

Well researched and detailed review of the Pearl Harbor story.

(23) Lowry, Thomas P., Wellham, John W. G., The Attack on Taranto: A Blueprint for Pearl Harbor, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, 1995.

If you want to know where Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto got the idea to attack Pearl Harbor, read this book. It details the little remembered British carrier -borne attack against the Italian fleet at anchor at its Mediterranean base at Taranto on November 11, 1940. Yamamoto ordered full reports on the Taranto attack from both the Japanese naval attache in Berlin and his tactical air chief, Minoru Genda, who was in London at the time. The man who seems to have learned the most from Taranto was Isoroku Yamamoto.

(24) Bassett, James, Harm's Way, World Publishing, New York, 1962.

Harm's Way is the story of command, of the war in the Pacific as viewed from the fighting bridge, through the eyes of a naval officer.

(25) Beach, Edward L., Run Silent, Run Deep, Holt, Rihehart and Winston, Canada, 1955.

A novel written by a naval officer about the silent service, the U.S. submarine service and it's operations in the war in the Pacific as seen through the eyes of a naval officer. If you don't read this book, rent the movie. It's in black and white as all good WWII movies should be.

(26) Manchester, William, Goodbye Darkness, Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1979.

"War, which was cruel and glorious, has become cruel and sordid." Winston Churchill. Manchester's personal account of his Pacific War experience is disturbing and well written.

(27) Griffin, W.E.B., Battleground, Putnam's Sons, New York, 1991.

Moving novel about the Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen who fought the Guadalcanal campaign.It utilizes a surprising amount of historically accurate background for the story.

(28) Gray, A.M., Warfighting: The United States Marine Corps, USMC, Washington, D.C., 1989, reprinted by Doubleday, 1994.

The official doctrine of the U.S. Marine Corps, "how we fight and how we prepare to fight." Short, concise and to the point.

(29) Meyer, Bruce, USMC, retired, Marine Force Recon - Digital Video

Digital video of a lecture given by Col. Bruce Meyers, U.S.M.C., retired, recounting the development of the modern marine reconnaissance force. Based on his book, Fortune Favors the Brave: The Story of First Force Recon, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2000. The lecture was given to the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society in April, 2003, and can be viewed here.

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