Samuel Eliot Morison's monumental fifteen volume series, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, covering the complete record of the U.S. Navy during the war, is a critically acclaimed work of history. First published by Little Brown and later by the University of Illinois, the complete series will now be published by the Naval Institute Press in updated paperback editions with new introductions by noted military historians. The first two volumes of this firsthand history of the U.S. Navy in World War II covered operations in the Atlantic from September 1939 to June 1943. Volume 3, THE RISING SUN IN THE PACIFIC, 1931-APRIL 1942 is the first on the war in the Pacific, a major testing ground which proved the ability of American naval forces to come back from disaster and eventually achieve its far-flung objectives. Considerable attention is given in this book to the "incidents" that really began the war in the Pacific and to the internal conflict within Japan. The first four chapters cover the period up to December 1941 followed by a chapter on the attack, a brilliant account in detail of what actually happened at Pearl Harbor. Part II discusses"The Philippines and Near-by Water," including the invasion, the fall of Guam, the landings in Malaya and the rear guard in the Philippines. Part III is called "Out from Pearl" and deals with the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, communications and carrier strikes (January to March, 1942). Part IV, "Defense of the Malay Barrier," begins with the Abda Command of January to March, 1942, tells of Balikpapan, the prelude to the invasion of Java, the battle of the Java Sea, events in the Indian Ocean and finally the Halsey-Doolittle raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Data secured in Japan by a member of Captain Morison's staff, completes the absolutely authentic record of this volume.

Author Biography

Samuel Eliot Morison taught history at Harvard from 1915 to 1955, except for active duty service in the Navy on board eleven different ships in all theaters of the war. In addition to this series, Rear Admiral Morison wrote many other popular and award-winning books on maritime history, including Two Ocean War. Morison, who died in 1976, was the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, two Bancroft Prizes, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.