阿川 弘之 (1920–2015)

4889. The Reluctant Admiral Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy, by Hiroyuki Agawa translated by John Bester (read 22 Dec 2011) This is a very good biography of Admiral Yamamoto, and the telling of the attack on Pearl Harbor is especially vivid and readable, telling it from the viewpoint of the Japanese. An account of Midway is less detailed and one suspects that the Japanese author, despite being very balanced in his discussion of the war, enjoyed more telling of Pearl Harbor than he did of Midway. Yamamoto seems able as a naval person, but is repellant as a man, paying little attention to his wife and children but doting on his geisha mistress. The account of the shooting down of the plane Yamamoto was in is detailed and full of interest. .An extraordinary book which often I found riveting.… (mere)