Dated, written during Obama’s administration, but that doesn’t necessarily affect how I feel about a book because I enjoy reading histories. Some of the chapters—corresponding to specific topics—were very interesting, like the one about North Korea. But some chapters felt so haphazard lacking a strong central theme, like the one about peoples gaining their independence, and believe it or not, the chapter about Australia. Themes weren’t always obvious so rather than focus on what was being said, I was trying to figure out what the heck the chapter was about. I liked that the author narrated the audiobook—he had a Pooh bear-like voice and he could get away with voicing him! Sadly this was a long investment of time for a so-so rating. ( )

We listened to the Audible version read by the author. Very informative and a pleasure to hear. ( )

A competent and engaging narrative history of the Pacific, though focused on recent times as he talks of events post-1950. He does have to reach backward in time, though, to provide background. winchester is a good wordsmith, a turner of phrases, erudite (trending towards pretentious), and interesting. There is so much he leaves out, but all leavened with so many tidbits of trivia and history that you don't mind.

Winchester's prime fault is a wholly reflexive attitude that colonialism must be bad, which means, ipso facto, the West must be bad. Western atrocities are condemned, though Japan's Empire or Chinese perfidy is either left unexplored or excused. Australian worries about unchecked immigration, like all good liberals, Winchester poo poos with a wave of the pen. Anyone against immigration must be a knuckle-dragging Luddite, right? The chapter on China's expansion into international waters was scary.

A good read. ( )

I have read a couple of other books by this author, and he did an outstanding job of laying out the history of what happened. Krakatoa, and The Professor and The Madman, to name two.
I hesitated buying Pacific because the topic seemed far too broad to be covered in one single book, but it was in paperback and so I picked it up. Well the topic isn't to broad if you start when America becomes a superpower up to today and blame the majority of what is wrong with the world and specifically everything bad that has happened in the Pacific on America.
The author can write, of that there is no debate. But if you are going to write about history, I really don't need to constantly be berated by the author's beliefs and point of view. I get it, Mr Winchester, you are a hardcore liberal, to whom nearly every bad thing that has happened certainly as it pertains to the pacific can be blamed on America. Not surprising coming from a pompous British socialist, but kind of surprising since you now live in America. I am sorry Mr Winchester but the sun set long ago on the disaster known as the British empire. Try not to forget that had America not come to your rescue, Twice, your country would be a quaint island in the German empire.
You get a taste of the authors intense left leanings in the prologue when he states he once had a secret sympathy for N Korea who had plotted their own path to economic and cultural independence.
Thanks to this book I now know it was wrong for America to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese, wrong to continue to develop nuclear weapons WRONG to test them, and that the Cold War was a horrible horrible time because well because it was. Even though we never had the much predicted nuclear war that liberals kept saying would happen. Was the nuclear program of Russia and America an enormous waste of money? Yes. Does anyone truly believe the Russians would not build bombs if America stoped building them? NO.
Also sprinkled throughout the book, anywhere the author can attempt to blame or state it, claim a link, or a causality, is his total acceptance of climate change specifically mans contribution to it. Again he is entitled to his beliefs but I don't need to be reminded of it, over and over again.
So to recap: America is bad, nuclear weapons and the testing of them is bad, and climate change is the result of man. Immigration and immigrants need to be taken in by countries like Australia and America because, well they just need to be, no matter how incompatible the immigrants with be for the country.
Thanks Simon.
This would have been such a better book if you had left out your opinions, formulated with hindsight, and stuck to telling what happened. But every chapter contains your feelings and beliefs, which, when I am reading history, I don't care about your beliefs, unless you state them as such, (the author doesn't he just adds them to the narrative as if it is common sense or a known fact) and you are in some way an expert. Which as far as I can tell you are not an expert. ( )

Wide ranging commentary on history and ecology of the ocean ( )