"Looking for titles on The Battle of Savo Island" Topic

Howdy,

I'm looking for a few good books on the Battle OF Savo Island. I have abook entitled "The Battle Of Savo" By Stan B. Smith. It's a late 50's or early 60's paperback and is quite good. However, I'd like to find more information. Does anyone know of any other titles on the subject? Thank You in Advance.

The best resource for Guadacanal battles I have found is:

"Guadalcanal" by Richard B. Frank – Penguin Press

It is very available, 800 pages long and is both very easy to read and contains many details. It is invaluable for anyone interested in details about all of the battles in and around Guadalcanal. The section on the Battle of Savo Island alone is 40 pages long. It retailed for $19.95 USD when I purchased it a few years ago.

A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, (1941-1945) by Paul S. Dull. U.S. Naval Institute Press. It's about $30, and gives a very good account from the opposite viewpoint.
-Kle.

I second bot "Guadalcanal" and "A battle history of the imperial Japanese Navy".

Samuel Eliot Morison, "History of United States Naval Operations in World War 2", volume 5, Guadalcanal.
Oddly, amazon.com does not list this one, but almost every other volume. Try Barnes and noble or borders. Or, your library.

"Savo" by Richard F. Newcomb

I'll third the Dull book, A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy. I bought mine used through Amazon.com Marketplace for a few bucks. I see there are a bunch of used copies available for under $10:

link

Of course, the book covers far more than just the Save Island!

Disaster in the Pacific: New Light on the Battle of Savo Island (Hardcover) by Denis Ashton Warner (Author), Peggy Warner (Author), Sadao Senoo (Author) is another source. It is OK, though I admit I bought it only because I saw it a used book store. Samuel Elliot Morison should be taken with a grain of salt as even though he is a great author and historian, his books are getting dated with the plethora of new information on ULTRA, Japanese sources, etc.

Samuel Eliot Morison, "History of United States Naval Operations in WW2" is available in softcover at

press.uillinois.edu.

From the home page, enter "morison" in the Quick Search box in the top right corner. Each volume is $9.95 USD USD. The 15-volume set is on my "wish list."

Just ordered the set. (Hope I beat the crowd now rushing to order their's …)

Morison dated? He only had total access to all the USN archives and the survivors.

What did ULTRA have to do with Savo Island?
As for Japanese sources, all I can say is that Morison hardly whitewashed Savo Island in favor of Americans. How many Japanese log books from Savo survived to the end of the war fot "more modern researchers" to access?

For a thorough understanding of any historic event that has decades between the various books covering it, I'd say read as many as you can. If you have enough interest, I'd suggest not skipping either the newer books or the older ones. Although newer authors may claim more accuracy from viewing records not available years ago, there is a lot to be said for the more dated histories such as by S.E. Morison. Each source has something to offer the reader, as the newer books may not cover the subject the same way that the earlier books did. Morison for example stated that too many of the history books of his time were written far later than the events happened, and interviews with those participants had been clouded by much time passing. Modern historians alive now were not of that time and place and thus must therefore write "from a distance" about their subject. The value of those books is in the revealing of any new records that have come to light, but any opinions of that data has to be balanced by the knowledge that the writer has been displaced several generations forward from the events that he is writing about, armed with a modern perspective and a modern bias. At the same time, a writer such as Morison is a participant in the same history that he is writing about, but also is armed with his own current perspective and bias. I feel each perspective is very important to read and both should be viewed for what strengths (and weaknesses) each might have. As you might guess, I have the newer books but also have very much enjoyed my fifteen volumes of Samuel Eliot Morison's "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II".

I found Disaster in the Pacific a good read meself.

John, I had not seen your response when I wrote mine, and I agree with you (got distracted and when returning to my 'puter I did not refresh). Many also might easily dismiss Morison as "dated" now, but I see that not as a problem but more as a compliment. Morison did have not only what you mention for sources (the USN archives and the survivors) but wrote his volumes from notes taken from himself and from his hundreds of 'reporters' "at the scene of the crime" as it were that were stationed on the ships all through the various campaigns. Not only that, he had access to the Japanese records as well and compiled his volumes after the war by comparing and contrasting the various sources and from interviews with the Allied and Japanese participants. That has great weight with me. It is sometimes too easy for later generations to lose perspective of those desperate times sitting in our comfortable modern surroundings, and then deciding to write a book about them. Modern books are fine and can reveal new information but that information had better be very well documented before I accept it over folks that were there. This reminds me of the Babylon 5 episode where Delenn confronts "historical analysts" that twist the five years of the show's history into a version that suited their time's biases.

All reviews and references I have read consistently praise Morison's history of the USN in WW2. I have never read any harsh criticism or negative reviews. Certainly, more recent works may supplement Morison in some areas. But to say that "Morison should be taken with a grain of salt" seems like an extreme exaggeration. Are there any reviews or other sources to back up this claim?

Tom,

I would like to add "The Shame of Savo, Anatomy of a Naval Disaster". ISNIP 1994. Can still be found on Amazon. An excelent and detailed account.

Cheers
Bill M.

Tom,

I would like to add "The Shame of Savo, Anatomy of a Naval Disaster". USNIP 1994. Can still be found on Amazon. An excelent and detailed account.

Cheers
Bill M.