Goodbye, Darkness
A Memoir of the Pacific War

I enjoy personal memoirs of war, and this one is good, but it is a slow read because the author writes in a style where he has to use all the various skills and tools of the writer to describe every event, every land feature, etc. it makes it a slow read. I find myself waiting for when is the action going to begin. it is a good book and well written, just slow. A helmet for my pillow is well written also. The difference is A Helmet for my Pillow ais fast paced, you don't want to put it down.So yes, read it, but be patient!

Here you have a tight, well-wrought first-hand account of a Marine’s experience at the Battle of Okinawa rendered in about 40 pages scattered throughout a nearly-400 page book. But it might be worth it, depending on your interest in the subject. When Manchester sticks to events that actually happene......more

I am a sucker for emotional manipulation. I cry when I'm supposed to at movies or in the course of novels, tearing up at even the foreshadowing of tragedy or selfless nobility. It works too for the kinds of histories Manchester has written of the United States of America: his books on MacArthur, on......more

Another WWII Pacific campaign book done. I enjoyed this one even though I usually do not go for memoirs. Guadalcanal, Betio, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa were all discussed. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of Okinawa of which I am woefully uneducated upon. Some of the fiercest fighting occurred durin......more

I just lost a review of this book which I spent 2 hours working on; I put more effort into reviewing this book than I have for any other book, because "Goodbye, Darkness" is in my top 5 "best books of all time." I'm not up to recreating the whole thing right now, but this book is truly incredible. M......more

Manchester could make anything readable. If only this one were true: Manchester wasn't at all those battles; he relied on newspaper and buddy accounts, but presents them all in the first person. Impossible to separate the fiction from the fact, but a damn good read.......more