Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 19311..., Peter Harmsen
Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 19311..., Peter Harmsen
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Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941

Author: Peter Harmsen

Narrator: Walter Dixon

Unabridged: 9 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/24/2021


Synopsis

War in the Far East is a trilogy of books offering the most complete narrative yet written about the Pacific Theater of World War II, and the first truly international treatment of the epic conflict. Historian Peter Harmsen weaves together a complex and revealing narrative, including facets of the war that are often overlooked in historic narratives. He explores the war in subarctic conditions on the Aleutians; details the mass starvations in China, Indochina, and India; and offers a range of perspectives on the war experience, from the Oval Office to the blistering sands of Peleliu.

Storm Clouds Over the Pacific begins the story long before Pearl Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China's ancient enmity led to increased tensions in the 1930s, which, in turn, exploded into conflict in 1937.

The battles of Shanghai and Nanjing were followed by the Battle of Taierzhuang in 1938, China's only major victory. A war of attrition continued up to 1941, the year when Japan made the momentous decision to pursue all-out war. The infamous attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into the war, as the Japanese also overran British and Dutch territories throughout the western Pacific.

About Peter Harmsen

Peter Harmsen is the author of the New York Times best seller Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze and Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City. He studied history at National Taiwan University and has been a foreign correspondent in East Asia for two decades. He has focused mainly on the Chinese-speaking countries, but has reported from nearly every corner of the region, including Mongolia and North Korea. His books have been translated into Chinese, Danish, and Romanian.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Heinz on March 20, 2019

This is a brief political and military overview of the escalating Asian War from 1931 to the end of December 7/8, 1941. The emphasis in this book is heavily slanted towards the political arena, with military events often getting quite short shrift. The book begins with, honestly, it's best chapter:......more

Goodreads review by Mal on February 28, 2024

THE FIRST DECADE OF WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC Anyone with more than a cursory knowledge of World War II knows that the Soviet Union paid the greatest price for resisting the Nazis. Estimates of the country’s total dead range from 24 to 30 million. But fewer know that China’s losses in the war were......more

Goodreads review by Hans on November 13, 2021

En meget detaljeret beretning om op- og forløbet af konflikten mellem Japan og USA under 2. verdenskrig. En særdeles læseværdig bog, der lærte mig meget om de historiske forudsætninger for den krig, der kostede ubeskrivelig menneskelig lidelse.......more

Goodreads review by Clem on July 12, 2020

This book is volume 1 of (what I think is to be) a 3-part series. From what I can gather from reading this first volume is this 3-part series is meant to highlight the role of Japan in the second world war. This first book was rather short – less than 300 pages, but it is an excellent primer for tho......more

Goodreads review by Gary on April 05, 2022

War in the Far East: Storm Clouds Over the Pacific, 1931-1941 is the first volume of a trilogy that runs up through the end of World War II. The title is a misnomer, since almost all of the action in the decade it covers occurred not in the Pacific but in China, as Japan first conquered Manchuria an......more