The best books about the Pacific Theater in WW2

Given all the hoopla of the US-China rivalry going on today, this book would be a timely reminder not only that China was once an important ally for the common good of the world, but also that China can be an ally again on so many fronts (environment and climate change, alternative/renewable energy resources, and so on) if we find the courage and wisdom to manage the fundamental differences and learn to coexist with each other for the common good of the world.

When this book was first published in 1997, the world (at least the Western world) had all but forgotten the atrocity that had been inflicted on my hometown in the winter of 1937-38. Re-reading the gripping nonfictional account today would serve to remind us that we should not forget that ignoble page in our modern history and more importantly that we are all duty-bound to do all we can so such atrocities will not happen again.

This was a major battle that happened in 1937, right before the Rape of Nanking. After the fall of Shanghai, the Japanese army would march toward, Nanking (Nanjing), the capital of China then. Although it was front page news throughout much of the world then, few people other than historians know it today. It is no hyperbole to call the battle Stalingrad on the Yangtze. The book reads like an engrossing historical novel.

This was a bestseller when it was first published in 1937, when the War of Resistance against Japan (essentially WWII in the Pacific) was on the cusp of going all out. It was a must read for anyone back then who wanted to know what was going on in the Far East and it is still a must read for anyone today who wants to understand China.

This is a story of heroism on an epic scale, engrossing as well as uplifting, exactly what we need during this prolonged pandemic induced “captivity”…. Hollywood: Are you working on a major feature film to tell this story on the big screen, as we speak?