by Jeff Shaara
First published 2011
Private Clay Adams hits the beaches of Okinawa in spring 1945, knowing his Marine unit faces an enemy that chooses death over surrender. His brother Jesse has already earned recognition as a paratrooper in Europe, but Clay must prove himself in the Pacific's most brutal campaign. Admiral Chester Nimitz struggles to coordinate feuding Army and Marine commanders for the three-month assault on Japan's last major stronghold. General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. leads American ground forces while wrestling with his Confederate father's Civil War legacy. On the Japanese side, General Mitsura Ushijima prepares his defenders for a fight to the death, understanding what Tokyo refuses to accept: defeat is inevitable. Meanwhile, Colonel Paul Tibbets trains in secret to deliver a revolutionary weapon that scientists barely comprehend. President Harry Truman weighs his options as Japanese physician Okiro Hamishita tends patients near Hiroshima, unaware of the approaching devastation. The Pacific war reaches its climax through individual sacrifice and impossible choices.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, military-fiction, action
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Hiroshima, Japan, Okinawa, Pacific
Period: 1945, Spring 1945
446 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, war