The Kamikazes: Suicide Squadrons of World War II (1983; new ed. 1999)

A powerful, incisive portrait of the men who carried out the Japanese suicide missions during the Pacific campaign of World War II, and their role in prolonging the war.

Between the early months of 1944 and V-J Day, the Kamikazes inflicted more damage on American naval vessels and caused more casualties to American fighting men than any single Pacific land battle. Inspired by Admiral Ohnishi, who conceived the plot from ancient Japanese history’s “divine wind,” these superbly trained, fiercely obedient, recklessly ioyal pilots—willing to sacrifice their lives in their efforts to bring the United States to its knees—are here drawn with rare breadth and dimension. The brilliant defensive strategies of Admirals Halsey and Spruance put an end to the Kamikaze threat...but could the Kamikazes reappear, in another time, in another guise?

From a noted historian, a brilliant recreation of one of history’s most curious and frightening episodes, a riveting story of the complex nature of patriotism, duty, sacrifice and fanaticism.

(first published 1983; new ed. 1999; Illustrated with photographs)