(When we asked Rear Adm. (ret.) Jay DeLoach for his recommendations of the top ten books about the Battle of Midway, he immediately suggested the Craig Symonds’s book about the decisive turning point in the War in the Pacific 70 years ago. DeLoach, former Director of Naval History and Heritage Command, and his team at NHHC provided this top ten, which includes Elliot Carlson’s “Joe Rochefort’s War,” soon to be reviewed here on Navy Reads. -- Bill Doughty.)
“Joe Rochefort’s War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway.”
Carlson, Elliot.
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2011.
“‘A Glorious Page in Our History’: The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942.”
Cressman, Robert J., et al.
Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Pub. Co., 1990.
“Incredible Victory.”
Lord, Walter.
New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
“The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat From Pearl Harbor to Midway.”
Lundstrom, John B.
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984.
“Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal.”
Lundstrom, John B.
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006.
“A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight.”
Mrazek, Robert J.
New York: Little, Brown, and Co., 2008.
“Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway.”
Parshall, Jonathan, and Anthony Tully.
Washington: Potomac Books, 2005.
“Midway: Turning Point of the Pacific.”
Smith, William W.
New York: Crowell, 1966. [Written by the commander of the escort force responsible for protecting Yorktown].
“The Battle of Midway.”
Symonds, Craig L.
Oxford University Press, 2011.
“Climax at Midway.”
Tuleja, Thaddeus V.
New York: Norton, 1960.
(For a full bibliography, readers can visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq81-2.htm. Special thanks to Robert J. Cressman, NHHC historian, for assistance in compiling this top ten.)