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Nimitz at war : command leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay / Craig L. Symonds.

Symonds, Craig L., (author.).

Summary:
"Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz was not the most senior candidate available, and some, including his new boss, U.S. Navy Admiral Ernest J. King, considered him a 'desk admiral,' more suited to running a bureaucracy than a theater of war. Yet FDR's selection proved nothing less than inspired. From the precarious early months of the war after December 7th, 1941 to the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay nearly four years later, Nimitz transformed the devastated and dispirited Pacific fleet into the most powerful and commanding naval force in history. From the start, the pressures on Nimitz were crushing. Facing demands from Washington to mount an early offensive, he had first to revive the depressed morale of the thousands of sailors, soldiers, and Marines who served under him. He had to corral independent-minded subordinates―including Admiral Bill 'Bull' Halsey and General Holland 'Howlin' Mad' Smith―and keep them focused on shared objectives. He had to maintain a sometimes-fraught relationship with his Army counterpart Douglas MacArthur, and cope with his superiors, including the formidably prickly King and the inscrutable FDR.He had to navigate the expectations of a nation impatient for revenge and eventual victory. And of course, he also confronted a formidable and implacable enemy in the Imperial Japanese Navy, which, until the Battle of Midway, had the run of the Pacific. Craig Symonds' Nimitz at War reveals how the quiet man from the Hill Country of Texas eventually surmounted all of these challenges. Using Nimitz's headquarters―the eye of the hurricane―as his vantage point, Symonds covers all the major campaigns in the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. He captures Nimitz's composure, discipline, homespun wisdom, and most of all his uncanny sense of when to assert authority and when to pull back. In retrospect it is difficult to imagine anyone else accomplishing what Nimitz did. As Symonds' absorbing, dynamic, and authoritative portrait reveals, it required qualities of leadership exhibited by few other commanders in history, qualities that are enduringly and even poignantly relevant to our own moment."--Amazon.com

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780190062361
  • ISBN: 0190062363
  • Physical Description: xvi, 474 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subject: Nimitz, Chester W. (Chester William), 1885-1966.
World War, 1939-1945 > Naval operations, American.
World War, 1939-1945 > Pacific Ocean.
Leadership.
United States. Pacific Command > Biography.
United States. Navy > Biography.
Admirals > United States > Biography.
Leadership.
Genre: Biographies.

Available copies

  • 6 of 7 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 7 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Cambria County Library 940.5459 N713S (Text) 85131001822890 CACM Non-Fiction Available -
Emmaus Public Library 940.5459 SYMO (Text) 36446002067646 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Green Free Library (Wellsboro) 940.54 SYM (Text)
Bookplate: William Reich memorial from Ron Butler
92525602 GFWM Main Room Available -
Guthrie Memorial Library: Hanover's Public Library Adults 940.54 SYM Nonfiction (Text)
Bookplate: Plated 2022: In Memory of David K. Hershey
34007002470339 Adult Area Available -
Oswayo Valley Memorial Library B NIM (Text) 30723000355280 Adult Biography Available -
Reading Public Library RPL - Main 940.5459 Sym (Text) 33223008933441 Non-fiction Checked Out 04/02/2024
Hughes Library 940.545 SYM (Text) 32378005158193 Adult Nonfiction Available -


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