I'm going to give a plug to a new friend's books. Barrett Tillman hooked us up. Tom Cleaver sent me four books to read, and asked me to post a review to Amazon in exchange. "Pull no punches", he said.
Well, after almost two months of reading, I finally finished his "Pacific War Quadrilogy". What is this? Cleaver's four volumes of WWII Pacific war aviation history. These books focus on Naval and Army Air Force Aviation, but Cleaver does not exclude other events and services. Indeed, he weaves every event in the Pacific war into a stunning narrative. I was very pleased and entertained with all of them.
When I use the term “narrative”, I refer to his page turning flow that grabs one's attention and keeps it. There have been other highly readable and compelling narratives written on warfare. Shelby Foote's huge three volume history on the American Civil War has been the standard on the topic. Cleaver has achieved something very similar with his four volumes. I will compare it to Tolkien's fantasy Lord of the Rings trilogy in terms of readability and construction. Comparing Cleaver's work to Foote and Tolkien places him in rarefied company. Yet, I do not hesitate to do so within the context of the subject matter.
Perhaps, it results from Cleaver's aviation experience. More than that, I believe, his ability is an amalgam of his natural story telling talent, fine tuned by his experience as a screen writer. Add to that his researching skills and many, many contacts with veterans, and the result is a outstanding narrative that covers prewar to postwar.
These four volumes, “I Will Run Wild”, “Under the Southern Cross”, “Pacific Thunder” and “Tidal Wave” should best be read in consecutive order. All of them are outstanding alone. However, in sequence, they provide what may be the best all-inclusive history of the Pacific war. Cleaver details the interim event between the major engagements, such as the Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal and the like. In between these major battles were many lesser, but still important events. Cleaver fills in the gaps, focused upon the aviators, sailors and soldiers who performed incredible heroic acts. Yet, he also provides detailed history of the prior or subsequent major engagements.
Consider those U.S. service personnel and civilians, scattered throughout the Pacific on outposts and peacetime deployments. Those, who immediately after Pearl Harbor, fighting with obsolete equipment, having little to no support, performed near miracles. Cleaver brings their remarkable stories to life in “I will Run Wild”.
“Under the Southern Cross” details the air and sea campaign in the SWPA theater. Cleaver fills the narrative with compelling story telling of the air war and the extremely important sea engagements, where American failure often teetered on the ragged edge.
“Pacific Thunder” defines the events, from where the U.S. Navy was hanging on by its finger tips, through the rapid growth of air and naval power from the summer of 1943, through the largest naval engagement in history: The Battles of Leyte Gulf, where thereafter, Japanese naval power simply ceased to exist.
“Tidal Wave” provides a detailed account of the greatest naval force the world had ever seen. Cleaver picks up after Leyte Gulf and carries the reader through the final ten months of the Pacific war. It is engrossing and Cleaver brings home the terror of Japanese kamikaze assaults and the end of Japan's ability to project conventional military power. Cleaver leads us through those events that led to the shores of the Japanese home islands.
Within his four volume narrative, Cleaver doesn't hesitate to skewer false history. He does not perpetuate mythology. He corrects the mythology and gives credit where it is due, often to those long overdue the recognition and overlooked by less detail oriented writers.
Simply stated, these four volumes should be on every must have list of WWII aviation and history enthusiasts.
I was so enthralled in these volumes, that I purchased them as audio books as well, so that I could continue to enjoy them while driving or working around our home. So, he ended up selling me books anyway!
Prior to reading Cleaver's “quadrilogy”, I had read several of Mr. Cleaver's other works. These include, “Holding the Line”, “Fabled Fifteen” and “The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club”. All highly recommended. Some of you may already have some of Tom's books. I did find a factual error in "Holding the Line". It related to aircraft performance, and having copies of related Navy test data, I sent him copies for his own records. It wasn't an important mistake, but the type of error people like me would instantly spot. He was exceptionally gracious with this minor criticism. Apparently, his publisher's tech editor missed it.
All four volumes described above are available in hardcover, soft cover, Kindle and Audible audiobooks from Amazon.
