by John Prados, Random House, 832 pp, $37.50, John Prados' new work ranks as one of the most important books written about the Pacific War. Given the recent space of books about the war against Japan coincident with the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, this is a bold statement. But Prados' emphasis on the history of Japanese and US intelligence services provides a unique perspective on strategic and operational decision making in. the Pacific War. Most readers will be acquainted with the decoding successes performed by the US Navy prior to the Midway battles. But, few authors have provided an examination the entire scope of the US intelligence effort, and even less attention has been directed toward Japanese military intelligence. Prados' book corrects these oversights, and re-examines the history of the Pacific War with a fresh perspective. Prados' examination of the Japanese command decision making is particularly interesting. He demonstrates that decisions made by Japanese commanders generally described as failures in operational initiative (such as Nagumo's decision against a third strike at Pearl, or Kurita's failure to attack. the transports at Leyte Gulf) can be understood in the context of the Japanese desire for "The Decisive Battle" against main force units. In hindsight, the failures are obvious (particularly from the American perspective), but Prados provides the reader with insight into the thought processes that led to these decisions. In an insightful final chapter, Prados; writes, "The true achievements of the Pacific War lie in the day-to-day accumulation of a fund of knowledge regarding the adversary." In derailing this day-to-day process, Prados provides real insight into how decisions were made by the Japanese Imperial Navy and the US Pacific Commands. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #5 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com