Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians - Volume No. 4 of the University of Alaska Press's Classic Reprint Series

Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995. Classis Reprint Edition . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 6" x 9. Jones, Dixon - Cover Design. 456 Pages Indexed. A used book in near new condition. Front cover has a small crease and interior text pages are near flawless. Originally published by Doubleday in 1969. This book is Volume No. 4 of the University of Alaska Press's Classic Reprint Series. The Thousand-Mile War, a powerful story of the battles of the United States and Japan on the bitter rim of the North Pacific, has been acclaimed as one of the great accounts of World War II. Brian Garfield, a novelist and screenwriter whose works have sold some 20 million copies, was searching for a new subject when he came upon the story of this forgotten war in Alaska. He found the history of the brave men who had served in the Aleutians so compelling and so little known that he wrote the first full-length history of the Aleutian campaign, and the book remains a favorite among Alaskans. The war in the Aleutians was fought in some of the worst climatic conditions on earth for men, ships, and airplanes. The sea was rough, the islands craggy and unwelcoming, and enemy number one was always the weather--the savage wind, fog, and rain of the Aleutian chain. The fog seemed to reach even into the minds of the military commanders on both sides, as they directed men into situations that so often had tragic results. Frustrating, befuddling, and still the subject of debate, the Aleutian campaign nevertheless marked an important turn of the war in favor of the United States. Now (1995) half a century after the war ended, more of the fog has been lifted. In this updated University of Alaska Press edition, Garfield supplements his original account, which was drawn from statistics, personal interviews, letters, and diaries, with more recently declassified photographs and many more illustrations.