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Retelling the Past for Today's Young Readers

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Pacific War

24 Sep 2020

Of Biography and Heroes

by Andrew Speno | posted in: WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

I wrote a tenth grade English research paper on Douglas MacArthur. For whatever reason–most likely the limitations of my sources (source!) or the limitations of my reading of same–I focused primarily on his actions in Korea. I remember writing about … Continued

Bataan, Corregidor, Korean War, MacArthur, Pacific War, Philippines, Romulo, Truman, WWII
28 Aug 2020

Guerrilla Wife

by Andrew Speno | posted in: WWII, WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

Guerra = “war” in Spanish. Guerrilla = “little war.” In English, guerilla more often means a fighter in one of those little wars. Louise Spencer’s husband, an engineer for an American mining company in the Philippines, became guerilla fighter. That’s … Continued

guerrilla, Pacific War, Philippines, resistance, WWII
20 Aug 2020

Context Matters: Why I Read Broadly

by Andrew Speno | posted in: Eddie Rickenbacker, WWII, WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

The Many Lives of Eddie Rickenbacker is coming out in two months. Just last month I completed and approved the final changes to the manuscript. Near the end of the process I panicked about this sentence: “[Rickenbacker] visited the island … Continued

Bataan, Eddie Rickenbacker, Guadalcanal, Ian Toll, MacArthur, Pacific War, WWII
15 May 2020

War Games II

by Andrew Speno | posted in: WWII, WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

As the Japanese Imperial Navy was gearing up for war with the Allies, destroyer captain Tameichi Hara was brushing up on his Sun Tzu. The axiom from the third chapter of The Art of War jumped out at him:   “If … Continued

Go, Pacific War, Sun Tzu, WWII
19 Mar 2020

Pacific Crucible

by Andrew Speno | posted in: WWII, WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

Ian Toll‘s Pacific War Trilogy, coming in at more than 1,700 pages of text and 500 pages of notes and sources, obviously aims for comprehensiveness. Yet, in its breadth, there are nevertheless many moments of you-were-there intimacy. Instead of dry … Continued

Ian Toll, Pacific War, WWII
7 Mar 2020

Norman Mailer’s Audacious Big Novel

by Andrew Speno | posted in: Good Reads: Fiction, WWII, WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

Silly or serious? Silly and serious? The fight over American Dirt can seem either or both. “Mexicans have been writing about the border and borderlands published in English since the 1800s. It is a bit insulting that someone thinks we … Continued

American Dirt, Norman Mailer, Pacific War, The Naked and the Dead
11 Feb 2020

Kuribayashi and Hara: Courage in Defeat

by Andrew Speno | posted in: WWII, WWII: Pacific Theater | 0

To start with, only one lived to tell his tale. Only one could, in subsequent years, collect information from the public record and recollect his actions, thoughts, and emotions at the time. The other left only letters for a stranger … Continued

Pacific War, WWII

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