A thorough review of the naval hero's life, from beginning to end.” —The Associated Press
“A military historian's look at...every stage of Nimitz's era-straddling career...An introduction to the Navy's senior hero of WWII. For military buffs, surely!” —Kirkus Reviews
“Mr. Harris has done an admirable job…a great story of leadership…the author's use of a large number of oral histories lends significant color to the book.” —The Washington Post
“A must for any U.S. naval collection.” —Booklist
“In this fresh new biography, Brayton Harris puts flesh on the bones of an icon and shows us how and why Chester Nimitz became the irreplaceable leader—in both war and peace.” —J. William Middendorf II, Secretary of the Navy
“Calm, clear-headed, decisive—Admiral Nimitz was a God-send to the U.S. Navy and the Allied cause in World War II. Brayton Harris has written a compelling biography of a low-key hero.” —Evan Thomas, author of Sea of Thunder and John Paul Jones
“Admiral Nimitz is a superbly written biography of one of the towering but least known heroes of World War II. A brilliant strategist who never sought the limelight, Chester Nimitz was an incomparable leader who served America brilliantly throughout the war in the Pacific and has earned a place in history as one of our greatest naval officers.” —Carlo D'Este, author of Eisenhower and Patton
“In the skilled hands of Brayton Harris, the biography of one of our nation's greatest Naval leaders comes to life and jumps off the page as if you were reading stories about your own grandfather. Harris has a knack for finding the details, the anecdotes, that build a comprehensive portrait. Read it for the pure joy of getting to know Admiral Nimitz.” —Gregory A. Freeman, author of The Forgotten 500 and Troubled Water
“Rarely have a biographer and his subject been so wonderfully matched. Admiral Nimitz: The Commander of the Pacific Ocean Theater is meticulously researched, immensely informative, and laudably balanced in all of its judgments. The book is not only a valuable addition to U.S. naval history, it is a thoroughly pleasurable and immensely satisfying biography.” —Alan Axelrod, author of A Savage Empire: Trappers, Traders, Tribes, and the Wars That Made America and Patton: A Biography
“A lively account of Civil War reporting.” —Boston Globe on Blue & Gray in Black & White
“Concise and well-written . . . it brings the role of the press in the war to vivid life.” —Library Journal on Blue & Gray in Black & White
A military historian's look at the five-star admiral "who commanded the 2 million men and 1000 ships that won the war in the Pacific." When Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) entered the Naval Academy, the Spanish-American War had only recently concluded. By the end of his distinguished career, the U.S. Navy featured supercarriers and nuclear submarines, innovations he'd vigorously championed. Retired Navy captain Harris (War News: Blue & Gray in Black & White: Newspapers in the Civil War, 2010, etc.) revisits every stage of Nimitz's era-straddling career, from his Texas boyhood and Annapolis years through his various postings and commands, to his crowning 1945 appointment as Chief of Naval Operations, where his postwar pushback against the move to unify the armed services probably preserved naval aviation and the Marine Corps. The bulk of this short narrative, however, focuses on Nimitz's command of land, sea and air forces in the Pacific during World War II. FDR ordered Nimitz to Pearl Harbor only days after it was attacked. He took over a shattered force and eventually orchestrated a string of naval battles and island conquests that culminated in the Japanese surrender, with Nimitz signing for the United States. Although it was Nimitz who memorably said of the Marines on Iwo Jima, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue," he was neither especially eloquent nor charismatic. Rather, he was a steady leader whose outward calm and ready supply of jokes masked the partial deafness and nervous tension that plagued him, and he was a superb handler of me. Intolerant of poor performance or discourtesy and horrified by any internecine squabbling, Nimitz rarely permitted his feelings to show. Still, he once explained the framed photo of Gen. MacArthur he kept on his desk as a reminder "not to be a horse's ass and make Jovian pronouncements complete with thunderbolts." For military buffs, surely, but also for general readers looking for an introduction to the Navy's senior hero of WWII.
