A basic building block for the serious student or the war gamer. His OBs are very good, and the maps reliable. the prose is clear and workmanlike. ( )

The Struggle for Guadalcanal by Samuel Eliot Morison is the third of a 15 volume account of the US Navy in WWII. Appointed as the official naval historian of the war, Morison was given permission to go anywhere and see all the official records of the war. For this volume, he visted Guadalcanal soon after its secure by the Americans, talked with its commanders, walked the battlefields, interrogated Japanese leaders after the war and read offical battle reports and diaries from both sides of the conflict. Despite its official nature, the book is surprisingly readable. There is naturally a heavy emphasis on details and maps of the great naval and accompanying air battles surrounding the capture of Guadalcanal, with a lighter touch upon the land battles to make a coherent whole. ( )