Refighting the Pacific War looks at how World War II in the Pacific
might have unfolded differently, giving historians, authors and veterans
the opportunity to discuss what happened and what might have happened.
Contributors to this alternative history include noted military
historians William Bartsch, John Burton, Donald Goldstein, John
Lundstrom, Robert Mrazek, Jon Parshall, Douglas Smith, Peter Smith,
Barrett Tillman, Anthony Tully, and H. P. Willmott. In all more than
thirty Pacific War experts will provide commentary, employing a
roundtable panel discussion format. The reader will hear from the
experts on how history could and could not have been altered during the
course of the war in the Pacific. With multiple opinions, the reader
will be provided with an interesting collection of divergent views about
the outcome of the war. Refighting the Pacific War focuses largely on
naval battles and campaigns, including Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Midway,
Guadalcanal, Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. While the main concentration
is on the major naval actions, the book also delves into key island
battles, like Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, as well as pre-war
and post-war political issues The panelists debate questions like
whether the Japanese could have inflicted even greater damage on the U.
S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and how Yamamoto might have won at
Midway and how such a victory might have impacted the direction of the
war. The book extensively studies the opening year of the war when the
Japanese war machine seemed unstoppable. Also explored is whether the
Pacific War was inevitable and whether the conflict could have ended
without the use of the atomic bomb. Vice Admiral Yoji Koda, Japan
Maritime Self Defense Force (Ret.), provides the book's Introduction.
