Kamikaze
by David Brown
Brompton Books, 1990, 80 pages
This oversized book contains many large photos and gives a
straightforward account of Japan's kamikaze operations. The author David Brown
objectively tells the battle history of the kamikaze attacks from the Allied
viewpoint. Much of the book reads like official combat reports, with ship
names, number and types of attacking planes, defending aircraft, and
casualties. Historical photos take up about half of the space of this short
book, and they together with the captions give the reader an appreciation for
the destruction inflicted on the Allied fleet by the kamikaze pilots.
Although the last page has a listing of photo
acknowledgments, Brown does not provide a bibliography to indicate his sources
of information. His historical account seems accurate, but it is difficult to
consider seriously a history book that provides no sources.
Unlike some other books on kamikaze, this book provides a
nice description of the role in kamikaze attacks of not only the Japanese Navy but also the
Japanese Army Air Force. However, the book lacks any maps
to assist readers. Also, the author provides little information on the thinking
of Japanese military leaders and the motivations of kamikaze pilots.
This book provides a satisfactory battle history of
Japan's deadly kamikaze attacks, but an introductory book such as Rice's Kamikazes
covers the Japanese perspective in more detail and provides excellent
documentation, two items missing in Brown's book.
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