The Pacific (The Official HBO/Sky TV Tie-In)

– Private Sidney Phillips
– First Lieutenant Austin Shofner
– Ensign Vernon Micheel
– Private Eugene Sledge
– Sergeant John Basilone

Through the eyes of these five fearless and devoted men, Hugh Ambrose tells the epic story of the war in the Pacific. It is an intimate, personal history of a brutal, unforgiving conflict.

THE PACIFIC is a gripping piece of historical writing following the extraordinary true stories of four U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy carrier pilot fighting in the Pacific region during World War II.

Between America’s retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur’s airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August 1945, five men – Austin Shofner, Vernon Micheel, Sidney Phillips, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone – fought the key battles in the war against Japan.

From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, the war led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home. In THE PACIFIC Hugh Ambrose focuses on the struggles and triumphs of these men who put their lives on the line for the allied forces.

The book is the official companion to the HBO miniseries THE PACIFIC, executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman – the producers of the Emmy®-winning 2001 miniseries BAND OF BROTHERS.

Some years ago Hugh Ambrose embarked on a research project into the war in the Pacific with his father Stephen Ambrose, the celebrated author of BAND OF BROTHERS. Weaving together hundreds of testimonies from WWII veterans they built a massive archive of primary source material – oral histories, diaries, letter collections, memoirs, photos and military reports – documenting the personal battles these young man fought, and the sweep of the larger conflict in the Pacific. The project coincided with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman expressing an interest in making a television drama about this region of the Second World War and the miniseries was born. When Stephen Ambrose died in 2002, Hugh undertook to finish the project and write this book.

Covering nearly four years of combat, this volume offers a unique historical perspective on the war against Japan. These are the true stories of the men who put their lives on the line for their country, who were dispatched to the other side of the world to fight an enemy who preferred suicide to surrender; men who suffered hardship and humiliation in POW camps; men who witnessed casualties among soldiers and civilians alike; and men whose medals came at a shocking price – a price paid in full by all.

– Private Sidney Phillips
– First Lieutenant Austin Shofner
– Ensign Vernon Micheel
– Private Eugene Sledge
– Sergeant John Basilone

Through the eyes of these five fearless and devoted men, Hugh Ambrose tells the epic story of the war in the Pacific. It is an intimate, personal history of a brutal, unforgiving conflict.