No one has brought the Battle off Samar more compellingly to the screen than the History Channel did with this 2006 episode of “Dogfights.” I was privileged to meet that gallant Helldiver pilot, LCDR Fellner, when we shared the stage at the Nimitz Museum symposium that year.
It was a pleasure to be part of this sterling program. The whole event is watchable online here (my session with Jonathan Parshall and Walter Borneman, “Sink or Swim: The Naval Commanders,” is the 11th one down in the queue).
Interview by Scott Simon, Weekend Edition Saturday
The famous historian’s eyewitness accounts of the Navy during World War II—now being reissued—won’t be surpassed
At the Texas Book Festival in Austin, I moderated a great discussion with Meredith Hindley (Destination Casablanca) and Liza Mundy (Code Girls) on the fascinating history and stories behind their books.
Thanks to my friends at the National WWII Museum for hosting a livestream session on the Guadalcanal naval campaign
In the war’s grim final months, the human cost of invading Japan weighed upon America’s leaders. James D. Hornfischer reviews ‘Implacable Foes’ by Waldo Heinrichs and Marc Gallicchio.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/endgame-in-the-pacific-1497043755
To defeat Japan, the U.S. turned the Navy into a technologically advanced seaborne civilization. Richard Snow reviews “The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945” by James D. Hornfischer.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/our-all-conquering-armada-1480104592