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(More customer reviews)I was perplexed at the lack of available information on Admiral Spruance, considering the astonishing list of accomplishments: lieutenant during Teddy Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" world tour, commanded Halsey's cruiser escorts for Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, tactical (and decisive) command during the Battle of Midway, Nimitz's Shief of Staff, Commander of the US Fifth Fleet (the largest, most powerful battle fleet in the history of the world) including Iwo Jima, Saipan, Guam and Okinawa, President of the Naval War College and Ambassador to the Phillippines. Buell presents a good account of his life and career without delving into the psychological aspect (including a somewhat troubled relationship with his son, a WWII submarine commander). I believe this to be an important work for any serious amateur historian. Nimitz and Halsey may receive more name recognition, but Admiral Spruance's tactical command at Midway did more to turn the tide of the Pacific War than any other single commander. While many books have been written concerning Midway, this is the only book I have found that tells the story from Spruance's point of view.
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The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (Classics of Naval Literature)Regarded as the standard biography of World War II naval hero Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, this work is now available in trade paperback for the first time. Spruance, victor of the battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea and commander of the Fifth Fleet in the invasions of the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Marianas, and Okinawa, is one of the towering figures in American naval history. Yet his reserved, cerebral personality did not make good copy for correspondents, and until the publication of The Quiet Warrior he remained an elusive figure. Thomas Buell has succeeded in evoking the nature of the man as well as recording the achievements of the admiral in this brilliant biography, which won the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement the year of its publication.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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