Recommended books for the library?

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I am finishing Ian Toll's Trilogy of the War in the Pacific. The chapter on the dropping of the Bombs is interesting. He writes that Col Tibbets flew the mission flawlessly and text book, a pilots pilot. Then goes into details into Maj Sweeney's flight with Bockscar. The mission was plagued with one incident after another. A faulty fuel pump prior to take off, weather over initial target, mis-coordination with the photograph B-29, fuel issues through the flight, at one point Tibbets and LeMay thought the plane may have gone down with the bomb inside. Sweeney was forced to divert to Okinawa and barely made it. LeMay and Tibbets considered court martial for Sweeny after the mission. Some of the details are in the Wikipedia article on the mission but if you would like an extensive account, I highly recommend the book.

The trilogy is an exhausting 3 books, but one of the best I've read of the Pacific War. He extensively covers the Carrier War. The third book is: Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945. The three volumes contain about 2,400 pages, but well worth the read.

 
If the other one is good enough Jan, you don't need it.*

(* This is what I tell the little voice in my head that says "Hey, this new Spitfire is even BETTER than the last 32 you bought - you should get it!!) **

** On a positive note, it is only one voice. Imagine 6 of them trying to decide for you
 
My small library is loosely half Spitfire-specific, technical/pictorial references (Alfred Price figures largely, and Morgan/Shacklady is a must have), and half WW2 narrative histories. At the moment I'm enjoying Operation Pedestal by Max Hastings (bit of a minor Malta obsession going on) which is my recommendation, but I'm also a fan of James Holland (the podcast he does with comedian Al Murray We Have Ways of Making You Talk is well worth a listen.)

Operation Pedestal: A Times Book of the Year 2021: The Fleet That Battled to Malta 1942 eBook : Hastings, Sir Max: Amazon.co.uk: Books

I've recently discovered World of Books as a source of inexpensive second-hand books in good condition, free postage in the UK. I've gone a bit-click happy and have seven books inbound: James Holland The War in the West first two volumes, Big Week and Together We Stand (North Africa); Jonathan Dimbleby The Battle of the Atlantic; Antony Beevor Arnhem (hopefully not quite as harrowing as Stalingrad); Alamein by Stephen Bungay, whose excellent and forensic account of the Battle of Britain The Most Dangerous Enemy I've recently finished. It's premature to recommend any of them of course, but they'll keep me busy for a while!
 
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Mastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific

Half way through this book by Trent Hone. Highly recommend.
 

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