Shortlisted for the 2021 British Army Military Book of the Year Longlisted for the 2021 HWA Non-fiction Crown Awards A BBC History Magazine Best Book of the Year 2020 An Amazon.com History Book of the Month A The Times Best Book of 2020 A Telegraph Best Book of 2020 'Gripping, even gruesome, yet deeply moving . Sweeps us masterfully from a coral charnel house in the Pacific to the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima' David Reynolds 'The best book I've read on the Battle of Okinawa. Finally a military historian has written a book which gives humanity to the Japanese, without taking anything away from what the Americans endured and achieved on that island . David fits perfectly into the fine tradition of war books by Max Hastings and Antony Beevor. It's war at its most beautiful and most horrible' Gerard deGroot 'A superb soldier's-eye history of Okinawa, the Second World War's ghastliest battle . The meticulousness of his research really starts to display itself . A highly readable and informative book that often reads like a screenplay, but depicts suffering that was all too real .

[David] is peerless now among our military historians' Daily Telegraph 'David restores a human dimension to this battle - both sides are brave, stoic, frightened, barbaric and occasionally cowardly. This is narrative history at its most visceral as battles unfold almost in real time . A gripping reconstruction of the action' Times 'Graphic and compelling . Written with style and verve . David brings the ghastly mayhem of war to life in a vivid way' Literary Review 'Superbly researched, well-written . Reminds us that the defining characteristic of war is the mass destruction of individuals, both physically and psychologically' Spectator 'Brilliant . harrowing. The attention to detail is exemplary: we see the conflict from just about every angle' Keith Lowe, BBC History Magazine.