Day 1 (DDRD 1,548) January 26, 2022
Read to page 20.
The Prologue gives a nice overview before we get back to the nitty gritty details of war in the Pacific Theater. I was surprised to see that as I read these pages, I couldn't help but note that there were a couple of distinct parallels between FDR and Trump: (1) a sincere hatred for the press--FDR said that they printed lies and were aligned against him, and there seemed to be some truth to what he was saying, & (2) finding a way to circumvent the press to speak directly to the American people, Trump via Tweets and FDR via radio chats. I hasten to point out that there are approximately 1,000,047 differences between these two presidents, but it still made me twitch a little to think about these two similarities.
Day 2 (DDRD 1,549) January 27, 2022
Read to page 40. Still Prologuing, but only for 3 more pages. More interesting overview stuff, much of it focusing on Douglas MacArthur and what a gigantic asshole he was. (But gooooood.)
Day 3 (DDRD 1,550) January 28, 2022
Read to page 60.
Another new word: caudillo.
"A caudillo is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of caudillo, which is often used interchangeably with 'warlord' and 'strongman.'" (Wikipedia)
Day 4 (DDRD 1,551) January 29, 2022
Read to page 80. We're still out of the action here...mostly focused on McArthur, who stills seems like a gigantic asshole, and his interactions with FDR. There was a touching story at the end of Today's 20 about FDR visiting wounded soldiers / sailors in a hospital, going to them in his wheelchair, and about how the wounded boys took so much inspiration from seeing a man who had fought hard to overcome his own disabilities as they lay in beds absorbed in their own losses (many had lost limbs or were otherwise permanently scarred).
Day 5 (DDRD 1,552) January 30, 2022
Read to page 100. So 1/8th of the way through, meaning about 35 days to go. And then maybe goodbye to WWII for a while, I think. Although Today's Twenty was pretty interesting, ranging from a discussion of the term "unconditional surrender" from Lee & Grant to what it would mean to Imperial Japan in 1945, McArthur's desire to return to the Philippines, to the merits of the F6F Hellcat.
Speaking of which...pretty fuckin' impressive plane.
Check this out:
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| p. 97 |
So there's that.
Day 6 (DDRD 1,553) January 31, 2022
Read to page 120.
Day 7 (DDRD 1,554) February 1, 2022
Read to page 140. We're back into the battle stuff now, replete with disgusting details. Ian W. Toll does seem to go out of his way to get to the nittiest of gritties sometimes...but I don't think it's prurience so much as a desire to have us see (and smell) what battle is really like.
On another topic, I am having a great hankering for a book about World War II aircraft...especially the Hellcat. And today, whilst grazing at Ollie's, I saw just such a book. Big, illustrated, and beautiful. And for a mere $15. I managed to pass it by.
This time.
Day 8 (DDRD 1,555) February 2, 2022
Read to page 160. There was a reference to a painting called "The 2000 Yard Stare" by Thomas Lea, 1944, which sounded interesting, so I found it online.
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| Public Domain: "The 2000 Yard Stare" by Thomas Lea, 1944 |
Some pictures really are worth 1,000 words.
Day 9 (DDRD 1,556) February 3, 2022
Read to page 180.
Okay. It's pretty obvious that this--
--is a reference to Prince's "1999," right? If so...it's another example of how Ian W. Toll is just a bit too cute sometimes, at least so far as I'm concerned. I think it's an editor's job to curb this kind of thing in a writer. (Toll is still referring to torpedoes as "fish," and it really annoys the hell out of me. It may well be what Navy guys call torpedoes...not being a Navy guy, I wouldn't know...but it's certainly not what historians call torpedoes. Enough of this cute shit, man.)
Day 10 (DDRD 1,557) February 4, 2022
Read to page 200. Odd--Mr. Toll is beginning to repeat himself. On at least two occasions he has repeated details of a story...and I'm pretty sure that the repetitions actually come within this volume (as opposed to from a previous volume). I wonder what's up with that? Also--once again--isn't this the kind of thing that they pay proofreaders and editors to catch? I missed my calling.
On a side note, both of my Reading Group projects, Moby Dick and The Fiery Trial--neither one of which was my idea--have ground to a halt. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about joining a reading group...or at least learned not to get excited about doing it...but I obviously haven't learned. Sigh. I Need a Reading Lover Who Won't Drive Me Crazy.
Day 11 (DDRD 1,558) February 5, 2022
Read to page 220. One of the battle anecdotes this time around involved the destruction of the U.S.S. Darter, and there was the notation that the remains of the submarine were still in the Bombay Shoals of Palawan. Found an interesting picture of this
@ http://www.submarinesailor.com/Boats/SS227Darter/DarterWreckage1965.htmDay 12 (DDRD 1,559) February 6, 2022
Read to page 240.
Day 13 (DDRD 1,560) February 7, 2022
Read to page 260. You know...reading about badly trained, badly fed, badly equipped and very young Japanese sailors getting slaughtered really isn't much fun. And I get the feeling that it's all downhill from here, too. Sigh. 540 pages to go. 27 days. You know, if I could push my daily goal to 30 pages it'd only be 18 days. Hmmm.
Day 14 (DDRD 1,561) February 8, 2022
Read to page 290. So the 30. Don't know if I have it in me to do another 17 days of that, though. On the other hand, both of my Reading Groups have stalled out, so I guess I could just stop nibbling at them for a bit and put this tome down. I'm definitely ready for that.
Day 15 (DDRD 1,562) February 9, 2022
Read to page 321. So yep, did another 30. Which means I've already shaved one day off the finish date. Can I do it again tomorrow? I don't know.
Meanwhile...more repeats: Morton's red bathrobe and his predilection for killing Japanese sailors in the water after their ship had been sunk, and also a repeat of the failure of many torpedoes to explode in the first 2 years of the war. I guess it's possible that Ian W. Toll is doing this on purpose, because some people wouldn't read the three books back to back, maybe...but I find it irritating. It's like talking to a friend who insists on telling you the same stories repeatedly, even if you chime in with an, "Oh, yeah, I remember you telling me about that." (I've got several of those friends. Another one of the hazards of living past the age of 60, I suppose.)
Also, I was really upset by the story about the sailors who stood on deck shouting, "So solly, please!" to Japanese sailors who were in the ocean, clinging to the wreckage of their ship, after an attack. What brutality.
Day 16 (DDRD 1,563) February 10, 2022
Read to page 350. 15 days to go? It's beginning to seem possible after three days of 30.
I meant to comment on a couple of paragraphs about the nickname "Bull" for Admiral Halsey the other day, but forgot about it. I thought that is showed some rather good writing on the part of Ian W. Toll:
I'm a bit conflicted about Mr. Toll's writing style overall, though. He continues to make "cute" comments which I find distracting and a little embarrassing (for him, not me). As I head into the final half of this book, I'm beginning to wonder if I actually do want to read Six Frigates at some point--the only other book to date that he has published. Time (and I) will tell.
Day 17 (DDRD 1,564) February 11, 2022
Read to page 380. 14 days to go. And pretty close to the halfway point now, too. Don't want to jinx it, but at this point putting down 30 pages doesn't seem so difficult...doesn't even seem to be much more than reading 20. So here's hoping that I can keep up that pace, because I'm definitely ready to move beyond World War II in my daily reading program. Thinking that it is indeed time to read The Mysterious William Shakespeare by Charlton Ogburn...a book I bought many years ago. In fact, I think that I bought it at The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
Day 18 (DDRD 1,565) February 12, 2022
Read to page 410. 13 days to go. (And it's starting to look like I might make that date, too.)
During the course of Today's Thirty, five pages were devoted to "The December Typhoon" story (pages 396 - 400). It was a vivid story about the fleet being manhandled by a fierce storm, and ended by saying that Admiral Halsey had fucked up big time by taking his ships into the storm. At the end of it all...
"The Pacific Fleet chief took the extraordinary step of addressing himself to the entire fleet on the subject, and a long and detailed memorandum entitled "Lessons of Damage in Typhoon."
p. 403
I was thinking that it would make a great little movie...maybe starting with Paul McCartney's song and some war scenes, a boiling pot of water (presage to the storm), etcetera. Yep. I'd watch that movie.
Day 19 (DDRD 1,566) February 13, 2022
Read to page 440. 12 days to go.
Here's an interesting bit: Ian Toll was talking about the expansion of various Navy facilities during the late stage of World War II. "The largest...was constructed on flat scrub land south of Corpus Christi, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. Texas congressman Lyndon B. Johnson worked behind the scenes to have an initial $24 million cost-plus-fixed-fee building contract awarded to his major campaign contributor, the Brown & Root construction company of Houston. The cost of building NAS Corpus Christi would eventually balloon to $100 million The massive project had the indirect effect of supercharging Johnson's political career and sending him on a trajectory for higher office." (418)
That's American politics in a nutshell, isn't it? And Brown & Root is still pulling the strings...both under its revised identity of Kellogg, Brown & Root and of its now parent company, Halliburton. I guess it's no wonder that we end up with a Republican Party dedicated to the eradication of democracy and a Democratic Party floundering in its wake.
Day 20 (DDRD 1,567) 💗February 14, 2022💗
Read to page 470. 11 days to go.
You know...I've got books that are over a hundred years old that are in really good shape--browning pages, for sure, but intact so far as binding and all of that. Twilight of the Gods, on the other hand, was published less than a year and a half ago (September 1, 2020), and check this out:
And that's what happens when the bindings aren't sewn. You'd think that for $40 (list price) you'd get something a little more durable than that, wouldn't you?
Day 21 (DDRD 1,568) February 15, 2022
Read to page 500. 10 days to go.
80,000 troops in 8 square miles. That's Iwo Jima. And once again Ian W. Toll really goes into detail about the horrific costs of storming this island. If this were a movie, I wouldn't be able to watch it. Then again, it's not like you can sanitize the details, right? I don't know.
I keep thinking about this 8 square miles thing. That means that you could walk across the island (assuming that the elevation wasn't too extreme) in less than an hour. 80,000 troops in that space.
Wow.
Day 22 (DDRD 1,569) February 16, 2022
Read to page 530. 9 days to go. It was a hard pull today. Spent most of the day either driving kids to and fro or babysitting, so to get to 530 I had to take the book to bed with me when I finally was able to hit the hay around 10:00. But despite the tiredness and the gore, I was able to complete the mission.
Day 23 (DDRD 1,570) February 17, 2022
Read to page 560. 8 days to go. Quite a few of today's thirty pages focused on American fire-bombing missions over Japan...especially the first attack on Tokyo. It was truly appalling, with a total death count higher than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (initial death toll only). And the worst part? I'd never heard of this before. I knew about Dresden...via Kurt Vonnegut...but I didn't know that this had been done repeatedly against civilian centers in Japan.
Sometimes it's hard to remember that we were the good guys.
Reading this also makes me even more anxious to be through with this book. The cumulative toll of misery recounted has become too much for me to carry much farther.
And lest I forget to mention...there were also details about how Japanese children as young as 8 were being put to work for the war effort, and that they were receiving as little as one hour of school instruction per day.
Day 24 (DDRD 1,571) February 18, 2022
Read to page 590. 7 days to go. There was a picture section at the end of today's reading. It included a picture of fire-bombed Tokyo:
Amazing...the majority of the buildings in this area have been completely flattened. There are also pictures of stacks of burned bodies. And WE did that. At least five times in Japan.
Day 25 (DDRD 1,572) February 19, 2022
Read to page 620. 6 days to go. Looks like this 30 pages a day push is working out. I'm really anxious to keep that going and move on to a new DDR book. Still thinking that it will be The Mysterious William Shakespeare.
Day 26 (DDRD 1,573) February 20, 2022
Read to page 650. 5 days to go.
As I read the name "John McCain" yet again, I finally went Googling to see if (1) this man was related to the late Senator and (2) if the naval ship which Trump wanted obscured from his sight was named after this World War II admiral or the Senator. The answers were yes and yes, but reference the second yes, the naming was extended to John McCain II and III.
John S. McCain Sr., John S. McCain Jr., & John S. McCain III
From the birth of I until the death of III covers a huge chunk of American history: August 9, 1884 to August 25, 2018. And not only did all three serve distinguished careers in the U.S. Navy, but John S. McCain IV did, too. What an amazing heritage. It curdles my blood to think of the draft dodger and coward Donald Trump mocking John McCain III's courage and sacrifice for this country, and I am stunned that every man and woman who served doesn't revile that callow son of a bitch.
Day 27 (DDRD 1,574) February 21, 2022
Read to page 680. 4 days to go.
Today, class, we will learn about the atomic bomb. Also about the pounding that the U.S. gave to Japan when it was near the end of the war...which, of course, is how war goes, but it was hard to read, knowing that the Japanese were virtually incapable of defending themselves at this point. I suppose it's their fault for not surrendering, but still...bombing the shit out of cities...including more fire bombings ...there was even a quote from a commanding officer along the lines of "we're beating a dead horse." Not exactly glorious triumph over an enemy in my book.
As for the bomb...well, nothing I haven't read a number of times before, but still startling. To think that those motherfuckers set off a bomb not knowing if it would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the whole world.
What's wrong today is what's wrong with you. ("Frankenstein" by the New York Dolls)
Day 28 (DDRD 1,575) February 22, 2022
Read to page 710. 3 days to go. Wow...is that possible? Am I really about to leave WWII behind...at least for the nonce? Hard to imagine, having spent so much of the past 575 reading days there, but yes, it is about to happen. I'm still interested in reading the Edward de Vero book in the near future, but I may take a quick dive into
I bought it a long time ago and never cracked it open, but lately I've fallen into a Lee Morgan rabbit hole and found myself searching for this little (280 page) tome. And wonder of wonders, it was right where I thought it would be. I don't know how I manage to do that on a regular basis given the fact that there are thousands of books in this house, in no particular order, and that I haven't even seen some of them in years. The sub-basement of my memory is a lot more water-tight than the living areas, I suppose.
In today's reading, there was more detail on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. And it was just horrifying. Not just the obvious horrors of what happened, either. The before stuff was amazingly painful to read. For instance, four cities were selected as possible targets...because they had not yet been bombed, and thus would "give the fullest and most dramatic expression of the bomb's power." So not because they were significant military sites (they weren't)...but because their destruction would allow for the greatest publicity photos. It's just stunning that Truman could live with this decision. Also, as the Enola Gay made her way to Hiroshima, it encountered no antiaircraft fire and no opposition fighters. Why? Because Japan was already on its knees, its military capacity had been destroyed. Hiroshima was the most extreme example in the history of the world of kicking an opponent when he was already down. And worse, staging it as a photo op.
Yes, I am most certainly full up with World War II. If I had any time on my hands at all I'd read another 30 pages today, just to get this over with sooner.
Day 29 (DDRD 1,576) February 23, 2022
Read to page 740. 2 days to go.
Day 30 (DDRD 1,577) February 24, 2022
Read to page 770. 1 day to go. Well...maybe. Only 20 pages left, and of course I'm thinking, "I could probably finish that off today." Going to let that thought sit for a bit, but it might could happen.
I'm also thinking that with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it might be time to read A History of Ukraine by Paul Robert Magocsi...which, by the way, I picked up at Goodwill for $1.05 almost exactly 2 years ago (Saturday, February 29th, 2020). I'm still anxious to get on to Jazz and Edward de Vere, but I'm also wanting to get some background on what's going on in Eastern Europe right now.
Day 31 (DDRD 1,578) February 25, 2022
Finished.
That's 347 days...and 8,481 pages of World War II in the past 515 days...which is over 67% of my reading time.
Definitely time to move on now.
DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
Sub-Total: 6,970 pages...more than 1/2 of my first 1,000 DDR days' total (13,449 pages), btw.
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
Sub-Total: 6,970 pages...more than 1/2 of my first 1,000 DDR days' total (13,449 pages), btw.
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
Sub-Total: 10,985 pages...over 81% of the first 1,000 DDR days' total.
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages
(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
Sub-Total: 10,985 pages...over 81% of the first 1,000 DDR days' total.
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages
(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
Sub-Total: 13,001 pages...only 448 pages to match the total of the first 1,000 DDR days.
Also, I was just thinking about how much of The Second 1,000 Days' Reading has been absorbed by World War II (now appearing in green letters): 7,537 when I finish the second volume of The Pacific Trilogy, and another volume of that to go. After that...who knows? Could be more WWII...I've certainly become interested in several side-issues along the way. Details as they happen. (1/14/22)
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages
Sub-Total: 13,945 pages. So as of Day 578 of The Second 1,000 Days, I've already passed the number of pages I read in all of the first 1,000. Woo-hoo.
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