Brendan Simms - The Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway

The battle of Midway in June 1942 has rightly held a commanding place in the history of the Second World War. And this great and significant new book by Professor Brendan Simms and veteran Steve McGregor not only reminds us of Midways importance and drama, but also clearly establishes that the US victory was not just luck, despite common views to the contrary. Simms and McGregor relate a riveting story of migration, innovation, and skill that takes us from 1920s California to the climactic five minutes that doomed the Japanese strike force to destructionand from there to the lessons of a climactic battle for a United States that once more faces a rising power in the Pacific. The Silver Waterfall is a story of authentic American characters, settings, issues, and heroism that will stay with readers long after they put the book down.

General David Petraeus , US Army (ret.); former commander of the surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and US/Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; and former director of the CIA

While the Battle of Midway was decided by a margin of just five minutes, this was a critical difference made possible by the US Navys relentless, painstaking effort. Numerous books have been written on this monumental battle to prove this point, but none shed better light on the battle-winning weapon, the Dauntless, than The Silver Waterfall . With extensive research on the technologies, tactics, and people behind the battles aerial warfare, this book stands out among the literature, skillfully elucidating the ultimate causes of US naval victory.

Tsukamoto Katsuya , head of the security and economy division, National Institute for Defense Studies, Japan

The Silver Waterfall provides a top-to-bottom description of the epic Battle of Midway.

Barrett Tillman , author of Enterprise: Americas Fightingest Ship

The Silver Waterfall is a splendidly written account of Americas greatest naval battle. Simms and McGregor capture the grand sweep of history and strategy while bringing to life the skill, luck, and heroism of the men who turned the tide. An elegant tribute to the past with sobering reflections for our own time.

A. Wess Mitchell , former assistant secretary of state, European and Eurasian Affairs

From aeronautical drawing boards in Southern California to Pacific waters aflame with spilled oil from twisted steel hulks, The Silver Waterfall is a unique new telling of one of historys greatest battles. Written by one of the worlds leading historians and by a US Army combat veteran, The Silver Waterfall reveals in detail how advanced technology, intelligence gathering, planning, and unimaginable heroism turned the tide of the Pacific War in a single, blood-soaked day. As America faces a geopolitical challenge in Asia potentially equal to that of the 1940s, Simms and McGregor remind us why history remains a critical guide to thinking about the future. All policymakers should read the lessons in this book.

Michael R. Auslin , Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author of Asias New Geopolitics: Essays on Reshaping the Indo-Pacific

A vividly told and compelling history of one of historys most remarkable battles. While the Americans famously had much luck on their side, Simms and McGregor make clear that fortune favored the preparedthe Americans brought not only luck but also determination, skill, intrepidity, and professionalism. As the American Pacific primacy Midway helped gain is now under challenge from a rising China, this book serves as a timely and stirring reminder of the qualities it will take to sustain it.

Elbridge Colby , former deputy assistant secretary of defense, Strategy and Force Development, US Department of Defense; and author of Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict

In The Silver Waterfall , authors Simms and McGregor focus on how the pivotal 1942 Battle of Midway was equally a result of technology and solid training as it was good fortune in catching Admiral Nagumos Japanese carrier fleet at such an inopportune moment. In their original presentation, the authors build up to the climax by focusing on dive-bomber engineer Ed Heinemann, military strategist Chester Nimitz, and SBD Dauntless dive-bomber pilot Norman Dusty Kleiss, a skilled aviator who epitomized American performance on June 4.

The book is rich with gripping drama during its lengthy coverage of the key five-minute span where Nimitzs carrier-air groups assault the Japanese carrier fleet. Simms and McGregor offer excellent Japanese perspectives of the chaos and destruction as carriers Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu are blasted apart. This fresh look at the Battle of Midway belongs on the bookshelf of any serious student of the Pacific War.

Stephen L. Moore , author of Battle Stations: How the USS Yorktown Helped Turn the Tide at Coral Sea and Midway

If you only read one book of history this year, make it The Silver Waterfall . Nobody better conjures military history into view. We need urgently to understand their conclusion that unless the United States wakes up to the steady erosion of its naval power, it risks another Pearl Harborwithout any guarantee of another Midway.

Kori Schake , director of foreign and defense policy, American Enterprise Institute

Copyright 2022 by Brendan Simms, Steven McGregor

Cover design by Pete Garceau

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First Edition: May 2022

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Simms, Brendan, author. | McGregor, Steve, 1981 author.

Title: The silver waterfall : how America won the war in the Pacific at Midway / Brendan Simms and Steve McGregor.

Other titles: How America won the war in the Pacific at Midway

Description: First edition. | New York : PublicAffairs, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021041953 | ISBN 9781541701373 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781541701397 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Midway, Battle of, 1942.

Classification: LCC D774.M5 S54 2022 | DDC 940.54/26699dc23/eng/20211027

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021041953

ISBNs: 9781541701373 (hardcover) 9781541701397 (ebook)

E3-20220322-JV-NF-ORI

Five minutes! Who would have dreamed that the tide of battle would shift completely in that brief interval of time?

Mitsuo Fuchida, captain, Imperial Japanese Navy, eyewitness