Journalist and bestselling historian Evan Thomas takes us inside the naval war of 1941-1945 in the South Pacific in a way that blends the best of military and cultural history and riveting narrative drama. He follows four men throughout: Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, the American fleet commander; Admiral Takeo Kurita, the Japanese battleship commander; Admiral Matome Ugaki, commander of and last of the kamikazes; and Commander Ernest Evans, who led his destroyer on the last great charge in the last great naval battle in history. Book jacket.