The reluctant admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy by Hiroyuki Agawa (1979-01-01) Hardcover – 1656

In this biography little information is provided prior to Yamamoto's rise to admiral. Nothing about his childhood, his education by foreign missionaries or his days in the Japanese Naval Academy (or the fact that he had the second highest score on the entrance examination in the entire nation). Nor is there much information about his early career as an ensign, naval attaché or service as captains of a cruiser and aircraft carrier. This is a shame as it is these early years that provided him with a world view of international politics, economics and military and naval affairs, particularly naval aviation, that so differentiated him rom so many of his contemporaries.The book's biography starts, in earnest, after his rise to the rank of admiral. With this respect the book provides an excellent history, from his advancement over that rank, through his interaction with his military and political contemporaries through his attempts to, initially, prevent war with the U.S. to, finally and ironically, leading the naval aspect of that war against the U.S.The book also provides a brief history of Yamamoto's role in the early part of the war (i.e. Pearl Harbor and Midway) but, unfortunately, little about most other early campaigns such as the Solomons or the Imperial Fleets rampage off the Indian coast. The reader gets very little feel for Yamamoto's strategy and style of command. This is especially disappointing considering the fact that Mr. Agawa, the author, was a naval officer in the Japanese Navy. For a short and succinct book on that aspect of Yamamoto this reviewer highly recommends a book written by an ex-US Navy Officer, Mr. Mark Stille, published by the Osprey Press entitled "Yamamoto". That book is very short (about 60 pages, about a third of which consists of illustration) but provides an excellent introduction to Yamamoto's style of command, in terms of both strengths and weaknesses, as well as a military biography that helps the reader understand the underlying causes of these strengths and weaknesses.Mr. Agawa's book concludes with a very good and detailed narrative of the events leading to Yamamoto's death, from the U.S. code breaking that lead the U.S. to know about his visit to the front lines, the fighter attack leading to his death and the search for his plane.One last point that needs to be made about the book involves the translation. In general it is quite good albeit there are quite a few terms and words that are left in the Japanese but not translated to English. To give the translator credit, however, all of these words and terms are very difficult to translate from Japanese to English.All and all this book is a very good biography of Yamamoto even with the weaknesses mentioned above.

Yamamoto was not the Jap warlord fiend he is sometimes assumed to be. He actually liked and admired the US, especially Texas, and argued against attacking the US until his high-ranking friends feared for his life and sent him out to sea to avoid assassination. History buffs will be blown away by this book.

This a great book, well written and I feel gives a reader a honest this man. It, in my opinion, should make people realize, Admiral Yamamoto was not in favor of a war with the United States, the book makes it clear. He followed orders as any Military man swears an oath to do. One point clearly made by this book, The Admiral knew Japan had about six months to defeat the United States or our industrial might would spell the end for Japan, which it did.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto strove to grasp victory for the japanese empire in WW11. Yet even as he labored to defeat the United States and the United Kingdom, in his heart he knew the victory was beyond japanese grasp. He succeeded at Pearl Harbor, and for the first monts of the pacific war. But the defeat at Midway, destroyed his early string of victories. At Guadalcanal, he again faced defeat, after that struggle, the momentum belonged clearly to the allies. He died in an ambush, that was brought on by our codebreakers. He died a samuri's death, which in japanese culture of that era, was to desired. JRV

This is a biography of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet from 1939-1943. It is written by Hiroyuki Agawa, an author of biographies and historical fiction centered upon the Japanese experience in WW2. Agawa's biography of Yamamoto was originally published in Japan in 1969, and entitled "Yamamoto Isoroku." It is the English translation and abridgement of this earlier work that was first published in 1979, under the title, "The Reluctant Admiral."My attention was first drawn to The Reluctant Admiral by numerous bibliographical references in recent works, such as those by Spector, Lundstrom, Parshall and Tully, and Willmott. When multiple respected authors all cite a source this way, I take that as a tacit recommendation and place the item on my reading list. The Reluctant Admiral may not be the only biography available on Yamamoto, but it is certainly the one most commonly referenced by other authors.In the front matter, there is a chronology of Yamamoto's life listing all major events and the year they occurred. There is no table of contents, as the chapters have no titles, only numbers. There are no footnotes, nor even a bibliography. Agawa often, but not always, states the source of a passage in the text itself. To most English readers this is probably sufficient, given that almost all Agawa's sources would be Japanese language. There are no maps.There is scant coverage of Yamamoto's early life, but extensive coverage, of course, of his naval career. Highlights touched upon include: the Battle of Tsushima (where Yamamoto was wounded), his two stints in the United States, participation in the treaty talks in London, and time as second in command of the Kasumigaura Aviation Corps, where he learned to appreciate the growing importance of aviation and the corresponding diminution of the importance of battleships. In his last assignment before being made Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, he served as Navy Vice-minister, where his life was in danger from ultra-nationalist radicals. Once promoted to C. in C., the slide toward war with the U.S. was precipitous, and Agawa demonstrates that although Yamamoto fully understood the peril and likely result of such a war, the admiral nevertheless resolved to give Japan their best chance in a near impossible situation.Agawa offers no incisive look at Yamamoto's admiralship or strategic acumen. The resulting biography is mostly a human portrait, with emphasis on relationships and personality. The important historical events chronicled in the book seem simply to be the context for showcasing Yamamoto the man. This is a sharp contrast to many military biographies, where analysis of operations and strategy are emphasized, to the detriment of gaining a good understanding of the man himself.

Too much emphasis on his private life, and not enough on his battle thinking before and during combat.I intend to write a book on famous battle captains and the influence of their health condition during battles where great decisions were decided.....Yamamoto's round worms at Midway; Napoleon's ulcers or stomach cancer at Waterloo; Lee's dysentery and angina at Gettysburg.