General Holland M. Smith controversial book has been published a few times since it's original publication in 1946. Serving more as a way to get his version of the incident of his relieving of army commander General Ralph Smith at the Battle of Saipan, the book is filled with many factual errors but serves as a nice historical document of his mindset at the end of WWII. This is less a review of the book but a gallery of the different covers of the book, the one above being the first edition. I love the first edition cover with the two tone artwork typical of 1940's art design. One aspect I do love of this book is the title, "Coral and Brass" a simple but highly effective description of the Pacific War.
This is a later paperback edition of the book, I believe dating from the 1950's and 1960's. The oil painting style cover is beautifully done.
This is latest edition from 1987 of Coral and Brass, and usually the one most often found. Besides the first edition, they are very plentiful and easily found. It is worth picking up and reading if you are a reader of USMC history.
Also in the 1980's the USMC released this version of the book as an official study manual for Marines. I like the unique binding and cover of this version which is very different from the others.
If you would like to read Coral & Brass online, here is its entire text posted online
here
No comments:
Post a Comment