In most accounts of World War II, the Marines are celebrated as the victors of the Pacific, a reflection of a well-deserved reputation for valor. Yet the majority of fighting and dying in the war against Japan, John McManus points out, was done not by Marines but by unsung Army soldiers. In this first book of a two-volume history, McManus follows the Army from Pearl Harbor through the 1943 Battle of Makin, as it transformed from an undertrained garrison force into an unstoppable juggernaut. Enriching the narrative are accounts of the larger than life generals, but also the voices of men otherwise lost to history: the Army grunts who endured unimaginable hardships to attain victory. "This eloquent and powerful narrative is military history written the way it should be."—James M. McPherson