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THE STRUGGLE FOR GUADALCANAL, AUGUST 1942–FEBRURARY 1943, Volume 5 in the series, covers the six major engagements in the waters surrounding Guadalcanal, in which the U.S. Navy experienced more fighting than in any three previous wars. From the Solomon Islands campaign to the courageous actions of Edson's Raiders at the Battle of the Bloody Ridge and the Battle of Tassafaronga, the author describes events from the ship decks, cockpits, and ridgetops where the fate of thousands was decided.
"The naval battles for Guadalcanal were rarely equaled during the war for ferocity and valor. The final tally of warship losses, as Morison notes, was 'surprisingly even' between both sides, but the campaign cost Japan far more men and aircraft. Even worse, Japanese losses were far more difficult for the Empire to replace, while American mobilization was truly just beginning. More than the epic victory at Midway, the long, bitter and costly naval campaign to secure Guadalcanal constituted the turning point of the Pacific War. Never again would Japan meet the Allies on more or less equal terms in the Pacific, and never again would a Japanese victory have the potential to affect the outcome of the war."
—John B. Lundstrom, in his Introduction to Volume 5, author of Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal
Samuel Eliot Morison taught history at Harvard from 1915 to 1955, except for active duty service in the Navy on board eleven different ships in all theaters of the war. In addition to this series, Rear Admiral Morison wrote many other popular and award-winning books on maritime history, including Two Ocean War. Morison, who died in 1976, was the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, two Bancroft Prizes, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
