The University of Alaska Press
PO Box 756240
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240
The University of Alaska Press publishes and distributes nonfiction books about Alaska, the North Pacific Rim, and the circumpolar regions. They publish in an expanding range of subject areas, including military history, Alaska politics and history, Native studies, and natural history. For more information contact: Phone: 888.252.6657; Email: fypress@uaf.edu; Web: www.uaf.edu/uapress
Alaska's Hidden Wars: Secret Campaigns on the North Pacific Rim - On the eve of World War II, the national interests of Japan, the United States, and the Soviet Union collided in the North Pacific. Alaska's Hidden Wars tells the story of the war in the North Pacific --a story of savage weather, isolation, and sacrifice.
Two island chains--the Aleutians and the Kuriles--became the focus of a series of major campaigns that pitted the Americans against the Japanese. Alaska's Hidden Wars Chronicles the role of Japanese - American intelligence specialists and details a Japanese eyewitness account of the defense of Attu. Two virtually unknown aspects of the North Pacific war are also exposes: the brutal North Pacific weather and the internment of American airmen in Kamchatka.
In 1942, the Japanese raided Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands and occupied the islands of Kiska and Attu. The Americans mounted a vigourous campaign, and the Japanese retreated to the Kuriles. For the next two years, the Americans launched air raids and fleet bombardments, while American soldiers maintained lonely outposts along Aleutian coasts. But in 1945, when Japan finally surrendered, the Kuriles were taken--not by the waiting Americans, but by the Soviets.
Alaska's Hidden Wars is a fast-moving history that brings declassified archival sources to light and draws the reader into the lonely, bitter war fought in the North Pacific.