Strong Men Armed
The United States Marines against Japan, island by island, by a man who fought as one.
The Verdict
Robert Leckie fought the Pacific as a Marine machine-gunner and wrote his memoir of it; here he comes back as a historian to tell the whole thing. Strong Men Armed marches through the United States Marine Corps' island war against Japan — Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa — in one sweeping, hard-charging volume, written with the same muscular relish as his first-person work. It is unapologetically Marine-centric and built for momentum rather than analysis, but as a single-volume narrative of the Corps' Pacific campaigns, it has kept its place for sixty years.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The whole Marine island war in one volume
- Narrative drive and color
- A historian who also fought as a Marine
- Guadalcanal through Okinawa, campaign by campaign
Look elsewhere if you want
- The naval or Army side of the Pacific
- Cool, balanced strategic analysis
- The Japanese perspective
Why We Rated It 4.4
Historical Context
Strong Men Armed (1962) is Robert Leckie's narrative history of the US Marine Corps' campaigns against Japan, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. Leckie had served as a Marine in the Pacific and earlier wrote the memoir Helmet for My Pillow.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Read It Alongside
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0306819872
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Other Books About the Same Events
More by Robert Leckie
Frequently Asked Questions
- Did the author fight in the Pacific?
- Yes — Leckie served as a Marine machine-gunner, the experience behind his memoir Helmet for My Pillow, before writing this history.
- Does Strong Men Armed cover the whole Pacific war?
- It covers the Marine Corps' island campaigns specifically, rather than the naval and Army war alongside them.