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Rating: 
Summary: masterwork
Review: An exhaustive review of the subject and well-written.
But it is evident the author is a scholar, not a sailor.
The slips in nautical terms can be irritating. For example,
"knots per hour". A knot is a nautical mile per hour, so
what you have is nautical mile per hour per hour.
Rating:
Summary: BEST PACIFIC WAR BOOK
Review: Other reviewers have commented on the breadth of information and the contribution this book makes to our understanding of intelligence in the Pacific war. I also want to note the wonderful way it is written. Personalities, on both sides of the conflict, are fleshed out. Battles, as large as Leyte Gulf and as small as individual submarines attacks, are vividly described. The reader is made to feel the emotions of the participants. Buy the book for the information, read the book for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent detail -- but a great narrative too
Review: The detail in examining all aspects of intelligence in the Japanese and American navies during WWII -- from fleet recognition, to traffic analysis, to wartime production information, to the role of Ultra and decryption -- make Prados' book an excellent study. Those familiar with WWII issues will find lots of fresh material.Prados is wise enough to limit the topic to just naval intelligence issues, but still fills 735 pages with detail and skill. The pleasant surprise is that it's so well-written, building each issue to its climax in the wartime theater. And, with 50+ years of perspective, you can feel the tide of the war shift after Guadalcanal. The art of intelligence-gathering increased dramatically during this war because of radio intercepts, so Prados covers the topic chronologically. He has an excellent analysis of Japanese Naval strategy at Pearl Harbor, during the Pacific conquest period, and the shift to a "defensive" strategy of the homelands. Prados does an excellent job comparing the structure of Japanese and American intelligence-gathering; also in indicating both opportunities and limitations of intelligence in war-time. The reader also sees the dramatic impact that war-time propaganda has in mis-leading military leaders. Surprisingly low-tech intelligence issues are important at various points during the war: such as the absence of photo-reconnaissance early in the war for Americans. For the Japanese navy, poor ship-recognition skills by Japanese pilots and skippers leads to assumptions that American carriers present no threat because they've been reported as sunk -- or that destroyers were cruisers or even battleships. The book is closed by an excellent post-war period which does two things: follows the careers of major intelligence participants and discusses social aspects of military training.
Rating: 
Summary: Misleading title
Review: This book starts off describing both sides' codebreaking efforts prior to WWII, something not available elsewhere, certainly not in such stunning detail. With the onset of the Pacific War, though, there's a new thread to follow: naval operations (hence my review's title). John Prados certainly excels at describing naval operations in the light of knowledge gained through intelligence, all the while throwing in an amazing amount of detail, but there are other books describing operations (although minus the recent codebreaking informations), and better ones at that. Sadly, by switching to operational history, Prados almost forgets about the war behind the scenes, the sleepless nights in crowded rooms, during which some "super-brains" solved incomplete puzzles, which were to prove vital in the war effort, without earning themselves the honors they deserved. Only this reason keeps me from awarding 5 stars - there are 4 for being one of the most detailed and fascinating to read operational histories of the Pacific War.
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