REVIEWS The Japanese kept 368 of the civilian workers on the islands as construction laborers, with 20 of the military who were too badly wounded ortoo sick to be moved. As Japanese construction neared completion , 200 of the civilians were sent to Japan as POWs, and workers still remaining on Wake were executed by the Japanese. Gregory Urwin reports thi s story with impress ive technical thoroughness, placing it in the framework of the Pacifi c War's earl y month s. Hi s di scuss ion of the naval command structure of those days reaches as far as the command strateg ists at Pearl Harbor who, faced with little choice, were forced to write off Wake Island. Facing Femful Odds is a well -organi zed and extreme ly well-written piece of hi story. CHARLES D. GIBSO Abram's Eyes: The Native American Legacy of Nant u cket I s la nd , by Nathaniel Philbrick (Mill Hill Press, 304pp , illus , notes, index, ISB N 096389 10-8- l ; $35hc) To many , Abram Quary 's pass ing in 1854 signified the end of the Nantucket Indian . He and hi s brethren who worked in the whale fishery would be nostalg ica ll y remembered by the island 's whites
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- including Herman Melvj I le-who romantici zed the island 's former glory as the preeminent whaling seaport. Philbrick has peered into the pensive, " dark brown and clear eyes" in Abram Quary 's portrait and reveals to us a little-known subject. He skillfu ll y uncovers and delineatesa detailed account of antucket's Native American legacy and its ancient legends, richl y supported by engravings, photographs, portraits and the archaeological record. Philbrick uses Abram Quary as the starting point, not the epilogue of a vanished people, to share with us that other Nantucket, the island once described as " full of Indians." The author explains how the driftwhaling skill s of the Wampanoag Indians of the Tomokommoth tribe played an important role in the formation of Engli sh-Indian alongshore whaling operations , an indu stry that lasted from 1690 to 1760 and laid the foundation for the deepwater whale fishery to come. These images predate the golden age of whaling, which has loomed so large as to drown out the Native American legacy. T he Wampanoag presence is absent today, but the island 's very name, "faraway land" in the nati ve language, keenly represents a forgotten legacy which is di stinctl y Nantucket. Abram Quary, refusing to allow this legacy to be entirely forgotten , has given us insight into the hi storical record of hi s people. This book affirms and enriches the depth of the maritime and American historical nan-ative whi le retri ev ing a dimension of Nantucket Island 's pas t, all through a deeper look into Abram 's eyes. STEVEN W . Jo ES T he Pacific War Revisited , edited by Gi.inter Bischof and Robert L. Dupont (Loui siana State University Press, Baton Rouge LA , 1997, 230pp, illus, biblio, notes, index , ISB 0-8071-2156-8; $25hc) The introduction of this interesting collection of articl es, taken from a conference held in 1991 at the University of New Orleans on the Pacific War, suggests that " the authors demonstrate that the study of the war is a vibrant, evolving pursuit. " And they do! In the first section, " Po litics, Strategy, and Log istics," Michael Schaller examines Doug las MacArthur's role as a politician and public relati ons expert versus hi s role as a military leader. Ronald H . Spector, writing on the fourth dimension of strategy, social forces , in-
terestingly di scusses the popularity of the wa r as a miss ion to save mankind and the ultimate press ures to end it quickly. D aniel K. Blewett recounts the ava ilability of fuel to the fleet , and the tankers to get it there , as a key to the war, and Ke nneth J. Hagan writes on the guerre de course aspect of the submarine war in the Pacific- an unusual role for a d o minant power to pl ay, and an enonnou s ly successful one. In the second section, " POWs and Nurses," Gregory J. W. Urwin te ll s of the experi ences of the men on Wake Island during their brief but spectac ul ar defense of the island and the ir long captivity, and Kathleen Warnes writes of the Army and avy nurses captured on Bataan and Corregidor and others who served o n hospital ships and shore bases. In the third sect ion , "Raci sm and the Bomb," Hennan S. Wolk describes the fruition of the campaign launched in 1939 by Genera l Hap Arnold to create the B-29 and establish a dominant role for the Air Force that would ass ure its surv iva l in postwar military politics. Lastl y, Stephen E. Ambrose and Brian Loring Vi lla di scuss the use of the atom ic bomb, analyzing American convicti ons that va lidated the use of the bomb to our leaders ' minds. Some new information is presented , older ideas are collected in new contexts, and the res ult is a provocative book that shou ld be of interest to all students of World War IL TOWN SE D H OR OR
Their Fathers ' Work: Casting Nets with the World's Fishermen, by William M cC loskey (McGraw-Hill/Internationa l Marine, Camden ME, 1998 , 352pp, illu s, index, ISB 0-07-0453470; 24.95 hc) The depth and breadth to which the autho r has experienced , researched and chronic led the fi shing wo rld for over two decades makes this book encycloped ic in scope and genuine ly rewarding. Hi s voice is an honest one, tempered by liv ing and working side by side with fishermen from every economic class and widely divergent cultures. He is able to re late the joys, fru strations, prejudices and superstitions of these men (and occasionall y women) with heartfelt respect, but without overindul gence. McClos key carries thi s same balance into hns a pproach toward the politics of mode1rn fi shing, whi ch is rife with controver·sy and entanglement for all but the SEA HISTORY 85 , SUMMER 1998