John Costello (1) (1943–1995)

The biggest naval battle in history occurred off the coast of Jutland in the afternoon of May 31, 1916 when the German High Seas Fleet confronted a six-mile line of grey-steel dreadnoughts of the British Grand Fleet. In this momentous 'clash of Titans' more than 200 warships of the rival navies were involved in a series of bitterly fought actions that lasted throughout the night. The result could determine the course of the First World War; as Churchill put it, 'Britain could have lost the war in an afternoon'.… (more)

I finished the John Costello's The Pacific War. It is not hyperbole to say this is the best single volume history on the Pacific War.

At just under 600 pages of reading not including a fair amount of pictures and maps, John Costello has written the one volume history that all who are passionate about the Pacific War should read.

The book digs into all major operations and includes both Nimitz's and MacArthur's command as well as the CBI Theater, the bombers War and some inclusion of the submariner's war specifically on Japanese merchant shipping although I would say this is the weakest section of the war.

In addition the book gives ample discussion to the antecedents of the U.S. and Japanese relationship and the cause of war and a chapter at the end which goes into the revisionist history to apply blame for Pearl Harbor. In the end Costello follows the path that while the signs were there all the pieces of intelligence were never put together together to lead the military or civilian leadership to conclude that Pearl Harbor was a _target. It blames some but not the preponderance of blame on General Short and Admiral Kimmel.

A 5 star read which I enthusiastically recommend.… (more)

This book was written in part to as a response to The Master Spy by Phillip Knightley. Costello claims Knightley went easy on Kim Philby.
Costello has a much more critical view of all the Cambridge spies than did Knightley. Almost all of Costello’s conclusions are stated as generous for their modesty and the reality was probably much more serious damage to intelligence services but covered up by the Intelligence services themselves, English government, as well as the crown.
This is a long book and could have been shorter but I enjoyed reading all of it, depressing as it was. Costello covers all of the spies but focuses on Anthony Blunt's career. Costello argues that Guy Liddell was probably the “grandfather spy” to all the rings operating out of British Intelligence agencies. Many good factual items in this book are scattered throughout. Mask of Treachery is an excellent source of information on methodology, sources, and tactics of WWII and Cold War espionage. The author is himself a Cambridge educated historian.… (more)