Books: Mission Accomplished

VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC (407 pp.)—Samuel Eliot Morison—Atlantic-Little, Brown ($6.50).

"At 1400 began the final air attack. Hellcats and Avengers were able to make selective runs on the slowly moving, almost helpless ship." As Ensign Yoshida recalls, "Men were jumbled together in disorder on the deck. Admiral Ito struggled to his feet. His chief of staff then rose and saluted. A prolonged silence followed. Ito looked around, shook hands deliberately with his staff officers, and then went resolutely to his cabin. The deck was nearly vertical. Shells of the big guns skidded, crashing...