Kamikaze: The Sacred Warriors (1983) By D. & P. Warner with S. Seno
 
Many books about the kamikaze attacks on American ships relate the history from a particular viewpoint or focus on a small piece of the total story. Denis and Peggy Warner succeed in their goal to give a more comprehensive perspective of the kamikaze phenomenon by relating the actions and reactions of Japan and the U.S. and by examining the reasons for Japan's suicide attacks.
 
Australian Denis Warner worked as a war correspondent for the American forces in the central Pacific in 1944 and 1945. The direct journalistic style used in The Sacred Warriors places the reader in the middle of the action when the kamikaze forces attack. The book's many quotes by eyewitnesses provide fascinating individual viewpoints and help bring the terrifying events to life. Warner himself experienced kamikaze attacks, and he describes the aftermath of one of them when a Japanese plane crashed into the British aircraft carrier Formidable, where he was working as a correspondent.
 
The Sacred Warriors has an extensive bibliography of both English and Japanese sources, which reflects the thoroughness of the authors' research in preparing this book. Denis Warner and his wife Peggy, who has collaborated with her husband on several works about Japan, conducted long interviews with Japanese survivors of the suicide squadrons and with American and Australian survivors of the suicide attacks. The authors also worked with Commander Sadao Seno, who graduated from Japan's Naval Academy in Etajima and was assigned to command a midget submarine, to provide readers with the Japanese perspective of the special attack forces assigned to suicide missions. The book's introduction lists the many people in the U.S., Australia, and Japan who contributed to the information found in the book.
 
This well-written, meticulously researched book is a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in the complete history of Japan's suicide attack forces.
 
Soft Cover
290 pages
In Fair Condition