--- product_id: 125118329 title: "The Pacific: Hell Was an Ocean Away" price: "234 kr" currency: NOK in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/125118329-the-pacific-hell-was-an-ocean-away store_origin: NO region: Norway --- # The Pacific: Hell Was an Ocean Away **Price:** 234 kr **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Pacific: Hell Was an Ocean Away - **How much does it cost?** 234 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.no](https://www.desertcart.no/products/125118329-the-pacific-hell-was-an-ocean-away) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The New York Times bestselling official companion book to the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries. Look for The Pacific miniseries, now available to stream on Netflix! Between America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, five men connected by happenstance fought the key battles of the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, their solemn oaths to their country later led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home. In The Pacific , Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the HBO miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as the Pacific and the brave men who fought. Review: Four and a half stars - Reading "The Pacific" was a chore--it's about 450 pages of fine print with insufficient supporting graphics, no table of contents to point you to desired chapters, no glossary to help you understand undefined terms, and no index to aid in research or reviews. That said, I still give this book at least four and a half stars, which this system displays as five. That's because "The Pacific" brings the utter horror of World War II in the PTO to a level of brutal clarity rarely achieved by other writers, if ever. It reads more like a historical novel than pure history, but pure history it surely is, being based entirely on the personal accounts of its principal characters. I also give it high marks for not simply parroting the HBO script. Despite the book's title and its marketing, this is not the book version of the video production. The book goes far beyond what you'll see on HBO, especially with the very dramatic account of a Marine who doesn't appear in the TV version at all. Col. Austin Shofner's personal story of prison camp survival, escape, service with Philippine guerrillas, and desperate combat on Peleliu and Okinawa would warrant a 10-part miniseries itself. The book does have some tedious passages, but that simply attests to its realism. The Pacific War was not all blistering combat; everyone involved endured endless periods of training, traveling, non-combat duties, and sometimes weeks or months of simply anxious waiting. Again, it's history, not a novel, so the author has included some of the highs and lows each character's life that don't involve the Japanese. Read the entire book before judging it (clearly, some of the critics here haven't bothered to do that). It deserves a spot on any bookshelf containing the best histories of the war in the Pacific. With some better reference aids, I'd happily add that final half star. Review: A GREAT READ of the Marines in WWII - From a Marines perspective this Book cover the role of the Marine Corps in the Pacific well.... A GREAT READ ## Images ![The Pacific: Hell Was an Ocean Away - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91LSvsabDnL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Four and a half stars *by R***L on April 21, 2010* Reading "The Pacific" was a chore--it's about 450 pages of fine print with insufficient supporting graphics, no table of contents to point you to desired chapters, no glossary to help you understand undefined terms, and no index to aid in research or reviews. That said, I still give this book at least four and a half stars, which this system displays as five. That's because "The Pacific" brings the utter horror of World War II in the PTO to a level of brutal clarity rarely achieved by other writers, if ever. It reads more like a historical novel than pure history, but pure history it surely is, being based entirely on the personal accounts of its principal characters. I also give it high marks for not simply parroting the HBO script. Despite the book's title and its marketing, this is not the book version of the video production. The book goes far beyond what you'll see on HBO, especially with the very dramatic account of a Marine who doesn't appear in the TV version at all. Col. Austin Shofner's personal story of prison camp survival, escape, service with Philippine guerrillas, and desperate combat on Peleliu and Okinawa would warrant a 10-part miniseries itself. The book does have some tedious passages, but that simply attests to its realism. The Pacific War was not all blistering combat; everyone involved endured endless periods of training, traveling, non-combat duties, and sometimes weeks or months of simply anxious waiting. Again, it's history, not a novel, so the author has included some of the highs and lows each character's life that don't involve the Japanese. Read the entire book before judging it (clearly, some of the critics here haven't bothered to do that). It deserves a spot on any bookshelf containing the best histories of the war in the Pacific. With some better reference aids, I'd happily add that final half star. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A GREAT READ of the Marines in WWII *by J***B on April 9, 2026* From a Marines perspective this Book cover the role of the Marine Corps in the Pacific well.... A GREAT READ ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Accept This One For What It Is And Enjoy! *by T***T on April 4, 2010* There are many things to like about The Pacific. The writing, unfortunately, is not one of them. But do we always pick up a book about the Greatest Generation and their exploits during World War II and expect a literary masterpiece? Not this reader. Sure, Stephen Ambrose moved us to tears as he wrote about the mighty 'Screaming Eagles' of the 101st Airborne Division going toe to toe with Hitler's elite SS Armored units in Arnhem. Ambrose gave life to the men of Easy Company, 506th Infantry Regiment, with passion and great clarity recounting their matchless courage in a way that few World War II historians have done before or since. His son, Hugh, deserves credit for attempting to do for the Pacific Theater what his father did for the European Theater - making it real for those of us who were not there while trying to fill his father's considerable shoes. Ambrose Jr. is certainly not without colorful characters in 'Manila' John Basilone, Sidney 'Sid' Phillips, Eugene B. 'Sledgehammer' Sledge, Austin 'Shifty' Shofner, and Vernon 'Mike' Micheel to work with and help him tell the story. These men are straight out of central casting and worth every bit of the legend attendant to their storied names. Without perhaps the finesse of his father, Ambrose knits together a gripping tale of their service and how their trajectories intersect in a war that would know no parallels in its ferocity. And he does so in a highly readable way. Yes, his writing style is a bit choppy, and he does not always handle the transition from one character's experience to another's as seamlessly or as artfully as he might. Yet there is believability in his writing. More important, we can accept this book for what it is - a companion 'reader' to the HBO miniseries with reasonable entertainment value. An avid reader of military history and war stories alike, I found The Pacific enjoyable for not only the realism but also the humorous anecdotes. I received a glimpse into the experiences of this uncommon breed of men as if they were relating them to me themselves. Many of their recollections ring true and are recounted as I believe these men would actually talk - not through a lot of frilly prose, but through honest, frank, and forthright accounts of a hellish existence on Bataan, Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and in the middle of the Pacific (Midway) with plenty of torpedoes, bombs, and antiaircraft fire keeping their juices flowing! Not just another day at the office, to be sure. From reading The Pacific, I was able to totally get it, and IT was sheer mayhem! Fear was the only constant in their helter skelter lives. This is war as it really happens - organized chaos! For the Marines and naval aviators who went through the meat grinder that characterized MacArthur's and Nimitz's Pacific island-hopping campaign, this is life as they knew it. Mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds and raindrops the size of silver dollars, suicidal Japanese banzai charges and 'bombs' shaped like planes falling determinedly from the sky on the helpless sailors below... From Micheel's white-knuckled, 60 degree dive in his Dauntless on an enemy aircraft carrier to Basilone's machine gun virtuoso in the face of hundreds of crazed, marauding Imperial Japanese soldiers, the reader sees it all, unvarnished and as it really happened. Ambrose's men, plain spoken and salt-of-the-earth Americans, were heroes of the highest order. For me, reading The Pacific was yet another reminder of the extraordinary sacrifice our grandparents made on our behalf. The bouts with malaria, dengue fever, and dysentery in the Cabantuan POW camp, the boxcar-size artillery rounds launched from 16-inch guns installed on Imperial Japanese battleships raining down on Marine fighting positions dug on Guadalcanal amidst the densest jungles conceived by God... How did these men do it? They did it simply because their buddies on either side were expecting them to do it. Not because they were superhuman, but because they were all-too-human and were young enough and foolish enough to believe they could. Island by island these great Americans fought their way to just miles from the Japanese mainland and within range of U.S. bombers. Sometimes ingloriously, but always with love of country in their hearts, they avenged the cold-blooded murder of their comrades at Pearl Harbor while reminding the world and any other would-be hegemon that America remained the mightiest nation on earth... that her spirit might be bowed but would never be broken. The Pacific is above all else instructive. We learn that in the final analysis, men learn to overcome unrelenting hardship because of those they hold most dear - their brothers-in-arms. They are the closest kind of relative, enduring whatever the elements or the enemy can throw at them, and they derive immense strength from the bonds that are forged by fire. It is not for the the unitiated to understand. It is for those who have lived it to merely nod to one another in quiet acknowledgement. Accept this one for what it is and enjoy! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.no/products/125118329-the-pacific-hell-was-an-ocean-away](https://www.desertcart.no/products/125118329-the-pacific-hell-was-an-ocean-away) --- *Product available on Desertcart Norway* *Store origin: NO* *Last updated: 2026-10-13*