Helmet For My Pillow

I was so impressed by the HBO miniseries, The Pacific, that I sought out the source material for the show. The first book I read was the biography of Robert Leckie, Helmet For My Pillow. It is an entertaining and powerful memoir of a WWII Marine veteran who fought on Guadalcanal, New Britain, and one of the bloodiest battles, Peleliu. Leckie does a great job of describing what it was like to fight in battle and also depicts what their time was like when they spent several months on leave in Melbourne before returning to battle. I think my only criticism was that he didn't provide enough exposition on the meaning of the battles in the large context of the Pacific campaign and  in retrospect whether they were important battles or follies on the way to the greater goal of ending the war once and for all. This is in turn inspires me to find a comprehensive book that explains the the Pacific campaign in greater detail from an overview perspective. It will has also inspired me to give another look at the miniseries as well.