Rating: 
Summary: Grim picture of men at war.
Review: William Manchester's riveting book is a combination of autobiography, a Marine memoir, and deep introspection. The hard as nails portrait of men who bore the battle in the Pacific War is good reading for thoughtful readers who aspire to know the human side of history. The book is also a revealing insight of the mindset of the WWII generation that sharply contrasts with their self-absorbed children. The book dispels some of the nonsense of men at war. Although the Raggedy Ass Marines scoff when a fellow suggests that they are "steel hardened by fire," gritty determination to do the job drives them. Manchester argues that men do not endure battle for ruffles and flourishes, or because of tacky appeals to patriotism. Quite simply, men endure battle for love of comrades. While recovering from his own million-dollar-wound, Manchester learned that his company was going into the thick of battle at Okinawa. He went AWOL from the hospital to re-join the Raggedy Ass Marines, and was severely wounded. Such seemingly irrational behavior can only be explained by the bond that men develop in dire circumstances. Never mind flags and the false trappings of glory, the Marines were accountable to each other. That is what matters. The young Marine Manchester will not compromise on core beliefs with the aging author he has become. Hence, Manchester's troubled dreams and reflective mid-life melancholy. Recommended reading. ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Good - but there are better memoirs of the Pacific war
Review: William Manchester's memoir of World War II is quite good - although in my opinion there are better personal narratives of the war in the Pacific. What makes this out of the ordinary is that Manchester travels across the Pacific revisting the battle sites, re-telling their stories - and his own.His description of Guadalcanal is the best part, which is unfortunate, as it happens in the first half of the book. Manchester's strength is as a biographer - which does Goodbye, Darkness somewhat of a disservice. He does an outstanding job of painting vivid characterizations of Vandegrift, Nimitz and MacArthur, but at the expense of weakening what could have been a more memorable memoir. Manchester does a decent job of providing an overall view of the conduct of the war; but as far as personal accounts go, Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed is by far a better read.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and somewhat eccentric....
Review: While Manchester writes in a style that is somewhat too lucid to remain focused, and can be downright confusing at times, this author also provides one of the most complete overviews of the entire Pacific island-hopping campaigns. While by no means comprehensive, he at least touches on the importance (or lack of) of each island, and greatly details the peculiarities of each native population, landing areas, Japanese defensive positions and so on. This book initially begins with the story of his father, who was gravely wounded in "The Great War", and despite his physical handicap from his wounds, he leads a hardworking and perfectly normal life, and Manchester is unflinching in his feelings of inadequecy and shortcomings. He then details his basic training experience, and at the halfway point of the book ships off to the Pacific. It should be noted that the entire book is written after a return to the scene of so much carnage and slaughter, and he skillfully weaves his memories of then with the realities of today, as he hops from island to island (this time in civilian clothes, with locals as guides) reliving the hell so many brave American Marines had to endure and overcome. The authors outfit was derisively called "Raggedy Ass Marines", and was a title soon adopted as their own. These were not your average front-line Marines, rather these were mainly Officer Candidate washouts, and many had Ivy League degrees, the likes of Colgate, MIT and Yale. Sadly, many of these men never returned. Once again, I marvel at the endurance, tenacity, and sheer devotion of these Marines to the suicidally brave enemy they faced. No Marine with a temperature under 103 degrees was allowed "off the line." Could you try this policy today? A great read, and definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: I was amazed to find that this book is out of print. This book offers a very rare opportunity to read about a first hand, vivid, chilling, real WWII experience, written by a man who can write. This is no diary, and it is not a rehashing of events based on interviews by someone who wasn't there. The images in this book are crystal clear. To really understand the Pacific war experience, there is no better book.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, verging on Weird
Review: I didn't really like this book. The guy is just too personally strange! This seems to be too much about him and his own psychological issues, which I didn't find interesting or compelling at all. There is some good writing where he recreates the combat experience, but not too much. Some of the descriptions I thought were needlessly gross and graphic and I felt kind of disgusting. I think he has a problem in sexualizing the gore and the bodies, which left me very uncomfortable as a reader. It's ok, but I'm not sure I'd recommend this book. It lies on my shelf unfinished.
Rating:
Summary: A read many times book
Review: This is a very good book. Manchester uses three parallel strands to describe the war in the Pacific. He writes of re-tracing his journey after the war (in the seventies, I think). He writes of the combat seen by the American forces and in particular the Marine Corps. He also writes a commentary from the present on the past. Manchester is, "a defrocked Marine." The book gives the impression that Manchester feels that he was fooled by the indoctrination that he underwent when joining the Marines and that this was in some way wrong. Some Marines will quarrel with this sentiment. Manchester praises the heroism of the combatants. He has plainly despises the units on his side that failed. His experiences of combat are vividly written, frightening, exciting and sad. The book is one that I have re-read several times. Paul Wickham.
Rating:
Summary: More Graphic than Saving Private Ryan
Review: William Manchester is a great historian and an excellent writer. His history is well written and very fair. He goes to great efforts to keep his writing balanced, and he does so successfully. Just read his biography of MacArthur. So, I was quite surprized to read Goodbye Darkness and see and read Manchesters personal reaction to combat in the Pacific. This is some read. Graphic, disturbing, and yet giving you a great appreciation for what our WWII veterans accomplished in the Pacific. This book should be mandatory reading on WWII. The war in the Pacific was a horrible but neccessary war. Manchesters journal of this combat is unforgettable reading. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad, at best.
Review: Manchester not only failed to convey his experience lucidly or compellingly, but his writing was offencive and fustian at the same time. Each page became more agonizing as he lost the only true story (his experiences)under the "tourist brochure like" description of the islands of the Pacific War. He surly did not do his comrades or his generation justice with this tripe.
Rating:
Summary: The best descriptive prose I've ever read
Review: This is the best descriptive prose I have ever read. I have repeatedly sat down to read the book to study the author's writing style, but each time I have just kept reading and reading without being able to stop and "study". This is one of the few books that I consider truly difficult to put down. The book has a few sections that many people will not enjoy reading. This is, after all, about war, and it includes a few vivid descriptions of killing and death. There is also a small amount of sexual content that some people will find offensive. The book has another serious flaw: the climax of the book fits into a single paragraph that is written in an almost offhand way, and the book then continues on quite a bit further. Despite its flaws, I give this book my highest recommendation. This is the best writing I've ever seen (and I've read a LOT).
Rating: 
Summary: Tremendous action; vivid and candid, albeit disjointed
Review: Truly memorable descriptions of hand-to-hand combat on practically every Pacific island where a major battle took place. Book drags slightly when the author brings the reader to modern times on these islands, describing them in detail (as they appeared in the late 70's).
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