Rating: 
Summary: Versimilitude
Review: It is said that it is impossible to describe the experience of combat to those who have not had the same experience first hand. This is incorrect. Just read the "preamble" in Goodbye Darkness. It is as close as is possible to a true description of what it was all about. +
Rating:
Summary: Story of a man released from his past.
Review: This account of "Manchester's War" is the fond rememberences of a young man living the most exciting and profound times of his life mixed with the unimaginable horror and shock experienced by a ordinary man thrust into the carnage of WWII in the Pacific. Manchester is a magnificent historian as is evidenced by his other works, but if (as noted in other reviews of this book) this book lacks the journalistic objectivity and detachment that is expected, I believe he can be forgiven. For this is his own personal experiences being relived to the world after thirty years. I doubt that anyone telling their own story could be completely honest with the reader or themselves even if they had lived a less traumatic life
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Blend of History and Memoir
Review: First, understand that it is not an exact account of the author's experiences in the Pacific in WWII. It's a blend of history, travel, memoirs, and horror. And comedy. Yes, it's funny. The rebellious attitude of the author and his Marine intelligence platoon toward authority is often hilarious and sometimes tragic. At the end of the book the author tells you that he was only in combat for two months near the end of the war on Okinawa. But those two months would haunt him a lifetime. The central theme of the book is his return in the late 1970s to the Pacific islands where Americans fought and died, sometimes in such horrible fashion, as at Tarawa and Iwo Jima. He didn't fight everywhere, but America did. His own nightmares of the battle for Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa serve as a metaphor for all America's wartime struggles. At the end we see his battles for what they are, the central formative experience of his life, and for everyone who has, and will be, touched by war.
Rating:
Summary: lets you experience the horror and the grit
Review: i wasn't born at the time of this conflict,but i lived with it.my father was a raggedy ass marine(yes thats how he said it) at the age of 17.he was 19 on tarawa and had been issued his uniform for the invasion of japan when it all ended. he told me much befor his death,a true horror story of being wounded in a med tent and being the only one alive and stacking bodies head to head on a flat truck with their legs hanging over so they could fit more on. this book gave another glimpse of what his life was like then. he was always proud to be a marine and horrified by war. this book would have made him proud
Rating:
Summary: Interesting memoir
Review: I think that great war novels like THE THIN RED LINE or THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY are more effective at protraying as well as possible to readers who weren't there what it was like to face combat in WWII. But Manchester's approach works quite well in Goodbye Darkness, at least I think so. The main thing for us to remember is that any well-meaning book about that epic conflict should be measured on a different scale than we use for books about everyday, domestic life.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent work of fiction
Review: I read "Goodbye Darkness" about 10 years ago and just recently reread it. I found it spellbinding both times, stayed up way late reading and reading "just one more chapter"It captures the feel of combat and gives a very good history of much of the war in the Pacific. But this time I actually read the appendix. In it, Manchester notes that during the war he was only on Guadalcanal, after the fighting had ended and on Okinawa (Or was it Iwo Jima?) In short, all those detailed, first person stories including conversations etc, where I thought he was actually talking about himself never happened. At least not to him. I came away from the book with a VERY bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps if he had put this up front, I would have felt differently. As it is, I felt that I had been lied to and deceived. For that reason, one star. I'd give half a star if possible. I've read a number of Manchester's books and have always enjoyed them. Including "Goodbye Darkness"
Rating:
Summary: Great memoir
Review: I'm more of a fan of great war novels like "The Triumhp and the Glory" or "The Thin Red Line" but Willima Manchester is without compare as a historian, and I found his account of his experiences in the Pacific fascinating.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the Read, but it will not inspire you.
Review: I imagine that a great many soldiers were like the authors "Raggedy Ass Marines." Although I could relate to them somewhat, I'm thankful most soldiers were ready to be more diligent in their duty. I found the anti Southern attitude of his fellow New England yankee snobs (his much beloved Raggedy Ass Marines) very insulting, but I expected it. The author is apparently unaware that 62% of all Marine volunteers come from the South. I also agree with a previous reviewer that the scene with the "Battle field whore" is nothing other than creepy. I've never read of or heard of this before, yet the author acts as if it is a routine occurrence in battle field situations.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD 1940'S MARINE STORYTELLING
Review: Since there are so many other excellent reviews of this book, I'll keep this one short: excellent writing, gripping narrative, good synopsis of the Marine involvement in the Pacific War, and good write up on how "things were" in the wartime 40's. - What struck me as odd on first reading the book was that parts of it were pretty theatrical. But then I thought back about my shipboard days in the Navy in the Pacific, and realized this book is a simply a collection of BS stories like we'd tell each other late in the evening over coffee and cigarette smoke in the empty mess hall. Some of those stories were spellbinding and convoluted as are Manchester's, all somewhat necessary to keep the listener's rapt attention. One of the previous reviewers complained about Manchester's "inconsistency" but that is what late night mess hall storytelling is all about. That's the characteristic background from whence these "inconsistent" tales come. - (I'd have loved going on liberty with this guy to see what kind of stories he came back with...) Read it with patience and understanding.
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye Darkness is a must read for all Pacific War buffs
Review: This is more than a memoir of one man. You get the feeling that Manchester is telling the story of all those who fought. It's a detailed account of what it took to find a "no quarters asked, no quarters given" war, and its affect on the cultures of those natives who inhabited the battlefields. Civil War and European War Buffs have the luxury of easy access to those battlefieds, but those of us who are interested in the Pacific battlegrounds don't have that. Thanks to William Manchester for bringing that to us with his great literary style.
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