This collection of over fifty essays provides a comprehensive overview of the Pacific theater of World War II. Scholars and practitioners from around the globe unite their expertise to explore the interaction of the belligerents, with multiple chapters co-written by Japanese and American authors.

Part I provides the political, economic, military, strategic, and legal backdrop. Part II highlights operational and strategic concepts and approaches: assessment, deterrence, strategic culture, war gaming and planning, access and anti-access campaigns, cumulative and sequential operations, strategic and operational intelligence, and logistics. Part III focuses on turning points: the Axis alliance, wartime mobilization, naval buildups, the key campaigns of Malaya, Midway, Guadalcanal, and Leyte Gulf, unrestricted submarine warfare, and aerial bombing. Part IV turns to the warzone societies with chapters on Australia, China, Indonesia, India, Indochina, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Part V concludes with the war's diverse legacies: the Communist victory in China, suspicions of a Pearl Harbor coverup, the transformation of international law, the fate of veterans, the teaching of the war, its operational and doctrinal lessons, and the many movies and museums about it.

The handbook offers original and enduring analyses that will interest scholars, students, policymakers, and history buffs alike.