Fortress Islands of the Pacific
Hobbs, W.H. (1945). Fortress Islands of the Pacific. Ann Arbor, Michigan: J. W. Edwards.
Abstract: The problem of overseas bases may be approached from various points of view. Since it involves considerations of a political, strategic, economic, geo- graphic, and geological nature, it may be discussed from all these angles, or any of these may be stressed above the others. The author of the Fortress islands, an eminent geologist and student of the Pacific area, and one of the few who were permitted to visit the Japanese mandated islands before the war, looks at the problem primarily as a geologist. Strategic reasons for selecting any of the islands as permanent bases their position and function as stepping stones on the various trans-Pacific routes —are compressed into one chapter of three or four pages, while political implications or economic considerations are mentioned only incidentally. Plainly it is not the author's intention to show what should or could be done to provide our navy with a net of adequate Pacific bases, but to present geological data on the basis of which certain islands might be selected for that purpose. Thus the book is composed of geological and meteorological information on the various is- lands, plus some remarks concerning their discovery and history. Now and then the author also adds a few anecdotes of his own experience in some of the regions.
The dust jacket describes this as a study of the "geography and strategic importance" of these islands. This seems to promise more than the book delivers, for this slender little volume is in style and organization an encyclopedic presentation of the details of the geological origin and features of those Pacific islands and atolls which appear to have some strategic value in the conduct of modern war. Political, economic, and human geography receive only a minimum of attention. The organization of the book provides further evidence of the author's preoccupation with geology rather than the broader sphere of geography, for islands and atolls are grouped together for discussion in terms of their geological origins rather than in terms of history or location. This unusual method of grouping the islands for consideration is likely to confuse the lay reader, who may well be bewildered by the mass of unfamiliar detail which the author presents. The ostensible purpose of the book is to impart certain rather specialized information.
Throughout the volume, however, there are strong evidences of the nationalism of the author, who does not disguise his conviction that the United States will and should retain possession of the Pacific islands which may have any military utility in time of war. This expansive policy he would extend to islands close to Japan and to the retention of important bases on islands formerly under the mandate of our wartime allies. The book is, therefore, a mixture of special pleading and information. It is marred by the apparent unfamiliarity of the author with the history of the various islands, for there are numerous misstatements of historical fact. These will be disturbing to those who are better informed than the author on these matters, though they do not detract from whatever value the book may possess
as a guide to the geology of the islands.
Extra details:
DOI: 10.2307/1983052 MAG: 580943375 CorpusID: 127122465 OpenAlex: W580943375
