msmandrake's review against another edition
2.0
An odd little thing. This would have made a perfectly good magazine article, but I don't know quite how it justifies being published as a hardcover. It flips back and forth from straight information about the ship to waxing poetic about it as it sails off to battle, perhaps to the strains of Beethoven. ? Reminds me of one of those books from the Hallmark store that everyone used to give as gifts.
eely225's review against another edition
4.0
A strange little book treating the historical battleship as both fact and metaphor. It's a poetic examination of limited details, foggy images of a dying idea. The author also includes artwork form across the ages to put Yamato into a context of other compelling tragedies. She gives just enough fact to make reflection possible without getting lost in the muck. You learn just enough to want to know more.
raehink's review
3.0
Short and elegiac. Yamato was the dreadnought of all dreadnoughts.
Admiral Morison, US Navy historian: Yamato had "a sentimental interest for all sailors -- when she went down, five centuries of naval warfare ended."
Jan Morris: She symbolized not just the end of the battleship era, but the end of Banzai and all that, perhaps even the end of the imperial idea itself, the world over. It was one of history's disillusionments.
Admiral Morison, US Navy historian: Yamato had "a sentimental interest for all sailors -- when she went down, five centuries of naval warfare ended."
Jan Morris: She symbolized not just the end of the battleship era, but the end of Banzai and all that, perhaps even the end of the imperial idea itself, the world over. It was one of history's disillusionments.
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