Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, "The Battle of Manila: Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes discusses his Oxford UP book on the Battle of Manila — the brutal February–March 1945 urban fight that MacArthur prematurely declared over after three days but which ground on for a month, flattening Intramuros and killing 100,000 Filipino civilians. This is exactly the kind of neglected operational history that deserves attention: intense urban combat, command hubris from MacArthur, and devastating consequences. At 70 minutes with a proper academic author, it's one of the strongest New Books in Military History episodes in recent memory.