Just finished a one-two book combination of Prange's At Dawn We Slept, covering Pearl Harbour, and Parshall and Tully's Shattered Sword covering the The Battle of Midway. I would like to ask historians as to what books they recommend that cover the later years of the Pacific War, preferably ones that maintain the even-handed tone of these two books (which is to say they are not overflowing with what you might call American hagiography, like some excessively jingoistic books I have read).
In other words: I want to keep reading about the Pacific War with books that try and convey the motivations and doings of both sides of the conflict: what books should I look for that cover the period between Shattered Sword and John Dower's Embracing Defeat?
I've actually just recently answered a similar question. For a specific follow up, I'd recommend Lundstrom's duology The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway and First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942, which are both excellent in depth looks at naval air combat during the opening phases of the war in the Pacific. A fun addition is also Tameichi Hara's memoir Japanese Destroyer Captain, which provides a Japanese perspective on many battles. I'd also strongly recommend Hasegawa's Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan for a focus on the critical final weeks of the war.