Issue in Doubt by Roger Bares with Pat Collins Bares

Naval Powers in the Pacific, 1941-1942

Sweeping Naval History of World War II’s First Year in the Pacific—From Lead-Up to Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal and the Battle of Midway

Traverse City, Michigan—In over half a long lifetime, author Roger Bares studied volumes on the war in the Pacific and spoke to countless sailors and Marines who served there aboard ships of the United States Navy. Now, five years after his death, Issue In Doubt, Naval Powers in the Pacific, 1941-1942—his sweeping history of World War II naval warfare in the Pacific—has been published by Mission Point Press (May 28, 2025).

Issue in Doubt

Issue In Doubt focuses specifically on the period from Pearl Harbor through the battle for Guadalcanal, locating and identifying the surface warships of Japan, the United States, Britain, Australia and the Netherlands in critical battles. In four parts, Bares chronicles the century of warship production and decades of politics that led to the December 7 attack on Oahu; the early success and conquests of the Japanese Navy and Army; the Allies’ counteroffensives and the early, far-flung battles that proved to the Japanese their presumed quick victory was not to be.

Labors of Love

For Bares, the research necessary to portray the exhaustive details of the battles was a labor of love. Beyond the lists of carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers, beyond the huge geographic scope of the Pacific, beyond the history involved, it was the stories of those who served that moved him. In 2006, Bares wrote, “A common impression I received from veterans to whom I’ve spoken and from those whose stories I’ve read is the importance, after all this time, that each man placed on his ship and the attachment he held for her.”

When retirement gave Bares more time to devote to research and writing, he accelerated his work on Issue In Doubt while at the same time publishing a novel, Beyond the Sea: A Tale of Love & War in the South Pacific, in 2007. It recounts the fictional exploits of a motor torpedo boat—or PT Boat—in the early months of World War II, the men who manned and loved her and the women who loved the men. Book-signing events for Beyond the Sea gave Bares additional opportunities to meet more veterans and hear their stories, motivating his continued work.

After twenty years committed to Issue In Doubt, Bares passed away in 2020. His wife, Pat Collins Bares, had promised she would do her best to get it into print and in 2024 spent a year reviewing his well-organized chapters and adding a few of her own, wrapping up details. For her too, it’s been a labor of love.

Author Roger Bares

The Author

Roger Bares was an amateur World War II historian with a special interest in the Pacific Theater. He was educated in Chicago area schools and universities, served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, was an insurance broker, traveler and wine connoisseur.

The Book

Issue in Doubt, Naval Powers in the Pacific, 1941-1942

Roger Bares with Pat Collins Bares

290 pages, 6 x 9 inches, B/W

History, Wars & Conflicts, World War II, Pacific Theater, Military/Naval, Military/United States

ISBN: 978-1-965278-63-5, $17.99 (Softcover)

Mission Point Press, July 22, 2025

Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. On its July 22 publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at patsybares@gmail.com.

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