The book chronicles the author's experiences as a war correspondent for the International News Service (INS) during the first seven weeks of the Guadalcanal campaign, from the first landings on August 7, 1942 to his departure on September 26, 1942.

During his time on the frontlines with troops from the United States Marine Corps, Tregaskis wrote down what he saw onto various small notebooks, which he stored in his pockets and had numbered for easier reference.

Bennett Cerf, one of the founders of Random House, received his copy on November 11, read it from beginning to end that night, and called Greene the next day to secure publishing rights, anticipating a high demand for stories about the Guadalcanal campaign.

[12] Writer Marcus Duffield also enjoyed the book's style; in his review for The Nation, he wrote that it was "never a dull diary", citing its "eye for detail, refreshing lack of self-consciousness or artifice, and humor.

"[13] Similarly, Jacob C. Meyer, a historian and professor at Western Reserve University, opined in a review The Far Eastern Quarterly that Tregaskis never wrote more than what was necessary for understanding.

[16] Clifton Fadiman of The New Yorker called it "rough" and "artless" and wrote that it had a "total lack of literary finish," but thought it made up for it with its "on-the-spot quality.

Brant called it a "factual recital" that heightened his understanding of the mindset of the Marines,[12] and Duffield found it generally illuminating, claiming that the news dispatches of the days were so censored and "chopped-up" that they made the Guadalcanal campaign feel unreal.