Book Review: 'Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor'
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| (C) 1991 Warner Books |
When the late historian Gordon W. Prange and his two
co-authors, Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, set out to write At
Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, they realized that they
had too much material for one book. The Pearl Harbor story, after all, is so
vast and complex that, even without the ill-advised revisionist accounts and
conspiracy theories that have become a cottage industry, one volume isn't
enough to convey to a contemporary reader the import and impact that the
"Day of Infamy" had -- and continues to have -- on American history
and foreign policy.
Indeed, after Prange's sudden death in May 1980, Goldstein and Dillon not only finished At Dawn We Slept, but followed that best-selling volume with four related books (Miracle at Midway, Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History, Target: Tokyo, and Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor.) which delved deeper into topics that At Dawn We Slept discussed but not in depth due to the scope of its narrative.
To some readers, the first book is a fascinating study of the military and diplomatic stratagems, decisions, and blunders on both sides of the Pacific that led Japan to attack the Pacific Fleet on Dec. 7, 1941, and it also sheds light on the various post-attack investigations that sought to find out who, if anyone, was to blame for the Americans' unprepared stance on that fateful day. It even has a section that seeks to debunk the many revisionist "conspiracy theories" that have sprung up like so many kudzu vines around the Pearl Harbor story. As a result, the account of the attack itself seems to be a condensed version, since for obvious limitations of time and space many incidents had to be left out to tell the more obscure and misunderstood aspects of Japan's surprise attack and its aftermath.
Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor is, in some ways, a big compensation for At Dawn We Slept’s "missing chapters." Like Walter Lord's popular and slightly more accessible Day of Infamy, Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon focus on the three-day period starting Saturday, Dec. 6, 1941 and ending with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech before the U.S. Congress asking for a former declaration of war. Through the use of contemporary newspaper articles, interviews with participants from both the Japanese and American sides, and a detailed and focused hour-by-hour narrative, the authors capture the heroism, drama, chaos, horror, and shock as 353 Japanese aircraft and five midget submarines attack the unsuspecting naval facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base -- particularly the eight battleships moored at Battleship Row -- and the various Army Air Force airfields where the bombers and fighters of the Hawaiian Air Force were parked in neat rows to protect them from sabotage...but making them vulnerable to a surprise aerial assault.
Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor is a wonderful example of what a good oral history should be, gripping, unflinching, and always emotionally moving. It really captures the essence of that fateful Sunday morning and places the reader right smack amid the roaring planes, the falling bombs and torpedoes, and the fire and flames that marked the sudden entry of the United States into history's bloodiest conflict -- World War II.
ISBN 0-517-06658-0
Published by Wings Books by special arrangement with McGraw-Hill, 1991
Originally published in 1988 by McGraw-Hill
Indeed, after Prange's sudden death in May 1980, Goldstein and Dillon not only finished At Dawn We Slept, but followed that best-selling volume with four related books (Miracle at Midway, Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History, Target: Tokyo, and Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor.) which delved deeper into topics that At Dawn We Slept discussed but not in depth due to the scope of its narrative.
To some readers, the first book is a fascinating study of the military and diplomatic stratagems, decisions, and blunders on both sides of the Pacific that led Japan to attack the Pacific Fleet on Dec. 7, 1941, and it also sheds light on the various post-attack investigations that sought to find out who, if anyone, was to blame for the Americans' unprepared stance on that fateful day. It even has a section that seeks to debunk the many revisionist "conspiracy theories" that have sprung up like so many kudzu vines around the Pearl Harbor story. As a result, the account of the attack itself seems to be a condensed version, since for obvious limitations of time and space many incidents had to be left out to tell the more obscure and misunderstood aspects of Japan's surprise attack and its aftermath.
Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor is, in some ways, a big compensation for At Dawn We Slept’s "missing chapters." Like Walter Lord's popular and slightly more accessible Day of Infamy, Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon focus on the three-day period starting Saturday, Dec. 6, 1941 and ending with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech before the U.S. Congress asking for a former declaration of war. Through the use of contemporary newspaper articles, interviews with participants from both the Japanese and American sides, and a detailed and focused hour-by-hour narrative, the authors capture the heroism, drama, chaos, horror, and shock as 353 Japanese aircraft and five midget submarines attack the unsuspecting naval facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base -- particularly the eight battleships moored at Battleship Row -- and the various Army Air Force airfields where the bombers and fighters of the Hawaiian Air Force were parked in neat rows to protect them from sabotage...but making them vulnerable to a surprise aerial assault.
Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor is a wonderful example of what a good oral history should be, gripping, unflinching, and always emotionally moving. It really captures the essence of that fateful Sunday morning and places the reader right smack amid the roaring planes, the falling bombs and torpedoes, and the fire and flames that marked the sudden entry of the United States into history's bloodiest conflict -- World War II.
ISBN 0-517-06658-0
Published by Wings Books by special arrangement with McGraw-Hill, 1991
Originally published in 1988 by McGraw-Hill
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