A Time for War: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Path to Pearl Harbor

FDR ends his message to Congress on December 8, 1941 following the Pearl Harbor attack with "I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December Seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire." Thompson's excellent text reveals for newer generations the facts often forgotten about FDR's errant foreign policy toward Japan leading to the Pearl Harbor attack. The freezing of Japanese assets, promoting a world wide embargo on oil, ..., were all provocations of America. Japan decided to fight rather than surrender. Triggered by Thompson's analysis of current historical positions, his work should raise questions about why World War II was fought in the first place and who really won?

This is a great book for reading about the relationship of the US and Japan in the years prior to WWII (It ends with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor). It describes Japanese strategic aims in a historical context, as well as the pressures that the US was under on both sides of the Pacific to enter WWII. It gives a great accounting of our relations in China during the same period. A lot of people have heard about FDR's steering us into the war. Read this book if you want to know how and why he did it.