Day of Infamy, 60th Anniversary: The Classic Account of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor

"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." -- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dec. 8, 1941.Pearl Harbor. Very few place names in the U.S. evoke still-vivid memories of shocking violence, death, destruction, and a sense that America and her place in the world would never be the same afterwards. In our lifetimes, perhaps only Dallas, Manhattan and Washington, D.C. will rival Pearl Harbor as an existing location where memories of cataclysmic events will overshadow the present. For just as the Pentagon has been repaired and the World Trade Center will be rebuilt after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Pearl Harbor is still a bustling -- if somewhat quieter -- naval base in the Pacific. Yet, say the name and you'll conjure up newsreel footage of the USS Arizona exploding and Japanese bombers attacking Battleship Row on what had previously been a quiet Sunday morning.Walter Lord, author of such acclaimed narratives as A Night to Remember, A Time to Stand, and Incredible Victory, tells very human stories of heroism and sacrifice as he recounts the events of December 7, 1941 from both American and Japanese perspectives. His clear and descriptive narrative, his masterful use of interviews with survivors and material from the vast amount of historical records, and his decision to focus the book's focus on the events of the evening of Dec. 6 and the "day of infamy" itself make this a fine literary starting point for readers who want to learn the Pearl Harbor story without having to wade through books that deal with all the preliminaries (such as At Dawn We Slept) or try to revise history (John Toland's Infamy) to pin the blame on President Roosevelt. All in all, for a book that was first published in the late 1950s, Day of Infamy is still considered one of the best popular histories about a World War II event, and I strongly recommend it.

I read this book in the seventies, and I just reread it. Prange's book may have a lot more detail, but for a quick and easy read about this historic event, read Lord's book. He is a master at presentation, not only on this book, but his two on the Titanic. The individuals shines through in his book, and it is most interesting to see how they react to the Japanese attack. I was especially interested in the Japanese suicide submarines attempt in the attack.

This is one of the best books written about the attack on Pearl Harbor. This book is based on historical documents and the personal accounts of soldiers, sailors, and civilians; both American and Japanese. The planning behind the attack by the Japanese high command and the launch and the almost perfect execution of the attack are described in riveting detail. The observations by the crewmen on the Japanese war ships and the crews of the attacking aircraft are educational. Admiral Nagumo, commander of the attacking forces could have launched a second attack and caused even more destruction, but fortunately for us, he was over cautious. There is no attempt to hide the many mistakes made by the American commanders or the missed opportunities to foil the attack or at least blunt the devastating effects. Submarines were spotted and attacked and the incoming aircraft were spotted by radar, but nobody took notice. When the actual attack was under way, many thought if was some sort of drill. A lot of good men lost their lives and there were incredible acts of heroism. This book contains many tales of bravery, terror, and determination. 2403 Americans lost their lives on December 7th, 1941. The Japanese lost 5 midget submarines, one large submarine, and 29 aircraft with 55 crewmen. It was a small price to pay for such an overwhelming victory, but the cost to Japan in the long run we all know.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the rare historic events whose significance and continuing ramifications it is probably impossible to overstate. What If? games are inherently silly, however fascinating, and they can't produce any certain answers, but consider the course that history might have taken had the attack (or another like it) never occurred. To an extent that Americans no longer seem willing to concede--witness the hysterical reaction to Pat Buchanan's musings on the subject--Pearl Harbor was the proximate cause of the United States' entry into World War II. But for the attack, it is entirely possible that America would have safely sat out the War. This in turn would have meant either a bloody stalemate between Nazi Germany and the USSR or victory by one, followed by a debilitating attempt to control the European land mass. Meanwhile, Japan would have had a free hand to completely overextend itself in the South Pacific. Ultimately, the victorious Axis powers, and/or the Soviets, would have collapsed of their own weight. The Cold War would have been avoided and along with it the fifty year long economic displacement that the U. S. suffered through. Or suppose that Japan had simply declared war before attacking : would the lack of the "sneak" in the attack have made enough of an emotional difference for Americans not to have imprisoned our own Japanese-American population or not to drop the atomic bombs on Japan ? Well, you get the picture; we're talkin' big, big deal here.What makes this event all the more remarkable is how utterly futile it was. Even if the bombings had been completely successful and all the U. S. Naval ships in port that day had been destroyed (in fact, only two battleships, one target ship, and two destroyers were permanently lost), what good would that have done Japanese war aims ? At best it might have bought them a very little extra time in which to try to expand, and thus further overextend, their Empire. There was never any chance that the Japanese could actually attack the American mainland, which meant that the U. S. would have the opportunity to rebuild those ships at her leisure. And, once entered into the War, it was inevitable that the U. S. would defeat Japan and Germany. Pearl Harbor was essentially a national suicide mission by the Japanese.One natural outgrowth of the importance of this episode is that for sixty years now there have been all kinds of recriminations and conspiracy theories surrounding the events of December 7, 1941. Volumes have been written about what Roosevelt knew and when he knew it. Ditto for Churchill. U. S. Intelligence services have taken a beating. The various military commanders have been blamed. And so on, and so forth, with the unfortunate result that most versions of the day's events have some axe or another to grind. One exception to this rule is Walter Lord's thrilling moment-by-moment account of the attack in h