A Novel of December 8th (The Pacific War Series) - Pearl Harbor

This refers to a hardcover copy of the book (thus no editorial or spelling errors as I've seen mentioned in the eBook copy) which I received as a gift.

Disclaimer: I love history, and because of this my review might be a bit biased toward this subject. But I think even if you're not a history lover, you'll like this book. The depth of the characterization for both the Japanese and Americans crucial to this book is so wonderful that you find yourself a tactical admirer of both Commander Mitsuo Fuchsia and his American counterpart.

I thought this book was fabulous. For those of us who were not alive when this happened, and in spite of the movies watched, and other historical papers and books read about it, speaking for myself I've never quite 'gotten it' before: truly how devastating the attack on Pearl Harbor was, the terror, devastation and fear.

I knew it was awful, of course, but it never really dug into my heart until this reading. The pictures painted with words will long linger with me though they are not pleasant. I served in the US Navy at a now defunct weapons station, and I know firsthand the size of the ships referred to and shown in the excellent pictures throughout this book. To read of the damage done to them during this attack was frightening and left me hopeful that it never happens again, from any quarter. It is an alternative history book, so what happens in the next book, could be the US losing the war.

I'll start reading that gifted book today and if it is as good as this one, I'll leave a review for it as well.

Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen's "1945," Gingrich's first book, was forgettable overall, but it had an interesting premise -- what if Germany had not declared war on the United States after Pearl Harbor and American forces had consequently stayed out of the European theatre altogether? Gingrich and Forstchen went on to write three books about the Battle of Gettysburg going differently before they returned to World War II with "Pearl Harbor."

This novel actually spans more than seven years bracketed by the events of December 7, 1941. The crucial change from our history is that one of the architects of Pearl Harbor pleads with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to take personal command of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Yamamoto presses the attack with more determination than Admiral Nagumo, who actually commanded it in our history, did. But the real meat of the book comes before Pearl Harbor as we are introduced to the three compelling protagonists, one each from the navies of the United States, Britain and Japan. The characters are introduced as they have a long conversation late into the night at the IJN naval academy at Etajima in 1934 and throughout the book, their characterizations hold up well.

Mitsuo Fuchida, the actual leader of the first strike on Pearl Harbor, is introduced as a young naval aviator in 1934. He befriends two significantly older Western officers, Cecil Stanford of the Royal Navy and James Watson of the US Navy, whose specialty is cryptanalysis (although they do not reveal this to Fuchida). As time passes, Fuchida has things to hide from them as well. Stanford and Watson might be expected to retire given that they are in their early forties when they are introduced, but the deteriorating international situation of the late 1930s and early 1940s compels them to return to active duty. The decision to tell a war story from the standpoint of men significantly older than the protagonists of most war stories was a bold one and made the novel more appealing to this forty-two-year-old.

Stanford and Watson's lives are both marked by personal tragedy as they have each lost sons (with Stanford losing his wife as well). Watson's wife is still alive, as is her mother, and they will be highly important in the second book. Fuchida doesn't seem to have time to get married or start a family as from 1937, Japan is involved in bigger and bigger wars. The book culminates with a Pearl Harbor attack in which the Japanese send three waves of planes, not two, doing more damage. Yamamoto, unlike Nagumo in our history, resolves to keep his fleet in Hawaiian waters until he has sunk or damaged the American carriers in the Pacific; and there the book ends.

While the air raids on Pearl Harbor get the adrenaline flowing, the real reason to read "Pearl Harbor" is for the characterizations of the three protagonists. Each puts his duty first and you actually respect Stanford a little less because at one point around the beginning of 1938, he demands that Fuchida put something before his duty. What is Fuchida supposed to do after fulfilling Stanford's request -- resign from the Japanese Navy and become a pacifist? In real life (for he, unlike Stanford and Watson, was a real person), he became a Christian missionary after the war. Upon discovering this I couldn't wait to see what Gingrich and Forstchen had in store for Fuchida as the series progressed, and eagerly devoured the second book. I predict you will too.

Pearl Harbor
Newt Gingrich, a famous political figure and now a famous and successful writer, has again teamed with William R. Forstchen, this time to produce an alternative history version of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The authors have delved deeply into history to present a very interesting and very well developed background to the actual historical attack. The characters interact over a period of years prior to the surprise attack in ways that explain the historical currents that ended up in the devastating attack that brought the USA into World War II.
This is the first of a series of books by the two authors on the war in the Pacific.
I liked this so much that I will seek out the authors three book series on the American Civil War. These two guys working as a team are better than each of them working alone, a rare quality in contemporary writing.

Anyone interested in World War II in the Pacific around the time of Pearl Harbor should enjoy this book and the prequel, Days of Infamy. The two books speculate what might have happened had the Japanese lingered long enough to send a third wave attack against Pearl Harbor.

Some critics of Days of Infamy have postulated that the Japanese may have not had enough fuel to linger too long around Hawaii and do battle with the two American carriers. But they certainly could have launched a third wave attack and still escape undetected. However, this books deals with the former scenario; a three day battle around the waters of Hawaii where 2 American aircraft carriers take on the strike force of 6 Japanese carriers.

Other critics of the prequel (and no doubt this book when they get around to it) have given poor reviews because the equipment and tactics described did not exist at the time of the battles. There is an explanation for this. The authors describe this as "active history" and not "alternate history". Gingrich announces at the beginning (I have the audiobooks) that they made considered judgments they thought the commanders were likely to make. They obviously borrowed liberally from the later Battles of The Coral Sea, Midway and the Battle Off Samar (for the DD and DE attack) to construct their narrative. As such, they tripped over weapons and tactics used in those later battles that were not available at the time of Pearl Harbor. This does not excuse these errors but rather explains them. I consider the tradeoff reasonable in order that the authors produce believable battle scenarios around the time of Pearl Harbor.

Other interesting aspects of this book are the relations between the native Hawaiian-Americans and those of Japanese ancestry. One of the main characters is married to a half-Japanese woman and there relationship is used as a vehicle to describe what happened to the Japanese-Americans around Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the attack. Interestingly, while Nisei (American born people of Japanese descent) were eventually interned on the mainland, no such action was ever taken in Hawaii.

Mix a bit of history and some imagination with a knowledge of the times, the major military players and a dose of speculation and you have the makings of a pretty good novel. All very interesting and entertaining for the World War II buff. Just don't take it too seriously!

John E. Nevola
Author of The Last Jump - A Novel of World War II

Another in the excellent series of alternative history books penned by former Congressman (and next President) Newt Gingrich and his talented cadre of fellow history Ph.D.'s. What is unique here is a detailed view of the political, diplomatic, and military events leading up to Pearl Harbor. Nobody remembers the Penai incident today but it is pivotal here. One of the central characters was disabled in the attack and politically, it was an attempt by the Japanese to understand the will and psyche of the U.S. Remarkably after the public outcry, they apologized and provided compensation. Another of our central characters spends time in 1930's China over-run by the Japanese army. Again this is important for us; the presence of the Japanese army in China led to the oil embargo that crippled their military and economy, and the brutality and behavoir of their army turned sentiment in the neutral countries against the Japanese. Only those in China under Nazi flags were spared these atrocities of rape and murder.

The familiar story of December 7 attack is recounted. Note especially that the warning that was to be given to the US based on the code of the samurai was never provided. Hence the strategy of negotiating a settlement with the US was bound to fail. Again the Japanese did not understand the West, it is not conceivable that we would accept our losses, and let the Lindbergh isolationists carry the day after an unprovoked attack had occurred.

Later on that fateful Sunday, Gingrich switches gears into active history. The Japanese military leadership realize that they now face the fury of the US. This attack on Pearl Harbor was not decisive, will not lead to a negotiated outcome, but will lead to a prolonged war that they can not win. Seeing this, the military realizes they need to attack again to destroy Pearl Harbor's dry dock, fuel storage, and communications. The next step is to take on the carriers which were out to sea, but this is the story line of the sequel.

All in all, these are excellent books, very hard to put down, and a new look at familiar events.

After reading their Civil War AH, I was really looking forward to reading this. Sure, it is a wonderful story to read, and while I'm by no means a noob when it comes to Military History, it's made me go searching out things I had never known about WWII. It's a gripping read and I've read through a third of the book in a single day.

However...on the other hand, there are very glaring typos. I've read the reviews about the ebook versions have typos; well, so does the hardback, which I own. Most the times I've seen the typos is when there's scenes with the Japanese main character, such as putting "?" marks at the end of quotations that were obviously meant as statements and not questions and are even followed by "he said" or "he was saying". I am currently reading a scene between the British ex-Naval officer and the Japanese pilot and there comes a time when you literally aren't sure who said it, because in the quotations it's attributed to the Japanese character but in the next paragraph it makes it clear that it was the Britain who said it.

I have realized though that many of the alternative history stories either in physical or electronic forms are given massive typo errors, such as Harry Turtledove's How Few Remain which was so utterly destroyed in the transfer to electronic format (Kobo) that I litterally couldn't read it. I am of the opinion that because of the genre the editors don't care that much.

Anyone interested in World War II in the Pacific around the time of Pearl Harbor should enjoy this book and the prequel, Days of Infamy. The two books speculate what might have happened had the Japanese lingered long enough to send a third wave attack against Pearl Harbor.

Some critics of Days of Infamy have postulated that the Japanese may have not had enough fuel to linger too long around Hawaii and do battle with the two American carriers. But they certainly could have launched a third wave attack and still escape undetected. However, this books deals with the former scenario; a three day battle around the waters of Hawaii where 2 American aircraft carriers take on the strike force of 6 Japanese carriers.

Other critics of the prequel (and no doubt this book when they get around to it) have given poor reviews because the equipment and tactics described did not exist at the time of the battles. There is an explanation for this. The authors describe this as "active history" and not "alternate history". Gingrich announces at the beginning (I have the audiobooks) that they made considered judgments they thought the commanders were likely to make. They obviously borrowed liberally from the later Battles of The Coral Sea, Midway and the Battle Off Samar (for the DD and DE attack) to construct their narrative. As such, they tripped over weapons and tactics used in those later battles that were not available at the time of Pearl Harbor. This does not excuse these errors but rather explains them. I consider the tradeoff reasonable in order that the authors produce believable battle scenarios around the time of Pearl Harbor.

Other interesting aspects of this book are the relations between the native Hawaiian-Americans and those of Japanese ancestry. One of the main characters is married to a half-Japanese woman and there relationship is used as a vehicle to describe what happened to the Japanese-Americans around Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the attack. Interestingly, while Nisei (American born people of Japanese descent) were eventually interned on the mainland, no such action was ever taken in Hawaii.

Mix a bit of history and some imagination with a knowledge of the times, the major military players and a dose of speculation and you have the makings of a pretty good novel. All very interesting and entertaining for the World War II buff. Just don't take it too seriously!

John E. Nevola
Author of The Last Jump - A Novel of World War II

Newt Gingrich and William Forschen created a fictionalized narrative to flesh out their well-researched characters and facts surrounding the build-up to, and ultimately the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

I have always been predisposed to enjoy this type of novel: Just enough facts so as not to insult and characters that move the story along. And this novel was not a disappointment. As this should be told, "Pearl Harbor" focuses on the Japanese - the geopolitical context in which this country emerged from its dark ages, the crushing lack of natural resources, and long tradition of their warrior elite. The few western characters highlighted were there for context and provide a view into the state of human and signals intelligence leading up to the attack.

As other commenters have noted, I spotted some typos and repeated phrases in my hardback edition. The anachronisms I found less problematic because the authors explained they would do that to put the dialog in the context of a modern reader.

Overall, well done and I am looking forward to reading the next.

Newt and Bill have written another interesting alternative history book. However, the book is not completely plausible and the real studied historian of the Pacific War will struggle with many elements of this. First, let me provide the positives of this. The lead up to the war is very interesting based upon the experiences of three protaganists: one from the US, one from Britain and one from Japan. The one from Japan is Lt. Commander Fuchida who led the attack at Pearl Harbor. The others experience the Nanking massacres (Britain), the US Panay attack (US) and, of course Pearl Harbor (US) and Singapore (Britain) which is just starting as the book ends. This makes the book very personal and provides an interesting historical perspective based upon the views of these individuals that is very believable. Another area of interest is the focus on the reasons why the war started: (1) the cut off of oil, and more than that (2) Japan's desire to have a British type empire in the Far East (after all the British did it, why can't we?) Where the book doesn't get believable is in the premise that leads to an alternative to Pearl Harbor, that is, Yamamoto is leading the attack instead of Nagumo. I can't see that being approved by the leaders of Japan and the Emperor given what was happening at that time (let's get this clear - the moves to the south were more important to the Japanese than the attack at Pearl Harbor was because the primary reason that they started the war was that they needed the oil. In fact, Yamamoto had to threaten to resign to even get this to be part of the overall plan.) Why put their leading naval commander in the middle of a battle that wasn't the most important part of the starting plan to them? And, why put their primary naval leader in this risky venture? (Let's make this clear - naval air attacks at this time were a very uncertain exercise at best prior to this, and the intelligence was not perfect - the Americans could have known what was going on and had their carriers and battleships waiting for them, etc.) So, as a knowledgable reader of the Pacific War, I find myself in a doubting mode. What is even more doubtful is the third attack and the book ends with Yamamoto commiting to sinking the US Carriers! In the real events, Yamamoto had a chance to override Nagumo's desire to retire, and didn't. If he was there, would things really be different? I bet I can guess the ending of all this (probably in the sequel) - there will be a Midway type battle in December, 1941! That will be very unbelievable because neither side was experienced enough to make this happen. So, all in all, I don't think that I recommend this book for the experienced Pacific War reader, but at least the beginning is interesting and the begineer reader may find this interesting and a start to looking into what really happened.

Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen ended up being a whole lot better than I expected. I went in without too many preconceived notions in terms of quality or style. My cynical side also wondered if the Gingrich name was just on there to sell more books. What I found instead was a tight blend of historical fiction that left me with a much greater appreciation for what happened back in 1941.

Rather than just focus on the events of that particular day and/or month, Gingrich and Forstchen go back to the '30s and recreate the mood and sentiment of the time. Japan was invading China, and the atrocities of the invading troops ranks with war crimes of more current conflicts. With Europe in a constant state of conflict, Japan felt that it was their right to assert influence in the Asian region in order to (literally) fuel their country and their military forces. American and British leaders didn't agree with that direction, and made it quite clear that they opposed the direction that Japan was taking. But Japan was convinced that America was not up to an armed conflict, and that a strong military strike against their assets in the Pacific would guarantee Japan's place as the leader and conqueror of the region. Unfortunately for America, intelligence missed all the signs that pointed to the Pearl Harbor attack. And unfortunately for Japan, they underestimated the will of America when faced with a direct attack on their shores.

I think what made this book work so well for me is that it wasn't a dry recitation of facts and events. You saw the unfolding drama through the eyes of significant players, and it read more like a novel than a documentary. While the research is solid, the "fiction" part allowed the authors to add color and meaning to things that might not garner the same attention in a different format. I also felt much more emotion as to what it must have been like to be at Pearl Harbor during the height of the attack. It would have been a nightmare not seen on American soil since the Civil War.

My wife and I will be visiting Hawaii for the first time in a couple of months as part of a vacation. After reading this book, a visit to Pearl Harbor has become a necessity rather than an option...

A superb WW II alternate history. The main problem with alternate histories is what to change and what not to change. Change too much and you simply write a caricature of the event, change too little and it becomes a bad history. Mr Gingrich and Mr Forsaken got this alternate history just about right. Like their wonderful Civil War trilogy, this opening salvo concerning WW II mixes just the right amount of fact with historical fiction to render a most satisfying "what if" scenario. The addition of "real" photographs gives the work an air of authenticity that adds to the Fax realism. The excellent mix of actual historical individuals and mythical characters allows the authors to delve into the possible reasons for why and how things developed between the nations involved in that epic conflict.
Changing one significant fact gives a whole new slant on the Pearl Harbor "sneak" attack by Japan on 7 Dec 1941. You'll have to read the book to figure out what they changed, but needless to say it is monumental to the outcome of December 7, 1941.
The authors did an excellent job of mixing historical fact with fiction to engage the reader. Mostly true, the history lessons concerning the lead up to the Pearl Harbor attack are illustrative of the confusing post WW I-Prue WW II times. The authors examine the Japanese mindset and how they came to concluded that war was the answer to all their political and geographic problems. Using real and mythical minor characters the authors were able to examine the national psyches of the period and how they affected the eventual war plans developed. Why DID Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Why was the American fleet there except for the vaunted carriers? The authors attempt to answer these questions all the while proposing an alternate scenario as to the actual attacks outcome. I won't give away the solid ending but needless to say more on this what if WW II scenario is obviously on the way from these 2 fine authors.
No gratuitous sex, language, or violence. Action battle scenes are well done and add an air of realism. The examination of Japanese culture is well done. The use of mythical conversations between the real players adds to the reader's understanding of both the difficult times and the complex political atmosphere.
Highly recommended if you like alternate histories. Obviously sequels are in the offing. If the authors' previous Civil War trilogy is any indication this WW II multi-book epic will be well worth the reading adventure.

Newt Gingrich and his learned partner have created a real page turner, even better than their excellent Civil War trilogy. The Civil War and World War Two must be the most used periods of history for an alternate world story. Certainly Harry Turtledove has milked both to death and even did a short (thankfully short for him) series on Pearl Harbor in which the third wave of attack is carried through rather than being withdrawn. In this book, (using the Japanese date for the actual attack) there is a great deal more care and thoughtful consideration. We get an excellent view of how the Japanese and the Western World differ in philosophy and what is moral and immoral in war. Certainly the time taken in detailing at least ten years before the war is well spent and we learn facts that have not been referred to in the past. It made this old history teacher and author do some research, but they have their facts straight. A few reviewers have complained about grammar and I can only suggest they read Turtledove's books. They'll consider Newt a genius. Which he is in many respects. (That is not a political comment, I have another candidate I support.) The personalities are well drawn and unlike many authors, there is an attempt to show a difference in the way things are phrased between the two cultures. It is a fast read and I look forward to the next in the series. It is not a problem if one predicts what twists may be used. Not if they are as well done as this.

Well, well, well. It turns out that Newt Gingrich is not only one of the smartest political minds around....he (in partnership with Forstchen) is also one of the better authors around!!!

"Pearl Harbor" is a great read that also provides excellent perspective on the thinking and the events leading up to Japan's attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. The story is informatively and engagingly told through the eyes of the Japanese, the British and the Americans. I found it hard to put this book down, and nearly impossible to put down once the final attack began.

The book is not perfect, however. Like other reviewers, I found the editing rather sloppy in many places. I was also a bit irritated by the gross overuse of the word "chuckled." (I also have the "chuckled" complaint with W.E.B. Griffin books--maybe it has something to do with the military genre.) The photos were very interesting, but a few maps would have been useful too. Finally, footnotes or an afterbook clarifying what was history and what was fiction would have been tremendously useful for those of us who have only a rudimentary knowledge of the events being described.

All in all, though, this is one of the most informative and readable books I have encountered in quite some time. If you like W.E.B. Griffin, you should love this. If you just like historical fiction, you should like this too. I anxiously await the next installment. In the meantime, I think I will pick up their Civil War series.

Obviously the story is interesting and deserves a sequel, but somewhere there has to be an editor that knows enough about history and naval aviation to correct the long list of misspellings in this book. I was shocked to see a simple word like "chocks" (the blocks that keep an aircraft from rolling by wedging between the tire and the pavement) were called "chotes", or that Hickam Field in Hawaii is called Hickam once or twice and thereafter is "Hichmon" or some other such nonsense -- is this due to errant spell-check software? Is my Kindle Fire playing with me? I don't know, but it's irritating (and at the very least annoying). It truly takes away from the book.

There is historical fiction and then there is alternative history. Ostensibly, this book falls in the latter category. But the bulk of the text is a prelude to events on 7 December 1941, showing broad trends that led to that attack. This account is really historical fiction. Actually, a very thin layer of that on actual historical events. There are minor fictional characters, and historical figures like Churchill, Yamamoto and Halsey. And the dialog is fictional. But the presentation of events and reasons for the various nations acting as they did hews closely, or even exactly, to the real events.

In this sense, the book is good at educating a reader in the origins of the Pacific War, for a reader that does not read history books. The authors have done their research well.

You'll have to wait for the others in this authors' series for alternative history.

The story of the Pearl Harbor as told through five characters in a novel setting. Nothing new or surprising is presented and because of that, the book is rather dull. Some of the conversations between the key characters are overly talky and laborious. This was a difficult read. If you are looking for an insightful perspective on the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, look elsewhere. As another reviewer stated, this book is "just OK.".

The story of the Pearl Harbor as told through five characters in a novel setting. Nothing new or surprising is presented and because of that, the book is rather dull. Some of the conversations between the key characters are overly talky and laborious. This was a difficult read. If you are looking for an insightful perspective on the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, look elsewhere. As another reviewer stated, this book is "just OK.".

In any story about the Pearl Harbor attack, the attack itself is going to be one of the central "characters," and the narrative of the attack is almost inevitably going to be the most dramatic part of the plot. That's just as well in this case, as I found "Pearl Harbor" by Gingrich and Forstchen to be an interesting and mildly thought-provoking novel despite being weighed down by characters to whom the reader develops (or at least this reader developed) very little personal or emotional connection.

This is an "alternative history" novel of sorts, but not the kind that assumes time travel or poses "counterfactuals" like Wendell Willkie winning the election in 1940. In fact, the point at which fiction diverges from fact in "Pearl Harbor" is so subtle that readers unfamiliar with the Pearl Harbor attack run the risk, I imagine, of never noticing where the split happened. The road the authors have taken, though, is a plausible one, and the consequences of that difference flow logically. It's this element I'm looking forward to seeing explored further in later books in the promised series.

What was far less satisfying, however, was the authors' character development and, frankly, their writing. For one thing, this could have used at least one more pass by a good editor to catch spelling errors ("chocks" versus "chokes;" "terra incognito"), anachronisms (would Winston Churchill really have described someone as "outside the loop" [p. 270]?), and repeated descriptions, phrases, or actions -- if I had a drink every time Fuchida "slapped his pilot on the shoulder," I'd be drunk as a senator by the time the bombs started falling.

The fictional characters here are, as I said, not particularly engaging. I realized a good part of the way through the book that I wasn't really interested in them as such, but only as pegs on which to hang the story. One I came to think of as "Captain Cecil Backstory," useful mainly for long discussions with Winston Churchill during which the authors could explain Japanese culture and politics. Real-life characters like Churchill and FDR struck me as very imprecise portraits. (I've read a lot by and about Churchill, and I know Gingrich has as well. I was surprised, therefore, by how non-Churchillian the "Churchill" in this book sounded.) The one person in the book I did find interesting, and about whom I'm looking forward to reading more in later books, was Mitsuo Fuchida, the commander of the Japanese air strikes.

Because I'm a student of the Pearl Harbor attack and have read a fair amount about it, both fiction and nonfiction, I approached this book with a certain eagerness. I'm really sorry the characterization left so much to be desired, but the plausible and interesting premise may be enough to justify it and make me want to pick up later titles.

I cannot imagine why, between them, the authors and St. Martin's Press could not manage to proof-read this book! It is, ultimately, a great read. However, I have never seen so many howlingly bad errors! At one point, because of a missed comma, (page 287) the authors describe one of the main characters as stupid, which they certainly do not mean to do. That is only one of literally hundreds of typos and other errors that really are unforgivable. If they are the doing of the publisher, the authors deserve better. If they are the doing of the authors, they need to learn to proof-read. I do not recall anything similar in their surprisingly good Civil War series, though.
I repeat, this is a great read, despite the miserably poor proof-reading, as well as the authors trying (unsuccessfully) to draw analogies between the days leading up to Pearl Harbor, and the War on Terror.

The subtitle for "Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th" threw me off because I was thinking that what Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen were going for in this opening volume of their Pacific War Series was going to be what a difference 24 hours would make (i.e., what if at least some of the U.S. carriers had been at Pearl Harbor the day of the raid). But I was reading too much into the title in that regard, because that is not the thesis of this alternative history. I thought maybe that the date represented this "Active History" (as the authors call it) because it would be December 8th in Tokyo when it was early in the morning on December 7th in Hawaii, but since in Chapter Twelve it says that it is 9 December 1941 in Tokyo (291) while an American character thinks it is 7 December 1941 when the attack begins (300), figuring out what day of infamy the authors are really going for here is completely lost on me. Fortunately it is not important to the thesis of the book.

Unlike when I read their Civil War trilogy I knew going into "Pearl Harbor" that Gingrich and Forstchen are playing the "what if" game. The parallels between the two series are quite potent, because once again I see the authors taking the approach of working out, first, the best possible outcome for the losing side in a war at a pivotal point (the Battle of Gettysburg for Lee's Confederate army versus the attack on Pearl Harbor for Yamamoto's Japanese navy), and then, second, playing out the rest of the war from that "new" point. The big difference is that this time the authors do not have the advantage of traveling around Virginia and Maryland looking for new battlefield, because now they are dealing with the entire Pacific Theatre of World War II. My assumption, of course, is that we will follow a similar pattern and that despite significantly increased success at the outset, American victory is this alternative version of World War II is inevitable (Yamamoto thinks this might be the case, so such assumptions are not totallyl jingoistic).

The biggest warning I can give you before you read this book is that it is volume one in a series of three (or more), and as such constitutes a prologue to what is to come. The vast majority of the book takes place between 1934 and November 1941, divided between the activities of key historical figures in Japan's planning and execution of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and what I believe to be a pair of fictional characters, one American and one British, who are in the wrong places at the wrong time in the manner of Pug Henry in "The Winds of War" (in other words, if James Watson and Cecil Stanford are historical figures, they are unknown to me). Most of "Pearl Harbor" is military strategy and tactics provided in the form of conversations and debates (although clearly Watson's talents give an indication of a pivotal role down the road, so he is more than just Basil Exposition). It is not until the final part that we get to the actual Battle of Pearl Harbor and do not be surprised if you are maddened that the book ends just as it is really getting interesting, because I warned you that this first volume is essentially a prologue.

I had a college course on the History of Japan where the professor gave us an essay exam with the greatest essay question I was ever asked to write about: "Why Pearl Harbor?" Having only 50 minutes to respond to that question was maddening because he had so thoroughly schooled us on the economic, cultural, geographical, military, and other reasons that led to the attack and the war. Gingrich and Forstchen are equally concise in laying out these elements, so that because they are opposed to the backward thinking of the battleship commanders in the Navy and disgusted by the army's barbarity in Nanking, Admiral Yamamoto, Commander Genda Minoru and Mitsuo Fuchida almost become the "good guys" by default in this story. But then one of the purposes of this book is to understand exactly why the Japanese launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, both strategically and tactically. That understanding compels neither our acceptance nor our endorsement of what happened, but that understanding is crucial to appreciating where this "Active History" goes from here. Ultimately, the purpose of this book is to set up the final two-dozen pages, where we move beyond what we all know from the morning of December 7th to an alternative path created that afternoon that will lead us to the next volume (If you know the basic history of the attack on Pearl Harbor you will recognize the major change and anticipate its eventual effect; if not, do not worry, a character specifically think that they have "indeed changed what might have been").

My primary concern with any of these alternative histories is how much things remain the same even when the world is completely different. In their Civil War series I was bothered that Union General James McPherson died that same way, albeit in a different time and place. My biggest concern for the next volume(s) of this series will be that Gingrich and Fortschen will transpose too much of the Battle of Midway, where a series of mistakes and miscalculations lead to the destruction of every torpedo plane from three U.S. carriers getting all of the Japanese air coverage down on the deck and giving a squadron of dive bombers a clear shot at the Japanese carriers in what became the pivotal U.S. victory in the Pacific. The temptation is to play that out in a different time and place, but Gingrich and Fortschen have to come up with something significant different, but equally powerful. If they pull that off, then this series can rival their first.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and historian William R. Forstchen have combined to write this exciting novel about the coming of war in the Pacific, as well as a chilling description of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But this time, the Japanese finish the job.

The story is told through the eyes of Commander James Watson, USN and Lieutenant Commander Cecil Stanford, Royal Navy. Both men work in cryptology, and, through the course of the book, travel all over the world. They even end up meeting Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese pilot who would eventually lead the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Throughout the course of the book, the reader learns, through Watson's and Stanford's eyes, about such events as the Japanese invasion of China, the rape of Nanking, and the sinking of the American gunboat Panay. All of these events set the Japanese, Americans, and British on a collision course toward war.

The story of the attack on Pearl Harbor only encompasses about a quarter of the book, but the story is amazing, and makes the reader wonder what would have really happened had the Japanese attack materialized in the manner conceived by Gingrich and Forstchen. In this fictionalized version of the attack, the Japanese have removed Admiral Nagumo from command of the Japanese striking force. Admiral Yamamoto himself has sailed forth with the strike force. Perhaps the most glaring narrative of the book is the description of a third attack wave. During the actual Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese launched only two attacks then turned for home waters, not wanting to risk detection by the Americans. In this story, the Japanese actually launch a third wave, and the results for the Americans are devastating: More ships are sunk, the harbor channel is bottled up, the oil tanks are destroyed, and, perhaps most destructive of all, the huge floating dry dock is destroyed by aerial torpedo attack.

I've read many books about the actual attack on Pearl Harbor, and I've wondered why the Japanese never launched a third wave to finish the job. After reading this account of what could have happened, I'm glad that the Japanese didn't launch the third wave. Even though this book is only a fictionalized account, the authors show the amount of potential additional damage that could have been achieved had the Japanese actually launched a third wave.

I give this book my highest recommendation. The story is very good, and the historical basis used to develop the story is excellent. I especially liked the development of the characters of Watson and Cecil. Their inclusion in the actual events that occurred in the early 1930s until the Japanese attack made the book much more enjoyable. The description of the Japanese attack, complete with the fictional third wave, is handled extremely well and leaves the reader with a sense of relief that the Japanese didn't actually use a third wave in 1941. If you're a fan of Pearl Harbor history, then don't miss this exciting book; it gives a view of the Pearl Harbor attack that we should be thankful never actually occurred.

I found Speaker Gingrich's story interesting and entertaining but not as interesting or entertaining as Harry Turtledove's "Day's Of Infamy". I was disappointed in Gingrich's lack of oversight as to the proof reading of the final manuscript. The book has an abundance of spelling and punctuation errors, too many to point out. I would have thought that as a student of history as Gingrich claims he is he would have paid more attention to the details. Perhaps that's why he didn't win the nomination? All in all, however, an interesting premise and a good story. You could spend an afternoon doing something a lot worse.

This novel is written in a manner that cleverly interweaves some personal stories and experiences with the actualities of that most challenging time in the history of our country, Great Britian, and that of Japan. It certainly held my attention throughout. The 3-star rating was driven by the one main problem with this particular novel; sloppy editing. Here are some examples: (1) Page 134, line 1: Cecil should be James; (2) Page 156, last paragraph, line 1: Cecil should be Carl; (3) Page 162, paragraph 4, lines 1 and 2, and page 164, paragraph 6, line 1: has a seaman second class taking LCDR Watson's telegram inside the 14th Naval District headquarter's building while the marine security guard remained at his post outside the building, but then on page 164 refers to the "marine who had gone inside.."; (4) Page 171, paragraph 8, line 6: a typo, delete "a"; (5) Page 205, paragraph 1, line 7: a typo, final should be finally; (6) Page 223, paragraph 5, line 2: insert the word "are" between we and now; (7) Page 295, lines 2 and 4: a chief petty officer's title can be shortened to chief but never to petty officer; (8) page 330, lines 5 and 6: if Jeremiah Sims was in the army air corps he would not be a Lieutenant Junior Grade but a First Lieutenant, the former grade being a naval officer rank; (9) Page 351, line 5: a more appropriate reference to the submarine's superstructure protruding out of the water would be conning tower.

Other comments: (a) The inserted photography and captions were very good; and (b) I look forward to the remaining novels in the new Pacific War series and will be anxious to see how the authors handle the strategies of General Douglas MacArthur vis-a-vis naval strategies, given their rather one-sided views already expressed on pages 272 and 284 of the subject novel.

Thank you.

Commander Joseph A. Schweigart, Jr., USN (ret)

I very much enjoyed the book, but for historians, they made what was to me a glaring error that showed lack of research.
The Pali Tunnel did NOT exist in December of 1941. It was not built till way after WW II ended, specifically 1957.
[...]%20of%20Hawaii%20Public%20Works%201957.pdf
OK, I don't expect 99.99999% of the readers to know that. But it is bothersome to someone who does know the history better than the historians who wrote this book...and I am NOT a historian.

A highly engaging story with an even more memorable sequel; but sadly lacking in virtually every area of technical authenticity. These are errors of detail that are, in my view, unforgivable for anyone who advertises himself as a historian. The lack of understanding of naval terminology; the references to weapons systems that were not aboard the ships of that time; the anachronisms, as obvious as Caesar wearing a wristwatch on his way to the Forum, I found distracting; and more importantly, unnecessary given the availability of the information on the internet with just a moment's search. Just one of over a hundred examples I noted before ceasing to count: The authors say that for his heroic action on the USS Panay in 1937, Lt Commander Watson is awarded the Bronze Star. Not possible since this was a decoration not introduced until 1942...

I would heartily recommend this book and its sequel to anyone, if only the authors would turn the MS over to a knowledgeable person for editing.

I found this book to be an interesting alternative to the status quo. My experience in reading history books, especially books on World War II is quite extensive, having a library of over 250 titles, many of which I have read several times.

The book starts you off in different corners of the world several months and in some cases several years before December 7th, 1941. The book develops several characters on each side of the impending conflict and attempts to put you right in amoung the internal conversations and thoughts with these characters.

I will not bore you with a long review, instead I will say that this book is easy to read. I have had problems with proof reading on all the store online books though and this one is no different. Mutsuo Fuchida becomes Fuschia, The Japanese D3a "Val" dive bomber became something different and there are numerous other inaccuracies throughout. While slightly irritating just remember this book is not meant for the purist and was not intended to be a complete and accurate military history down to every detail.

Instead, pick it up and get transported back some 70 years to a time when there were no cell phones, internet or jet travel and sit back and enjoy!

This is one entertaining book and I am surprised that so few people have reviewed this book. If you are concerned that Newt Gingrich is one of the authors do not be afraid to read this book thinking you are going to get an earful of current politcal nonsense. This book is about another time in history, going back to the 1930's and the events which lead up to World War II. Much more complex of a situation one would imagine. I always find the relationships between the French Vichy government and the axis powers interesting ( as a youngster watching the movie Casablanca I did not understand this relationship). The book is very fast moving, the characters exciting and the story line interesting. This book would make for a great miniseries on TV. As the book ends it is really just the beginning of the conflict with another book in the wings. I really can't wait for the next installment. The title December 8th, is really December 7th Pearl Harbor time but it is December 8th in Japan. Other reviewers have give some of the plots away, but you will still enjoy the book even if you are a casual history fan (like me).

A superbly written novel of one of our darkest days in American History. I have read several novels on Pearl Harbor but found this one quite intriquing. It seems to mirror both sides feelings going into a maelstrom inferno that would forever change the lives of millions in the world. The commitment to their countrys were stellar, probably to never be again. I higly recommend this novel with the words of those days " Remember Pearl Harbor"

The premise of this alternate history is the debate between two competent Japanese naval officials over how many waves of attack would be needed to render the Americans as helpless. Admiral Yamamoto felt you had to keep the pressure up to and including the forty-eight contiguous states while Admiral Nagumo felt Pearl Harbor left the United States helpless and defeated. In this novel, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen explore the Yamamoto theory starting with the Japan of the 1930s until the December attack on much more than just Pearl Harbor.

The look at Japanese society and its military invasion of China in the 1930s is fabulous and insightful. The argument between the two admirals over what is needed to beat America is terrific as Yamamoto believes they United States can come back if it is a one or even two punch assault. However, the political leaders, FDR and Hirohito seem one dimensional and that dimension is wordy, pompous and out of touch. Still this strong what if alternate military history account of the War in the Pacific is discerning yet entertaining.

Harriet Klausner

Gingrich and Forstchen are on a roll. Following up on their dazzling Civil War trilogy comes a trilogy surrounding the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. This trilogy asks "what if" Yamamoto had personally led the attack on Pearl. It is well crafted and well written and a darn good read. All that said, it lacks the bold swagger of the Civil War trilogy which read like a labor of love.

Pearl Harbor is a very good book, though they swayed from many facts. All in all, it's a good read when including the actual facts and true characters involved. I learned a great deal from the Japanese perspective, and found myself digging through other history sources to find out just who these men were. Despite it's "what-if", I couldn't put it down. Day of Infamy is next on my read list. Definately worth your time if your a history buff.

Excellent combination of history, detail and fictional characters. Keeps your interest level going right to the end. Simply wish it would continue on.

It would be great to have the sequel cover the Battle of Midway.

I have family and friends who were there that day. This book added so much information to the brief sketches they had shared of their experiences. I am sure there is much more depth than than this, even, but it was good to get a more complete view of history.

Enjoy

Several other reviewers have commented on various technical and 'how characters are used' issues I have with this book, so no need to rehash them here.

Otherwise I found 'Pearl Harbor' to be an interesting, quick read.

Not at first knowing it was the second part of a two-book series, I mistakenly read 'Days of Infamy' first. Of course, I then aquired this book as quickly as possible so I would be able to understand various events which occur in that book.

Buy this book for an easy read, but not if you're looking for something as serious as an actual history of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Facts need Checking

Mr. Gingrich's and Forstchen's book on Pearl Harbor is a good read, but there are quite a few factual errors that should not be there. Having Admiral Yamamoto lead the attack would have been like Admiral Nimitz being on one of the carriers at Midway. But since Yamamoto was close by during the Japanese operation at Midway, that premise at least had a posiblity. There were some 300 U.S. Army planes stationed in Hawaii, and at maximum 200 were destroyed or damaged in the first two Japanese attacks, to have only a few planes available to repel the Japanese third attack is unrealistic. This was only one of too many lack of attention to actual details that left me disappointed in the posibility of what an actual Japanese Third attack could have done in damage to U.S. forces there in Hawaii.

After hesitatingly picking up Gettysburg, getting sucked into the story, and quickly finishing the series, I was anxious to read Pearl Harbor. This book gives great insight into the background of both sides of the events leading up to December 7, 1941 and the ensuing conflict. The actual attack on Pearl Harbor potrayed in the book gives the reader a sense of relief, in that as horrific and as tragic as that day actually was, it could have been much worse.

This book is a page-turner for certain. I cannot wait until the next installment is released.

This is an entertaining book, one that should be a "must read." I think It's primary direction is the seemingly total immersion of the pre-war Japanese life of their "warriors." It can certainly bring us forward to today's extremist "warriors" of the mid-East. Scary thoughts!

Posted for William Greenbaum, New York:

Good historical fiction teaches and entertains. Pearl Harbor, by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen, does both in abundance.

This new novel approaches the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, as a conflict between Japan's desperate needs and America's revulsion at Japanese methods.

The portrayal of the attack itself is searing and fascinating. The book ends setting the scene for following volumes with history "tweaked" by a plausible alteration of Japanese leadership. The table is set for an alternative scenario in future books of the series by a more aggressive fleet commander leading imperial forces attacking Hawaii.

Internal conflicts guiding the actions of historical figures are fairly described. Intriguing fictional characters provide thematic insight and transition. Those characters also keep the reader riveted as they get into dangerous situations that highlight actual events. The reader will find particularly memorable the sinking of the U.S.S. Panay and scenes from the Japanese occupation of Nanking.

This is a worthy book. I look forward to succeeding volumes.

This work is fairly well written, but the editing and proofreading are execrable. It is history that Yamamoto considered leading the Pearl Harbor raid personally, the premise used by the authors in this book and in "Days of Infamy", and it serves them well.

At Pearl Harbor, Admiral Nagumo terminated a bold campaign with a too conservative tactical error. At Midway he dithered away a tactical advantage and allowed his opponents to strike the first blow of the carrier vs. carrier battle, a blow that proved fatal for Japan.

I enjoyed this book, although I have to admit that I was disappointed because I was expecting it to be up to the Gettysburg series. It developed slowly, but once you reached the halfway point in the book it was tough to put down. You do not have to like Newt to like this book. These two guys help you easily visualize what is happening as you read.

I was hesitant to give a Newt "written" book another try after his first WWII book "1945". However, I was pleasantly surprised with this novel. It was a fast paced easy read. The size of the book and the easy text make it a good book to pick up and complete on the same airline flight.

This novel by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, Ph.D.,tells the story of the events leading up to the 12/7/41 sneak attack by the Japanese. Most people don't know that speaker Gingrich is an historian of some note and the longest-serving teacher of the joint War Fighting course for major generals.
I believe the author's secondary (perhaps primary) purpose was to show the parallels between our troubled planet's situation in 2007 and in 1941. The main similarity is that both time frames featured a clash between two very dissimilar cultures; the Japanese and American cultures in 1941 on one hand, and the islamofacists and the Americans in 2007 on the other.
In both cases we were forced to fight back after a dastardly sneak attack. In both cases the U.S. was disadvantaged by our respect for the sanctity of human life. The Japanese militarists had little regard for human life, as demonstrated by both "The Rape of Nanking," a story related in the book in gruesome detail, and the similarly unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor. The parallel today is our struggle with the new type of warfare initiated by the Muslim extremists whose primary strategy is terrorism, featuring the random killing of innocents by suicide bombers, September 11th being the most vivid example.
Another parallel is the role of human hubris in the decision to make war. A reader can't help being struck by the utter stupidity of the Japanese Warlords thinking their tiny island, about the size of California, could defeat the U.S. Similar cognitive dissonance is shown by the backward Islamic extremist segment of the world's population thinking they can prevail today.

You don't get to rewrite history without some kind of annotation. Interesting until the battle and then turns history on its head. Readers unfamiliar with the attack will be given gross misinformation. Avoid as factual history.

I read this book with great anticipation, expecting something impressive from Newt Gingrich and his co-author William R. Forstchen. It was somewhat entertaining and slightly informative, but I came away hugely disappointed in Newt and this book. Having heard him talk on the radio many times on various subjects, I had come to respect his ideas. This book was a major blow to that respect! This was literally the worst edited book I have ever read. My high school English teachers would have given him an F for the grammatical mistakes alone. There were only a few major characters in the book, and he at least twice put one character's name in place of another's. The book was subdivided by historical dates of certain events. In one part he got THE key date wrong, the date of the attack! It is unbelievable how any one with any sense of professionalism could have allowed this book to be released as it was. If I had written or edited it, I would have been embarrassed to be associated with it.

The other huge flaw, in my opinion, is that he failed to identify the facts of history that were changed or where liberties were taken to enhance the story (perhaps by using footnotes). The point of the books is to take an important event in history and write about what would have happened if one important historical fact were changed. That is an interesting concept and one that I think is a good idea for encouraging discussion. The problem is, unless you already know all of the details of the historical event, you will not know what was changed and what was recorded accurately in the book. Also, without some explanation, the average person may not know what key fact was changed nor why that one fact was significant. To me, that defeats the whole point of the book. Also, if he is changing or filling in other details but doesn't point those out, after reading the book you then come away with a false or distorted impression of the historical event. You would think he would care about the impact of his writing on historical topics. The man is a history professor for goodness sake!

At the beginning of the book he makes a big deal about the naming convention he adopts for the Japanese characters, place names and military equipment, none of which turns out to have any impact on the reader's understanding of the material. The part that really matters, the date he chose to subtitle the book with "December 8th", he hopelessly confuses by not clearly explaining why it was chosen and then mixing together the references. The reader may start out with the impression, as I did, that he changed the historical date of the attack for purposes of the book, which turns out not to be the case. Or, that he used that date to emphasize that the book was going to be about what happened after December 7th, which also turns out to not be the case. Or, finally, that he used that date to emphasize the Japanese point of view (Dec. 7th was Dec 8th in Tokyo), which turns out to be the reason. That was a bad choice because of the confusion it automatically causes when he shifts between Tokyo time and Hawaiian time.

The conclusion I have come to is that Newt is not too concerned with details or historical accuracy. I'm still kind of amazed about the whole thing (i.e. the flaws in the book). It's good to know now, even if disappointing; I will now automatically question anything I hear or read from him. I will still listen to his ideas, though.

The problem with rewriting history is that you have to understand what the political context and military capabilities were available to the actors. The authors get many things wrong, starting with some not so minor facts:

1) The standard USN torpedo for modern fleet subs was the Mk.14. The Mk.12 used in the book to sink the IJNS battlecruiser was a destroyer torpedo.

2) The Lexington's Air Group did not have F4F-3 "Wildcats". The fighter squadron, VF-2, aboard was equipped with F2A-3 "Buffalos" flown by enlisted pilots.

3) There was no morale problem for SB2U-3 and TBD-1 pilots until after Midway. At the Coral Sea (May 42), the TBDs and SBDs executed a perfect combined arms attack on IJNS Shoho, putting several torpedoes into her.

4) The USS Enterprise did not have any 40mm or 20mm anti-aircraft guns on 7/8 Dec 41. Until early 1942, she (along with USS Yorktown and Hornet), carried 16 1.1" guns in quad mounts and 24 .50 cal watercooled machine guns in single mounts.

Some of the big problems have already been pointed out. One that hasn't was the IJN's fuel situation. First, the commitment of the 1st Air Striking Fleet was at the very limit of the operational range for the Japanese ships taking part in the attack. They had to refuel on the crossing and during the return to Japanese waters from fleet oilers. The IJN had insufficent oilers to support both all the other naval operations going down in South-East Asis and sustain a carrier force off the Hawaiian coast for several days of hard steaming. The USN, by the way, had the same problem of insufficient oilers until late 1943 which constrained operations.

Second, carriers have limited amounts of aviation fuel and ordnance. No one could transfer heavy ordnance at sea until the US attack on Okinawa in 1945. If the IJN had committed three waves against Pearl Harbor, they would have had insufficient avaiation fuel and ordnance to go hunting US carriers.

They also have limited numbers of mechanics and spare parts. During the first two attacks, the IJN lost 29 aircraft, but had another 60 damaged beyond immediate (within 24 hours). The 20 lost in the second wave were almost entirely lost to antiaircraft fire as were an estimated 45 of the damaged a/c. A third wave would have lost at least as many but probably something closer to half again as many as US air defenses would have been fully operational (even during the second attack, many Army batteries had not gotten any ammunition). This would have brought losses to 59 shot down and over 120 to damaged to participate in operations for at least 24 hours. In other words, of 252 attack aircraft, less than half would be available the next day.

Both USS Lexington and USS Enterprise and several of the heavy cruisers in their escort groups had CXAM and CXAM-1 air search radar. The IJN did not have any radar capability until mid 1942. IJN air raids on US carriers would not go unopposed.

Finally, as others have pointed out, the Pearl Harbor attack was a raid, added to the initial strategic/operational plans at the insistence of Yamamoto. The Army, which was reluctant to get too committed in the Navy's Southern Operation, made it quite clear they wouldn't support the Navy if the Navy couldn't provide air support across the theater, from Formosa to Java. Yamamoto coudln't ignore both the naval Ministry and the Army. Also under the IJN's strategic/operational doctrine and planning, which Yamamoto was well aware of and had helped create, forces had to be conserved for the Decisive Battle in the Mandates when a revitalized USN began its counter-offensive in 1944. Remember that the Japanese were quite aware that they could sink the entire pre-war USN and still be outnumbered 2:1 or worse in tonnage and numbers by late 1944 when the "Two Ocean Navy" authorized in July 1940 was completing.

Loved reading through this book up until the very end. I couldn't put it down, but ended up being disappointed once the What If scenario occurred with the third strike wave. Overall a good read though.

This was an incredible book to read - very difficult to put down. The kind of book that makes hours pass without you realizing. A number of annoying grammatical errors, as other reviews have pointed out.

While this book is better than the excerable "1945" it shows the same defects as the authors Civil War series; poor characterisation, sloppy proofreading, little attention to fact checking, after-the-fact moralising, terribly slow moving, implausible, poor writing and a lack of understanding of the ideas involved.

The characters, well many don't even get a two dimensional portrayal it's so bad. Obviously the authors lack the ability to visualise events from another person's perspective (unsurprising in the case of Gingrich). Other reviewers have commented on the moral equivilances created in the book, these would simply not have occurred to those portrayed in 1941.

What is it with proofreading these days? Have all the editors been replaced by computers? The book is littered with spelling and grammer mistakes, basic factual errors (just look at the Iowas on the cover...) and similar problems (one character has evidently mastered teleportation).

Facts. You just can't avoid them even in a work of allo-history. These are numerous errors, as I've mentioned, accross the spectrum of attitudes, character knowledge and factual reality.

I'm not going to bother expanding on my other points; it's not worth my time.
Avoid the book; if you're curious I'm sure it'll end up in bargin bins soon.

It also has a suspicious number of brief 5-star reviews on the store with similar phrasing...........

Having lived most of my sixty years in Hawaii, this subject is of great interest to me. I loved Gingrich's work. It is the best on the subject since reading Dr. Ben Baglio's "A String of Pearls" which is also historical fiction on the USS Arizona. Both are wonderful books.

Two stars because it was readable. The problem I have is that anyone a fan of alternate history can see whats coming. The remark about the american pilot visiting Nagasaki later, c'mon. The japanese are so worried about American subs but put their own in such a minor role. Wouldn't some have been sent towards midway if it was a known escort route? Now we have the same formula , a few honourable enemies, a slight change in plans but not quite enough, and an ending the same except it happens a few months later. Heres a hint to reading AH stories, WW2 germany will never win unless hitler is dead and a brave but misguided nazis comes to power even worse chance of victory the confederacy.