Last year was the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and I fully intended to read this book around that anniversary. Eleven months later, here I am...

Nelson's book is divided into three sections, giving us a comprehensive look at the lead-up, the attack, and the aftermath of the attack.

While I'm a self-proclaimed "WWII buff," my knowledge of what led to us being attacked by Japan was lacking--despite the fact that I've actually visited Pearl Harbor and been to the Memorial. I knew Japan was running out of oil, and I guess I thought that they'd attacked us to gain oil we had in the region. Or something. See? Lacking.

The truth is that the US had stopped exporting oil to Japan (and we were their largest source of oil), because of Japan's aggression in China, a country we were much friendlier with then. I'd heard about "The rape of Nanking," but I didn't know what it was, really. What it was is one of the most horrible things I've ever read. The Japanese army did nightmarish things to men, women, and children. The word rape is appropriate, horrifically so. So, because of Japan's deeds in China, the US cut off their oil, and Japan was strangling. They'd be done in a couple of years--unless they could defeat America.

So while they were negotiating for a peaceful lifting of the oil embargoes with the US, they were simultaneously planning to attack us. It's amazing the mental gymnastics a culture so focused on honor and face must have had to do to justify this cowardly tactic. They figured they'd hit us hard, and we'd roll over and hand over oil again. Instead, we got PISSED. Japan completely misjudged our resolve, and Nelson contends that this is a watershed moment in US history. Maybe THE watershed moment.

The book goes into detail about hints, clues, and actions that might have given us a heads-up about the attacks. But the truth is that our military wasn't set up to work together. The branches didn't really talk, and each thought the other was patrolling/guarding/etc. We had radar on the island, but it was such a new technology that people didn't even know what they were looking at. Our codebreakers were overwhelmed with information, and with no way to prioritize what messages got "cracked," there was no way to separate the wheat from the chaff. And they were under strict orders to not let the enemy know we'd cracked their codes, so they were trying to figure out how to warn of possible dangers while still keeping it a secret that we knew the codes. We were unprepared to be at war, but this attack forced the US to focus, and shore up deficiencies.

Nelson even addresses the claims that the higher-ups in the military--right up to FDR himself--actually knew about the attacks and allowed them to happen so the country would allow itself to be dragged in the War in both Europe and Asia. Two of the military leaders who were in charge of Pearl Harbor even claimed to believe this and wrote about it in books and memoirs years later. I fear this was just an attempt to clear their names, because while they weren't ever charged, they were removed from power. Scapegoats, but not as bad as it could have been. While bringing up these claims, Nelson also does a good job of arguing why they're ultimately ridiculous. I don't think FDR or anyone else knew about the attacks beforehand.

There were some missteps in the book. First, Nelson occasionally inserts himself into the book, and it's distracting and unnecessary. Second, he has a long appendix section that details the congressional and military inquiries into who was to blame for the attack. I don't know why he didn't just make that part of the third section. It fit perfectly. Finally, the second section of the book, which details the actual attack, feels disjointed and cobbled together. It's not so much a narrative as numerous recollections that jump all over ships and time.

I haven't read any other histories of Pearl Harbor, so I can't compare them, but I thought Nelson did a good job with this. It was readable, and gave me new insights into the three aspects of the attack.

Very thorough and detailed account that provides perspectives from both sides of the conflict, which is helpful in understanding the multidimensional nature of the attack.