The New York Times bestselling master of military historical fiction
tells the story of Pearl Harbor as only he can in the first novel of a
gripping new series set in World War II's Pacific theater.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt watches uneasily as the world
heads rapidly down a dangerous path. The Japanese have waged an
aggressive campaign against China, and they now begin to expand their
ambitions to other parts of Asia. As their expansion efforts grow
bolder, their enemies know that Japan's ultimate goal is total conquest
over the region, especially when the Japanese align themselves with
Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, who wage their own war of
conquest across Europe.
Meanwhile, the British stand nearly alone against Hitler, and there is
pressure in Washington to transfer America's powerful fleet of warships
from Hawaii to the Atlantic to join the fight against German U-boats
that are devastating shipping. But despite deep concerns about weakening
the Pacific fleet, no one believes that the main base at Pearl Harbor is
under any real threat.
Told through the eyes of widely diverse characters, this story looks at
all sides of the drama and puts the reader squarely in the middle. In
Washington, Secretary of State Cordell Hull must balance his own
concerns between President Roosevelt and the Japanese ambassador,
Kichisaburo Nomura, who is little more than a puppet of his own
government. In Japan, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto wins skeptical approval
for his outrageous plans in the Pacific, yet he understands more than
anyone that an attack on Pearl Harbor will start a war that Japan cannot
win. In Hawaii, Commander Joseph Rochefort's job as an accomplished
intelligence officer is to decode radio signals and detect the location
of the Japanese fleet, but when the airwaves suddenly go silent, no one
has any idea why. And from a small Depression-ravaged town,
nineteen-year-old Tommy Biggs sees the Navy as his chance to escape and
happily accepts his assignment, every sailor's dream: the battleship USS
Arizona.
With you-are-there immediacy, Shaara opens up the mysteries of just how
Japan--a small, deeply militarist nation--could launch one of history's
most devastating surprise attacks. In this story of innocence, heroism,
sacrifice, and unfathomable blindness, Shaara's gift for storytelling
uses these familiar wartime themes to shine a light on the personal, the
painful, the tragic, and the thrilling--and on a crucial part of history
we must never forget.
