Book cover of Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy

Book description

A groundbreaking history that considers the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective and is certain to revolutionize how we think of the war in the Pacific.

When Japan launched hostilities against the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Japan 1941 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The author does not pull any punches. She investigates the Japanese path to the Pearl Harbor attack, from cultural constraints that made it challenging to resist the drift to war to personality assessments that help make sense of the decisions to strike the US, even when war games demonstrated that the country could not win a confrontation.

Despite knowing the outcome of the attack, the story is so well told that delving into the steps toward conflict is engrossing. The book makes you wonder: What might have stopped the attack? If we knew then what we know now, would the…

Japan 1941 peels back the layers of Japan’s national ideology before the Pearl Harbor attack. Well researched, her bold and insightful exposé explains the brewing conflict between military and political leaders, their decisions, drive, and devotion to their country, and their influence on an isolated nation of hyper-patriotic citizens.

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These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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