"A date which will live in infamy"--President Delano Roosevelt, December 7, 1941. Perfectly coinciding with the release of this splendid volume on Memorial Day 2001, Disney will release its high-profile, big-budget, and star-powered film, Pearl Harbor. The excitement will leave viewers craving a closer look at the real event--and this eye-popping, large-size, and image-packed book will keep readers fascinated long after the movie has left the screen. Directed by visual master Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon), produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (who not only masterminded Bay's hits, but also Flashdance, Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, among others), and with a cast that includes Oscar(r) winners Ben Affleck and Cuba Gooding, the film is sure to dominate the news and to pique curiosity about the subject.
It was the battle that would change the course of history. 2,395 military and civilian personnel killed. Another 1,178 wounded. 21 ships sunk, beached, or damaged. 323 aircraft destroyed. It wasn't yet eight in the morning on the island of Oahu when Japan's Commander Fuchida radioed these code words to the Land of the Rising Sun's navy: TORA, TORA, TORA. The Japanese surprise attack on the United States had succeeded; Pearl Harbor was burning. Through bold and striking images previously unseen outside of Japan, and an authoritative, thoroughly up-to-date text, you'll look back at the shocking event. Enhancing your experience further are the standout--and very special--maps and graphics by Malcolm Swanston (expert cartographer of the History of Warfare series). Starting long before the assault and continuing through to the dramatic aftermath, H.P. Willmott, a brilliant and experienced writer on the topic, breaks new ground and corrects long-held misconceptions. First he brings the background into clear focus, charting Japan's emergence as a power in the Far East, and the military involvement in Manchuria and China that put her on a collision course with the U.S. Above all, Willmott makes sense of the complex, often surreal process that led the Japanese High Command to consider an attack on Pearl Harbor the preferred strategy. The text about the strike itself draws on extensive, deeply compelling new research. Highlights include concise tables listing every warship involved in the operation--from aircraft carriers to midget submarines--along with every formation of aircraft, which carriers they flew from, and which targets they hit. Most controversial: a discussion of crucial evidence that explains why a third-and potentially-devastating strike on the American base never occurred. Finally, you'll see why this fateful day may have been not only the day that Japan started the war...but also the day she lost it. Arguing strongly that the act of violence served as the prelude to her defeat, Willmott places Pearl Harbor in its proper military context, and considers subsequent developments in the Pacific, particularly the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in 1942, as well as the Doolittle Raid by American bombers on Tokyo in April of the same year.
