Battleship Arizona's Marines At War: Making the Ultimate Sacrifice, December 7, 1941 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have several uncles who fought in WWII, including my father. My living uncle is proud of the way this book was presented, through the eyes of the Marines. In addition, his brother, my uncle, is found several times throughout the book with accurate accounts of the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It is a very fascinating read even if you are not a war buff.

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On December 7, 1941, about twenty minutes into the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an armor-piercing bomb struck the USS Arizona, penetrating four decks before exploding. An immense fire, fed by ammunition and fuel oil, swept through the ship, instantly killing hundreds of men. The Arizona quickly settled to the bottom of the harbor, taking most of her crew of 1,514 with her. Of the 88 Marines assigned to the battleship, only 15 survived. This account of the Arizona's Marines on that fateful day, the first to tell their little-known story, also covers the broader history of shipboard Marines as well as the Arizona from her launch in World War I to the dawn of America's entry into World War II.

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The Delightful Miss Carrie Review

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(More customer reviews)I felt like I was transported in time to Carrie's world.
I laughed out loud when Carrie transplanted her neighbor's flowers in her mother's yard as an "innocent act of kindness". I felt the excitement from Carrie and her sister Inez in their thrilling gold mine adventures. My heart broke for Carrie's daughter Dorothy when she kept wondering "Why doesn't Daddy come home". And the ending...the beautiful ending...let's just say "you better have tissues handy".
So much excitement! So much tragedy! So much character! Carrie was such a strong-willed woman that saw the positive and the humor in everything. I will always admire her and carry her close in my heart.
Thank you Sonja for how you brought the gray and gold threads of the Delightful Miss Carrie to life. I plan to read this precious book out-loud with my daughters so they can understand how you can embrace life with a smile through all the ups and downs it brings.


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The Delightful Miss Carrie is a wonderful adventure. After the death of her beloved mother in 1897 when Carrie was just eight years of age, her father came to her and said, "I have discovered gold...we are rich!" Her true-life adventures take us from the gold mines of California through the devastating San Francisco earthquake to fabulous London tea parties. Carrie says in her memoir: "One day in the winter of 1910...I espied a face which made a deep impression on me...I had no experience in the art of love, but when I glimpsed his face, I was smitten. I could feel each beat of my heart as I looked at this stranger across the crowded ferry...I fell in love." Then, on the earth-shattering day of December 7, 1941, Carrie witnessed the terrible destruction of Pearl Harbor. She calls these exciting and tragic events her "life tapestry of gold and gray threads." You will laugh and weep as you follow her story from youth through old age. Carrie Watson Dinsmore was truly a delightful woman.

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When Help Never Came Review

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(More customer reviews)The author is a former American soldier who was stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked. He was among those who retreated to the Bataan peninsula and he eventually moved out to the fortress on Corregidor Island. Captured by the Japanese, he spent the rest of the war as a POW. After his initial stay in the Philippines, he was transported to the Japanese main island where he remained until the Japanese surrender ended the war.
His account is very matter-of-fact and unlike most other stories of American captives under the Japanese, he often speaks highly of his captors. At first the treatment was very brutal, but later there were acts of kindness from the Japanese guards and some civilians. He received fruit and extra food in exchange for work favors and was impressed by many aspects of Japanese culture. His account of how the Japanese guards piled their weapons in an orderly manner and then marched out in military precision when the war was over is recounted with grace. He seems to have little animosity towards those who were once "the enemy."
The bulk of his wrath is reserved for President Roosevelt and the highest members of the American military. He believes that Roosevelt deliberately allowed Pearl Harbor to be attacked, citing the widespread notion in the military that it was where the Japanese would attack if it ever came to war. He also will never forgive Roosevelt's deviousness in telling the American defenders on Bataan to fight on because "help is on the way", when he knew that there was no way that they could be rescued or reinforced. It was a cynical ploy by the American planners to keep them fighting so that the Japanese would be delayed as long as possible.
I don't believe that Roosevelt deliberately allowed Pearl Harbor to be attacked. At the time, few people believed that a task force the size that the Japanese mustered could sail all the way across the Pacific without being detected. In fact they were, the people on the ground just didn't recognize it for what it was. However, I give Sabotta his due, he did his duty and fought till it was useless to fight on, so his right to bitterness is earned.


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Wisconsin farm boy leaves to join the Army. He winds up in the Philippines at the start of WWII and becomes a POW for 3-1/2 years.

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Adolph Kuhn: An American Journey (The Screenplay): Based Upon a True Story Review

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(More customer reviews)There is a reason they call these men "The Greatest Generation", what courage, strength, and a strong faith. I recommend this book to anybody.

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Pearl Harbor 1st (first) edition Text Only Review

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(More customer reviews)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
The Last Jump: A Novel of World War II

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Pearl Harbor Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II Battle Book #10 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a valuable, concise look at Pearl Harbor. Author A. J. Barker shows the preparations, naval capabilities, strategies and tactics in describing this attack. Readers learn why Japan chose this foolhardy course - which they capably executed on Dec. 7, 1941. We also learn why the U.S. navy was caught napping - despite warnings from having sunk a Japanese mini-sub hours before the assault, plus U.S. radar picking up the approaching attack aircraft. Barker also shows the battle in its tragic detail, from the sinking of the Arizona (with high casualties), to the near-destruction of U.S. airfields, to the absence of the U.S. Carrier fleet. The author avoids the questionable conspiracy theories that President Roosevelt knew this attack was coming (Roosevelt did suspect Japan would strike in Southeast Asia), but we see how one naval officer predicted Japan's attack at Pearl Harbor for Nov. 30 - one week early.
This is one of the many Ballantine Series that provides superb photos, informative illustrations, and solid analysis of the major battles and campaigns of World War II.

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Infamy Revisited: Another Look at Pearl Harbor Review

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(More customer reviews)At long last an intellectual and credible book on the truth about the Pearl Harbor attack.
David Wade brilliantly summarizes the latest research into the catastrophic event that led America into the second world war; a scathing indictment of the duplicity of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The author places the Pearl Harbor attack in the context of the prewar diplomacy of Roosevelt, and shows how the President knew the attack was coming. But Roosevelt deliberately kept our military commanders in Hawaii in the dark, probably a far greater act of treason than committed by Johnny Walker Lindh.
Mr. Wade artfully drew dramatic parallels between the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the surprise attack on the World Trade Center and Pentegon, connecting December 7 with December 11.
But this book was actually two books in one. I really enjoyed the supplemental information in the back of the book about Presidential Succession.
I was amazed to learn that if there were a nuclear terror act in Washington that claimed the lives of Bush, Cheney and Hastert, then our new president would be none other than Ted Stevens of Alaska!!!

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"Infamy Revisited" emphasizes the devious diplomacy of the Roosevelt administration which made the Japanese "sneak" attack on Pearl Harbor all but inevitable. It places the "Day of Infamy" within the widest context of American diplomatic history from the end of the first world war to that fateful day when the Japanese Imperial Task Force struck our Pacific Fleet in Oahu."Infamy Revisited" summarizes revisionist investigations into the December 7, 1941 attack. It concludes that Roosevelt knew that attack was coming through Japanese radio intercepts but our commanders in Hawaii were not told because Roosevelt wanted the Japanese to fire the first shot in the war he had been planning for months.

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The Secret Court Martial of Admiral Kimmel: Pearl Harbor on Trial Review

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(More customer reviews)Collaboratively written by James Edwin Alexander and William R. Burkett, The Secret Court Martial Of Admiral Kimmel: Pearl Harbor Revisited is a fictional courtroom drama concerning a court-martial trial that never took place -- but perhaps should have. It revolves around Admiral Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor and the man who received the lion's share of the blame for the Japanese sneak attack that took place on December 7, 1941. Admiral Kimmel asked for a court martial to clear his name, but his request was never granted by the War Department. Highly recommended reading, especially for World War II military buffs, The Secret Court Martial Of Admiral Kimmel is a tightly-written testimony, composed and presented in the style of a courtroom transcript, and with a dialogue as sharp as a cutting-edge radio play, so deftly endowed with a powerful sense of tone and conviction that the reader will find it hard to believe that this is, in fact, a work of historical fiction.

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In a mock trial, author-historian James Edwin Alexander and attorney William R. Burkett, team up to give Admiral Husband E. Kimmel the court martial he always asked for but never received.Admiral Kimmel was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese launched their surprise attack on December 7, 1941. Although never officially charged with any wrongdoing, Kimmel nonetheless bore the brunt of the blame.Alexander and Burkett draw upon the testimony from nine investigations held between 1941 and 1946 to construct a tightly-woven courtroom drama. All of the witnesses are real, and their testimony is actual.

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Long Day's Journey Into War: Pearl Harbor and a World at War-December 7, 1941 Review

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(More customer reviews)Stanley Weintraub has written a fascinating book about the beginning of World War II in the Pacific. The story begins on "the day before" (December 6, 1941), then turns to an hour-by-hour narrative that covers the thoughts and actions of leaders and ordinary people in Tokyo, Washington, London, North Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Pearl Habor, Manila, the Russian Front and other places. The action builds towards Japan's attacks on British and American positions in the Pacific, giving some sense of the brilliance of Japan's military planning, the racism and unpreparedness of both America and Britain, and the foolhardiness of taking on a country as powerful as the United States.
Equally interesting is Weintraub's treatment of the hours that followed the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many of us remember where we were when JFK was shot, or when Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, or when the Challenger exploded. For the generation that preceded us, the world was divided into "before Pearl Harbor" and "after Pearl Harbor." Weintraub describes the reactions of many when they first heard the news.
He also discusses at length the inexplicable failure of MacArthur and the American leadership in the Philippines to understand that the war had really begun. Not that the inexcusable loss of American aircraft at Clark Field seems to have affected MacArthur's career--as Weintraub puts it, "few generals have profited so spectacularly from their own failures."
This book brought me as close as any of us Baby Boomers are likely to come to understanding what people around the world were thinking just before and just after America entered World War II. It is really enjoyable, and I couldn't put it down. If you can find a copy (easier said than done), buy it and read it.

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Air Raid, Pearl Harbor. This Is Not Drill Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used this map in my 7th grade social studies classroom, and it proved very helpful in preparing my students for the presentation by a Pearl Harbor survivor(USS Tennessee). It is beautifully drawn, and clearly labeled. An ideal map.

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This map is the most accurate map of Pearl Harbor the dayof the bombing on Dec. 7, 1941.Map Side 1 shows location of allships and vessels at Pearl Harbor that day.Map Side 2 has photos andhistory pertaining to the events and the Battleships moored at PearlHarbor.Very extensive.

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Pearl Harbor Review

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(More customer reviews)This text, Battle Book No. 10 in the Ballantine Illustrated History of World War II Series, is truly a gem.
While clearly an early text in the Pearl Harbor string of books, and just 160 pages long, it provides many notable comments on a wide range of topics. For those interested in one of the first "takes" on Pearl Harbor, this supplies a very good start.

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Heroes Among Us: Reflections from Pearl Harbor to the Streets of Baghdad Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the best historical books I have ever read. I purchased a few for gifts for my family. Any patriotic american would enjoy this book.

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This is a historical and inspirational look at America's veterans from World War II through our current conflict in Iraq.

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Pearl Harbor Child : A Child's View of Pearl Harbor From Attack to Peace Review

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(More customer reviews)Excellent book to help make children realize what the war was like - rationing, families torn apart, disruption of everything. Lots of photographs. Make sure to get the revised edition - the original did not have enough photos. Written at 5th grade level

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All the Things We Were: A Scrapbook of the People, Politics, and Popular Culture in the Tragicomic Years Between the Crash and Pearl Harbor Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great cultural history of a period I was pretty ignorant about. I mean I'd read a lot about the roaring '20s and the war years of the '40s, plus lived the rest of the succeeding decades, pretty much. It is written with a sense of humor and a real attention to detail. It's author was married to the author of the Auntie Mame books, and they obviously shared a wry wit and a sharp eye for detail, as well as a polished, fluid writing style. The afterword, which was written about the '60s and Bob Dylan shows an appreciation for the much-maligned youth culture of the time, and points up the similarities between the rebellious '60s and very political '30s, both coming after decades of political complacency.

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A Pearl Harbor Survivor: Stories Of Pride, Prejudice And Prostitutes Review

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(More customer reviews)Okay, so I helped this book come to fruition! But I've got to say that this is the most interesting 85-year-old gentleman I have ever met! In fact, I encouraged him to make sure these stories didn't leave this earth when he does...they are stories you've likely never heard. He was there! He was an eye witness. This is a little book you'll read from beginning to end without stopping. While we can't get away from the horror that happened December 7th, 1941 - what isn't told is the more intimate human side. After reading this book, you'll know both sides of the story. A must for the younger generation who need to understand this country's history or be doomed to repeat it. An added bonus is that a part of what you spend on the book goes to the Peter Limon Organization for Families of Wounded Veterans, which helps family members, along with Fisher House, visit their wounded loved ones who are in hospitals around the country.

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Peter Limon was 17 when he joined the U.S. Navy.This was during rough financial times in history. Without a father or mother, the navy would become Peter's home.He was proud to be a Mexican-American boy, now a part of America's finest.The prospects of learning, and travel and flying were beyond his wildest dreams.LIttle did he know that he would be there, One Day In Infamy, when America suffered its worse blow in history. Peter tells tales, that even to this day in 2008 he hasn't heard anyone else tell.He believes that some of his stories accurately record events that until now haven't been recorded - stories of pride, prejudice and prostitutes.Most importantly, he believes that a tale from this Pearl Harbor Survivor could help, even if in some small way, so history won't repeat itself.Why did this horrific attack happen?Peter knows.He tells you in his book.

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Pearl Harbor Child: A Child's View of Pearl Harbor--From Attack to Peace Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an interesting book for the unique view which it provides, that of a child on the base during and after the attack. There are flaws in the pictures (two separate pictures describe pictured American planes as Japanese), but overall these are minor errors. A quick and interesting read!

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Pearl Harbor and Military Environs, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, December 7, 1941 Review

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(More customer reviews)It's a cute little map, & I don't regret I bought it, but future researchers should be aware that the harbor over by the sub base & Cincpac & some other areas were drawn from postwar map resources. Some docks that shouldn't be there are there, some development that should not be there, is there, etc. Otherwise, very nice.

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A reconconstruction map of Pearl Harbor and military environs circa 1941. Includes Pearl Harbor, Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Ewa Field, Ft. Kamehameha, Ft. Barrette, Schofield Barracks, Ft. Shafter, Ft. Weaver, Rogers Airport, Aliamanu Crater, Camp Malakole, large sections of Honolulu and the railways, major and secondary roads, irrigation ditches as well as numerous other cultural and physical details. Drawn to scale (1:62,000). Watercolor and ink.Also includes an inset location map of Oahu showing mobile radar sights and other military installations on the island.Reverse side consisted of a linen postcard view of the United Stated Armed Forces circa 1941 in full color.

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