It is hard to imagine how anyone could devise another angle from which to create a book about World War II. However, Mr Stern has done so very imaginatively and informatively.
His retelling of the first four and a half months from the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 is fascinating.
Quite obviously the result of a vast amount of research into both American and Japanese sources, the resulting book is not only a valuable work of naval history but a great read. It is "unputdownable".
Replete with excellent photographs and very useful maps, the book also benefits from a very extensive bibliography that encourages further reading and research.
What comes very impressively out of this work is the amazingly rapid and effective response by the US Navy from what had been a devastating blow by the Japanese.
While there were no aircraft carriers in Pearl Harbor or submarines damaged when the Japanese attacked, the psychological and human damage was staggering. That, however, just made the Americans angrier and their response more effective. Bear in mind that the Battle of Midway, that turned the tide on the Japanese, took place only six months after the Pearl Harbor attack.
Stern has delved deeply into the day-to-day recovery from the attack and the actions of the leading personalities involved. That human aspect makes his work all the more interesting. It is a very valuable addition to World War II naval history that has much educational importance.
Author: Robert C. Stern
Available from Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, USA.
Web: www.usni.org