The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943, Pearl Harbor Through GuadalcanalOn Saturday, August 2, 1941, the Washington Post reported that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would depart the next day for a fishing vacation aboard his yacht, Potomac. By the morning of August 5, the Potomac was sailing toward the fishing waters off Cape Cod -- but the president was not on board. Having quietly disembarked in the middle of the night, the president, now joined by his top military advisors, was headed for Newfoundland, where the U.S. and British governments would meet in a secret summit to coordinate their military efforts, although the United States had yet to declare war on Germany. The British were appalled at the state of American preparedness, one British colonel remarking, "They have a long way to go before they can play any decisive part in the war." But ready or not, the United States would be catapulted into World War II within a matter of months. Alan Schom's superb histories and biographies have been lauded for their dramatic sweep, their focus on extraordinary personalities, and their refreshingly iconoclastic perspective. Schom begins this magisterial account of World War II in the Pacific by demonstrating an ironic paradox: on one hand, the American government and people were as inadequately prepared for war as any major power ever has been; on the other, the Japanese high command plunged headlong into the Pacific campaign despite clear evidence -- from their own analysts -- that Japan had too little oil and too feeble an economy to prevail against the United States. It was a war that should not have been fought. Schom recounts a tense saga of diplomatic maneuvering, strategic blunders, and pivotal successes played out in the halls of the White House, Downing Street, and the Imperial Palace, as well as on the seas and shores of the Pacific. Key figures in the war come vividly to life in a series of brilliant biographical sketches: Emperor Hirohito, a devotee of Western pursuits such as golf and jazz, who hungered to expand Japan's global reach; the destructively egotistical General Douglas MacArthur, whose splendid achievements in World War I stood in stark contrast to his incompetent leadership in the Philippines; Rear Admiral Kelly Turner, whose realism and tactical savvy played a crucial role in turning the tide of the war; and the cool-headed Admiral Tanaka Raizo, who repeatedly slipped through the Allied net, transporting troops and supplies to and from Guadalcanal. The Eagle and the Rising Sun embraces the broad strategic concerns of the war and the telling details and turning points of individual engagements. As Rear Admiral Thomas Marfiak, Ret., CEO and publisher of the U.S. Naval Institute, writes in the Foreword: "From time to time, we are privileged to be given extraordinary insights into the history of our age. Alan Schom has given us a tapestry, into which he has woven figures of immense proportions, yet he has not lost sight of their humanity. He writes ... in the grand tradition of Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August." Book jacket. |
Contents
Prelude A Cherry Blossom Funeral | 3 |
A Distinguished Visitor | 6 |
The World in Flux | 31 |
Spreading Imperial Virtue | 44 |
The Eight Corners of the World | 65 |
Unlimited National Emergency | 82 |
We Cannot Speculate with the Security of This Country | 100 |
General Quarters | 119 |
AustraliaNew Guinea | 299 |
Sock Em in the Solomons | 311 |
Guadalcanal | 327 |
Operation KA | 347 |
The Open Slot | 363 |
A Goddam Mess | 383 |
Friday the Bloody Thirteenth | 405 |
A Troubled Hirohito | 435 |
Other editions - View all
The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943, Pearl ... Alan Schom Limited preview - 2004 |
The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943, Pearl ... Alan Schom No preview available - 2004 |
The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943, Pearl ... Alan Schom No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard air force aircraft airfield American Amphibians attack August Australia Bataan Battle History battleships bombers bombs Britain British Captain carriers Chester Nimitz chief of staff China Churchill Colonel command December destroyers Douglas MacArthur Dyer East enemy fighters fire Fleet Fletcher Frank Jack Fletcher George George Marshall Ghormley Guadalcanal guns Halsey heavy cruiser Henderson Field Hirohito Historical Center photograph Hopkins Ibid Imperial Imperial Japanese Navy Japan Japanese Navy Kelly Turner Kimmel land later launched Lieutenant Manila marines Marshall Midway miles military Morison Naval Institute Press Nouméa officers operation ordered Pacific Pearl Harbor Philippines pilots planes Port Moresby President Prince Rabaul radio Rear Admiral Rochefort Roosevelt Savo Island ships Solomons South Spruance squadron Stark Struggle for Guadalcanal submarines Tanaka task force tion Tokyo torpedo transports troops Tulagi U.S. Army U.S. Naval Historical U.S. Navy United Vandegrift Vice Admiral Wainwright warplanes warships Washington World Yamamoto York