At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor

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Summary: CANDID AND PLEASURABLE
Review: "At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" is one of the few books which presented the story of Pearl Harbor without partialities. Every page of this well-structured piece reminds one that several years of dedicated research were concluded before its author went to work.
If you are in interested in knowing the truth about the U.S.-Japan relations before and after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attacks, then, this book will be very useful for you. It provided all the details that you would ask for. But most importantly, it presented both sides of the story without any form of bias. The book's chronological outlook is superb. It is a pleasurable piece to read.

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Summary: Reads Like a Corporate Audit
Review: I had been looking forward to reading this book since graduate school, when it was assigned reading for some of my classmates. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into this massive tome, which I expected to be a real "page turner," as they say. How wrong I was! Apparently in an effort to pen the "definitive" book on the subject, the authors simply could not bring themselves to pare down their primary source material (excellent though that material was) to a manageable level. As a result, the book immediately becomes bogged down in almost absurd minutiae, which to me made it an unbearably dull read. Why didn't an editor axe out a couple hundred pages? Less can be better, and this would have been the case in this instance, I believe. I detest throwing down a book in the middle, so I forced myself to continue to the end of Part I (about the first 300 pages), then I skipped ahead to the actual bombing of Pearl Harbor (which occupies only about 50 pages of the book's roughly 700 pages). The account of the bombing itself was adequate, but not nearly as riveting as it could have been in the hands of other writers. In the end, I simply couldn't bear to read the rest of the book. It could have been such a fine work given the authors' access to such choice source material. I recommend that the publisher issue a new, heavily abridged addition - with a top-notch editor assigned to the project.

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Summary: For the serious historian
Review: I have had G.W. Prange's 3 book set on Pearl Harbor for many years but it always got knocked down the reading list untill now.
The book is for the serious historian of World War II who wants to dive into the details to get a better understanding of the topic. At dawn we slept starts off a little slow and of course builds up to that fatefull morning of the attack by providing you with a very in depth knowledge of the story behind it and makes you want to read the other 2 books in this trilogy. I highly recommend this book.

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Summary: The Pearl Harbor Tragedy Relived
Review: Just as Cornelius Ryan's three major works about World War II (The Longest Day, The Last Battle, and A Bridge Too Far) focus on the last 11 months of the conflict in Europe, the late Gordon W. Prange and his collaborators Donald Goldstein and Katherine Dillon zeroed in on the Pearl Harbor saga and its aftermath. No less than five major books by Prange and Co. deal with the series of events that occurred before, during, and after. Of these, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor is the first and most important volume.

At Dawn We Slept covers nearly the entire 12-month period leading up to the "day of infamy" that marked America's entry into World War II. It provides amazing insights into both the Japanese and American mindsets, and, most important, explodes the revisionists' myth that Japan's attack succeeded because President Franklin D. Roosevelt withheld critical information from Army and Navy commanders in Hawaii.

Prange researched the Pearl Harbor affair for 37 years until his death in 1980, and his posthumous books paint a tragic picture of two great Pacific nations reluctantly yet inexorably moving in a collision course. Japan doesn't necessarily hate the United States, yet since the 1920s sees it as its main rival for supremacy in the Pacific. Japan's war in China causes the rift between it and America to grow, and U.S. economic sanctions intended to end Japanese aggression against its neighbors have exactly the opposite effect on the military-dominated government in Tokyo. What once was just an abstract idea in Japan's military academies -- a transoceanic war with Britain and America -- slowly but surely comes closer to reality after Tokyo joins the Axis in 1940. It becomes inevitable after Japan moves troops into French Indochina as a precursor to Japan's strike to conquer the resource-rich Southern area (the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Singapore, and the U.S.-controlled Philippine Islands).

On the Japanese side, the book shows the intense planning and preparation for the attack. Although not flawless (the midget submarines were rather superfluous and almost gave the attack away), it was brilliant. Driven by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's steely determination, a powerful strike force is gathered, pilots are painstakingly trained, and every resource - from innovations in ordnance (adapting torpedoes to run in very shallow waters) to a spy network on Oahu - is devoted to make the strike more effective.

At Dawn We Slept also paints a sobering picture of American complacency, ignorance, and even incompetence during the months before the attack. Readers will learn, for instance, that Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short never truly understood his mission, which was to defend the Pacific Fleet when it was in port. Short failed to grasp the danger of aerial attack, focusing instead on an imaginary threat from Hawaii's 125,000 Japanese-Americans. (This mistaken notion actually caused more loss of American airpower rather than preventing it; Short ordered all planes to be lined up in the middle of their air bases so they could be more easily guarded. This just made it easier for Japanese planes to destroy or disable most of the Hawaiian Air Force.)

The Navy fares no better in its pre-Pearl Harbor activities, either. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel wasn't a meek and incompetent officer, and he did have an offensive-minded posture. Nevertheless, his failure to fully coordinate intelligence gathering, patrols, or even contingency plans with Short were factors which contributed to the success of the Japanese attack.

The book devotes much attention to the twists and turns that made December 7th, 1941 such a momentous day. As someone once said, it's all in the small details. Who knew just what impact would the typing speed of a Japanese diplomat would have on the course of history? What would have happened if Adm. Kimmel had been immediately notified of the sinking of an unknown sub in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor? What if Adm. Nagumo had launched a third wave that day?

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Summary: Thorough Analysis of Pearl Harbor
Review: The attack on Pearl Harbor is often described as a key turning point in history. In many ways, it was the culmination of centuries of colonialism in Asia and the Pacific, centuries which saw the rise of Anglo-centric liberal imperialism and the emergence of an Asian imperial axis with China and Japan as the focal points. Given this backdrop, the Pearl Harbor raid can be said to be the belated, overcompensatory and miscalculated response of a predatory state to the cumulative actions of political entities which had advocated the creation of nation-empires for economic gain.

But, not surprisingly, Prange's "At Dawn We Slept" deals with geopolitics in a limited way. Instead, it expounds at length on events leading to the so-called day of infamy, and gives readers painstakingly reconstructed insights into the mindsets of the numerous personalities involved. "At Dawn We Slept" is the story of how the Imperial Japanese Navy assembled the strongest naval armada at the time, and how that armada was forged into a highly effective weapon against an obsolescent battle fleet. It is also a story about a lamentable failure of imagination on the part of the US chain of command.

The attack itself was a clever operation, partly based on a carrier-based raid executed by the British against Italian battleships in Taranto, Italy, and principally designed to remove the US Pacific Fleet out of the chessboard. However, Prange points out that the Pearl Harbor raid was carried out by the Imperial Navy not primarily due to military expediency, but partly due to the intransigence of Admiral Yamamoto. Prange's interviews with Japanese officers involved in the planning and execution revealed the level of punctiliousness of the Japanese navy regarding the ill-fated plan, and the infighting that ensued following the introduction of the Pearl Harbor concept. Only Yamamoto's insistence that the attack be carried out led to its ultimate implementation.

The book sets out to present a balanced view, covering both Japanese and American viewpoints about the historical fulcrum that is December 7, 1941. And it succeeds primarily because of rigorous research. Nearly four decades were spent by Prange interviewing key participants, and what emerged from his investigation is perhaps the most comprehensive account of the sordid Pear Harbor affair. As a bonus, Prange and his editors manage to convincingly refute the so-called revisionist school of thought about the attack. All in all, "At Dawn We Slept" is a monumental effort that, in light of recent geopolitical events, deserves to be read.

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Summary: The Definitive History Of The Day That Will Live In Infamy
Review: Thirty seven years in the making, Gordon W. Prange's AT DAWN WE SLEPT is, like Shelby Foote's three volume THE CIVIL WAR and Alan Nevins' ORDEAL OF THE UNION, a masterwork of historical research that is unmatched in its attention to detail, its writing style (edited and completed by others after Mr. Prange's death along with the companion volume MIRACLE AT MIDWAY), and its ability to weave literally thousands of disparate elements into a penetrating analysis of why we slept at dawn.

Although the detail sometimes becomes overwhelming, it also puts human faces to the protagonists, both Japanese and American. Prange's thesis, that the dynamic Japanese nation felt constrained by American geopolitical goals, is the cornerstone of most modern scholarship on the outbreak of the Pacific War.

America's isolationism and complacency is also addressed. Although the military had frequently war gamed an attack on Oahu (and the Japanese studied these war games in detail), it is nothing short of incredible that the U.S. considered the Japanese at most a second-rate threat, and did nothing to prepare for what had long since been foreseen.

In its exhaustive examination of the events leading up to December 7th, we can read a cautionary tale. There is no question but that December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001 and kindred days with kindred histories. Those who do not learn from history are so terribly doomed to repeat it.

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Summary: The Best
Review: This book is the best ever on the attack. For anyone who wants a serious knowledge of the attack they should read this one

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Summary: AN EXCELLENT IN-DEPTH ACCOUNT
Review: While there have been many books written on the story of Pearl Harbor, this is by far one of the most detailed accounts. The book portrays fair and accurate detail from all sides and all perspectives. Gordon Prange's analysis from pre-attack to aftermath is thorough and complete, leaving the reader with much to comtemplate and digest. I certainly found the book to be presented in an objective and analytic manner. The writing style is rather wordy and scattered; however, the content more than compensates for the lack of quality editing skills. If you are an avid war buff or have a personal interest in Pearl Harbour, you will want to read this book. It is, however, quite lengthy and thought-provoking; therefore, the type of book one wants to peruse and digest slowly.

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Summary: Thorough coverage of the post attack investigations
Review: Wonderfully researched and written, this book is a must read for anyone interested in Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The book moves slowly at first, but picks up as the Japanese begin to put plans and thoughts into action. Thoroughly researched and footnoted, the book covers the pre-war planning, the attack and the aftermath. I found the coverage of the post attack investigations and congressional hearings fascinating in light of the current 9/11 Commission. The author is fair and presents the facts in a manner that allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about the causes/failures/mistakes regarding the destruction of a large portion of the US Pacific Fleet.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough coverage of the post attack investigations
Review: Wonderfully researched and written, this book is a must read for anyone interested in Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The book moves slowly at first, but picks up as the Japanese begin to put plans and thoughts into action. Thoroughly researched and footnoted, the book covers the pre-war planning, the attack and the aftermath. I found the coverage of the post attack investigations and congressional hearings fascinating in light of the current 9/11 Commission. The author is fair and presents the facts in a manner that allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about the causes/failures/mistakes regarding the destruction of a large portion of the US Pacific Fleet.