Customer Reviews

Pearl Harbor: The Day of Infamy - An Illustrated History

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December 7, 1941 is one of the most famous days in American History. For me most of what I know about has either come from books or movies. I did visit the Arizona Memorial when I was in the Navy and nothing compares to the feeling you get when you are there.

This book is more that a history with pictures, it tells small stories about the men and women who were there and what they went through. It shows photographs of the battles, the ships, the men the Americans and the Japanese, simply put it was a great reading.

There are over 200 pictures and some of them have never been seen before this book. Also there are paintings and the stories are told in the first person to give you the feeling of actually being there.

While the event is 60 years old the memories last a lifetime and this book will make a great addition to my personal library. Now when my kids ask about that faithful day I can open up this book and show them.

Author Dan Van Der Vat has done an excellent job in examining the attack on Pearl Harbor in a photographic context. This book contains numerous photos of the attack, both in black and white and color, along with informative maps and drawings. The narrative is very good and provides an authoritative, minute-by-minute account of the attack.

Oral histories from both Japanese and American personnel, as well as Hawaiian civilians are also included. These exciting testimonies give the reader a true sense of what it was like to be at Pearl Harbor during the attack. From a captured Japanese midget submarine crewman to American sailors and airmen, their stories are brought to life inside the book.

One section I found especially interesting was the list of casualties included at the back of the book. One look at the size and length of this section will make the reader realize just how tragic and costly December 7, 1941 was for the United Staes armed forces.

Finally, the photos of the USS Arizona memorial, with the "Mighty Mo" serving as a guard, bring a poignant end to the book, and lets the reader know that December 7 will never be forgotten.

I highly recommend this book. I've read numerous books on this subject, and I was very impressed with the quality of the photos as well as the accompanying text. As a stand-alone volume or companion to another book, this work of history deserves its place as one of the best books on the subject of Pearl Harbor. Look through the photographs and get a true sense of what the Day of Infamy was really like.

So many expected Ben Affleck's Pearl Harbor movie to be a blockbuster like Titanic that quite a few decided to go for the coat tails. As a consequence, many new books were written on the subject.

This is one of the best of those books published. Nicely written. Very informative. Well illustrated both with period photographs adn original artwork.

A must have for anyone interested in this subject.

Excellent! So much more than a coffee table book. The art work, photographs and narrative are all packaged in this handsome and infromative volume. Everyone from WWII enthusiasts to history students will treasure this great book.

I bought this for my mother-in-law for Christmas because she had lent her book to someone and it was never returned. Even though the book is not a recent edition, the pictures and accounts were stirring. I also appreciate the list of the servicemen who died on all of the ships that day especially since my uncle Herman Koeppe died on the USS Arizona. His name is on the list. Thanks for the quick shipping too. The book was a hit!

From reading this book about the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 I think that this book gives great detail of both sides of what happened and its aftermath.

Much more than a coffe book, I think that this book is a great resource in which people can learn what happened.

Includes personal interviews not found in other Pearl Harbor overviews. These stories humanize this terrible event for those of us that were not there. My Father, a veteran and brother to a victim of the Pearl Harbor attack was also impressed with this book. The listing of those lost impresses the shear magnitude of that horrible day and is considered a tribute to the fallen by our family.

When the Japanese military machine launched an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 they proved to the world that they were indeed the flesh and blood manifestation of cowardice. Up till then Japan had never met the manifestation of undaunted determination of another nation to seek not only retribution for a large scale cowardly act but also face the consequences for an unspeakable reign of terror imposed upon their neighbors motivated by an insatiable imperialistic appetite. This is a great book and tries to define the spirit, will and actions of what the American psyche was and to what lengths Americans rise to the occasion. Modern America was never tested. Complacency was not in America's vocabulary as the Axis powers found out. This is one of the best books ever published encompassing events, actions and emotions initiated by a single cowardly and catastrophic military event.

Hell, is this the way to begin a review?

Pearl Harbor is a ball, a square, a city, a village, a fool and a loop. Whatever it was, it wasn't this. The Camera doesn't lie -no, but you lie with your own eyes . You do it all the time ,you all deny what you're seeing.So how is a film like this going to make any difference? How is one to make sense of history? -To realize that the British pioneered the technique of aerial destruction of a navy in southern Italy, to feel only empathetic emotion without compassion, a sort of thrill, and feel vicariously English-speaking without the boon of truth and conscience to back it up with?
Live without fleeting flag-wavers; America folds its thoughts upon itself, and is blind. It shocks itself ,nightly, and expects sympathy, like the most selfish old man that ever lived.It cries out in the night, and is impressed with the volume.How desperately low America has become. There is scarcely one iota of sympathy or even coherence to which it appeals; why? because they can't even tell the truth.Hysteria is inflation.