Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack

Pulitzer–winning journalist Twomey teases readers with his subtitle before delivering a fine account of the players and events in the years leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Twomey churns up plenty of minor characters and little-known incidents over the course of 16 unchronological chapters, but he emphasizes the major figures on both sides, including such star-crossed commanders in Hawaii as Adm. Husband Kimmel and Gen. Walter Short; their superiors in Washington, Adm. Harold Stark, Gen. George C. Marshall, and Pres. Roosevelt; and Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto and ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura. These are lively, astute portraits that rock no boats. No longer considered scapegoats, Kimmel and Short come across as intelligent commanders, aware that war was imminent—if only because of repeated warnings from Washington—but hampered by the widespread feeling that a Japanese attack would be suicidal and stupid. Twomey’s admiring portrait of Adm. Yamamoto is outdated: plenty of colleagues shared his reluctance to provoke the U.S., attacking Pearl Harbor did turn out to be foolhardy, and Yamamoto’s subsequent career was unimpressive. The story of Pearl Harbor has been done to death, but Twomey’s vivid work rates high nonetheless. (Nov.)