Dead Reckoning: The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took on Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor

In this meticulously researched history, journalist Lehr (The Birth of a Movement) chronicles the lives of U.S. Army Air Forces major John W. Mitchell and Imperial Japanese Navy admiral Isoroku Yamamoto from their childhoods to their “fatal face-off” in 1943. An ace pilot from Enid, Miss., Mitchell commanded the 339th Fighter Squadron on Guadalcanal Island. In April 1943, he led 15 other pilots on a mission to assassinate Yamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Vilified by the American press as a “hate-filled warmonger,” Yamamoto emerges in Lehr’s nuanced portrayal as a “reluctant warrior” who hoped to force a peace settlement with the U.S. Sixteen months after Pearl Harbor, American code breakers decrypted a message detailing Yamamoto’s plans to tour Japanese bases in the Solomon Islands. Mitchell and his squad flew more than 800 miles round trip from Guadalcanal to shoot down the admiral’s bomber over Bougainville Island, losing only one American pilot in the aerial attack. Lehr packs the narrative with intimate looks at both men’s personal lives, debates among U.S. and Japanese leaders over military strategy, and the history of “targeted kill” operations. Even the most dedicated WWII buffs will learn something new from this granular account. Agent: Richard Abate. (June)