Gordon W. Prange was a historian to remember.  An expert in European history, he was noted because of the lively way he taught his history classes at the University of Maryland.  He became such a success that this campus phenomenon took place: he got lauded in the yearbook for his World War I and World War II classes!

It said:

“Students flock to his class and sit enraptured as he animates the pages of twentieth century European history through his goosesteps, "Sieg Heils", "Achtungs", machine gun retorts, and frantic gestures.” *

His most standout achievement, though, came posthumously, and the subject was not Europe but the Pacific.  Its title: At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story Of Pearl Harbor.

When in Japan first as a US Navy officer and then as a civilian, Prange became interested in the Pearl Harbor attack and sought out many who had taken part to interview.  A remarkable foresight, given how it has –and forever will- shall be an emotional subject that mixes hate and forgiveness even 70 years later.

Prange had completed massive amounts of research by the time of his untimely death in May of 1980.

His associates Donald Goldstein and Katherine Dillon went ahead and arranged his material into not one, but several books.  This being the first/.

It is an excellent, in-depth overview of the attack and how it was planned and executed as well as the political aftermath that resulted in a score of investigations.

Prange writes in a lucid, no nonsense manner complimented by the additions of his associates which are of equal quality.

Some might find the “sound bite” way of quoting people something of a distraction, but I myself did not mind it.   

I cannot begin to recommend this book.  It is one of the finest reads on “the date that will live in Infamy” ever written.

Here is a taste of it, from the part dealing with the attack itself:

Landon was pleased to see a group of planes flying toward them from the south.  Here comes the Air Force out to greet us, he thought.  At that instant he saw the planes dive in with machine guns blazing, the sun glaring from the red disk of the Rising Sun.  A voice over Landon's intercom barked, "Damn it, those are Japs!"