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Days of Infamy
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Product Description
“Absolutely brilliant! Fast paced and filled with tension and suspense. Every page resonates with the momentous events and great personalities of World War II – and scenes so carefully crafted you feel like you’re there. This is a ‘must read’ for all who look at history and wonder: “What if…” -- Oliver North, Lt. Col., USMC (Ret.), host of War Stories on the Fox News Channel
In 2007, bestselling authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen launched a new epic adventure series about World War II in the Pacific, with their book Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th, 1941, which instantly rocketed to the New York Times bestseller list.
Gingrich and Forstchen’s now critically acclaimed approach, which they term “active history,” examines how a change in but one decision might have profoundly altered American history. In Pearl Harbor they explored how history might have been changed if Admiral Yamamoto had directly led the attack on that fateful day, instead of remaining in Japan. Building on that promise, Days of Infamy starts minutes after the close of Pearl Harbor, as both sides react to the monumental events triggered by the presence of Admiral Yamamoto. In direct command of the six carriers of the attacking fleet, Yamamoto decides to launch a fateful “third-wave attack” on the island of Oahu, and then keeps his fleet in the area to hunt down the surviving American aircraft carriers, which by luck and fate were not anchored in the harbor on that day.
Historians have often speculated about what might have transpired from legendary “matchups” of great generals and admirals. In this story of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the notorious gambler Yamamoto is pitted against the equally legendary American admiral Bill Halsey in a battle of wits, nerve, and skill.
Days of Infamy recounts this alternative history from a multitude of viewpoints---from President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and the two great admirals, on down to American pilots flying antiquated aircraft, bravely facing the vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft. Gingrich and Forstchen have written a sequel that’s as much a homage to the survivors of the real Pearl Harbor attack as it is an imaginative and thrilling take on America’s entry into World War II.
Praise for the first book in the Pacific War Series, Pearl Harbor:
"A thrilling tale of American's darkest day."
--W.E.B. Griffin
"Masterful storytelling that not only captures the heroic highs and hellish lows of that horrific day which lives on in infamy--it resonates with today's conflicts and challeneges."
--William E. Butterworth IV, New York Times bestselling author of The Saboteurs
"A politician and a novelist, each an accomplished historian in his own right, are emerging as master authors of alternative history. In this “what if” treatment of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen combine their talents to make the diplomacy as suspenseful as the combat, even for readers who know what happens next–or think they know."
--Dennis Showalter, former president of the Society of Military Historians
"This book is not only a great read, it is a fascinating historical story that applies today in Iraq as it did in the Western Pacific in the late 30s and 40s."
--Captain Alex Fraser, USN (Ret.)
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #13333 in Books
- Published on: 2009-08-04
- Released on: 2009-08-04
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312560904
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
The White House
December 7, 1941
19:45 hrs E.S.T.
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO Roosevelt looked up from the text of his speech as General George Marshall stood at the doorway, a flimsy sheet of telex printout clutched in his hand.
The President turned back to Missy LeHand, his secretary, pointing out where he had just crossed out a line for the address he was preparing for the nation, now scheduled for noon tomorrow before a joint session of Congress.
"Here, put this in the first sentence," and he pointed to his margin notes, " ‘a date which will live in infamy.’ "
She nodded in agreement.
He now focused his attention on his Army chief of staff.
"What do you have for us?"
"This just came in, Mr. President," and Marshall stepped into the room, unfolding the telex sheet and handing it to him. "It reports that a third strike wave of at least seventy Japanese aircraft is attacking Pearl Harbor. The line went dead approximately ten minutes ago."
The President scanned the few brief lines: "Oil tank farms struck. Fires out of control. Harbor channel blocked. Preparing to face invasion. . . ." The message stopped in midsentence.
The President crumpled the report up, ready to angrily toss it on the floor by the side of his wheelchair, but then thought again. It was a document now, a moment of history, and he instead tossed it onto his desk, to be filed away for later. Attack the United States, would they? On our own soil? Without a declaration of war?
He thought about this dastardly sneak attack. What could this ever be compared to? Even when the British attacked and burned Washington and this very building to the ground, we knew we’d survive. Could this onslaught be but the beginning? Hitler was at the gates of Moscow. Might the Japanese turn on the Soviets as well, together those two dark powers finish off Stalin and then fling their entire fury at England and then us?
It was sobering to be the President presiding over the crisis of Western civilization and its death struggle with the forces of modern evil in both Europe and Asia. Our civilization must not lose this war, or it would be, indeed, as Winston Churchill said, "a thousand years of darkness."
No, never think about the possibility of defeat, he thought to himself. If I allow that thought ever to take hold, it could permeate down across the entire nation. If ever America, if ever the entire free world, needed leadership that showed not just righteous anger, but also a firm, calm resolve that inevitable victory would come, it was now. Being an optimist was a trait he had acquired at Warm Springs, Georgia, when everyone else thought he should relax and accept that polio had crippled him and ended his political life. If he had given in eighteen years earlier, he would not be in the White House looking at General Marshall and dictating his most important speech to Congress.
No, he thought to himself, these Japanese will not turn me to thoughts of defeat, and neither will Herr Hitler. They have given us the possibility of bringing to bear the full force of our great people and the full resources of our great nation and now, after three years of quiet sustained effort, our preparedness program will show its results.
That strength had to be aroused through words. Words often meant more than ships and planes and tanks. It was words that aroused a people and focused a nation. He thought of his good friend across the Atlantic with fondness for his inspiring courage and language.
Though some of the more effete and cynical still privately shook their heads about Winston Churchill’s posturing and rhetoric, there would never be a denial that the strength of his words and his pugnacious defiance were worth as much as an entire army in the field and had braced England in the darkest days of its long history.
I must do the same. I must be the war President. I must lead. If I show weakness now, even for a moment, then surely darkness will triumph. In fact I must become the President of inevitable victory transcending the war.
He stirred from his thoughts and looked back at Marshall, who stood silent by the doorway into his office.
"Anything else?" the President asked, fixing Marshall with his gaze.
"Not much, sir. Most cable links to Hawaii are down. Apparently the terminus on Oahu was damaged. Our Army radio monitoring at the Presidio in San Francisco reports that it can still pick up a civilian station that is frantically calling for volunteers to donate blood, and for anyone with medical training to report to the nearest military base. World War One veterans with combat experience are to report, too. The Lightning Division and national guard units are mobilizing and preparing to repel any landing attempts, but it is still too early to tell what’s really happening.
"Other than that, sir, we are in the dark."
"Have you talked to Admiral Stark?"
"Yes, sir. I must say he is still in shock. It is his fleet that has taken the brunt of the immediate punishment. The only good news is this: Our two carriers still based at Pearl Harbor were out to sea and for the moment are assumed to be safe."
"Where are they now?"
"Halsey with Enterprise is believed to be somewhere southwest of Oahu. Lexington unfortunately is not in mutual support range; it is more than seven hundred miles to the northwest of Enterprise. They
could hardly have been assigned farther apart. It was just random chance, sir, call it good luck or bad, with Halsey inbound after dropping planes off at Wake Island and Newton on Lexington outbound to Midway on the same mission. I just thank God they were not in the harbor this morning, which has usually been the typical routine."
Roosevelt, a sailor and former undersecretary of the Navy, could picture the scenario and already had the potential answer. Along with Enterprise and Lexington being out at sea, a month back Saratoga had secretly transited back to the West Coast, for a refit in Bremerton, Washington, and was just preparing to head back out to Oahu.
As Marshall had just voiced, thank God the timing of all this regarding the aircraft carriers had worked out as it did, otherwise they would be burned-out hulks resting in the mud and flames of Pearl Harbor, along with the battleships.
"Do we even have a remote idea as to the size of the Japanese fleet that hit us?" Roosevelt asked.
Marshall shook his head.
"Apparently no one has yet organized a proper search. It could be four of their carriers; Admiral Stark thinks maybe five or six. There is no clear indication. We don’t even know what direction they came from."
The President grunted at the lack of intelligence and analysis. "Surely we must do better than that," he said to General Marshall, "and quickly."
One of the first priorities would be to get Yorktown and Hornet transferred out to the Pacific. Together, five carriers could be a potent match-up with the Japanese—if Enterprise and Lexington survived the next few days.
That was a very big if.
He considered the distances, the obvious aggressiveness of the Japanese attack force. If he could step inside the mind of their admiral in command, whoever he was, chances were he would not be satisfied with the destruction inflicted so far. The third strike was proving that. A more timid soul would have made the surprise attacks of the morning and then pulled out. This opponent was in it for the kill.
"The Japs could move between our two carriers out there and finish each off in turn."
"If their continued aggressiveness is any indication." Marshall hesitated. "I am not a naval officer, sir, but yes, that would be my assessment."
"I want those carriers to hit back, and hit them hard," the President replied sharply. "I
From AudioFile
What would have happened if Japanese Admiral Yamamoto had personally led the attack on Pearl Harbor, instead of remaining in Japan? The authors' "living history" spins the story from the perspective of several real and imagined participants. William Dufris jumps into the tale with enthusiasm, capturing the terror, dread, and determination of those at home and on the front lines. He wisely refrains from using any hint of a Japanese accent for the members of that nation's military, instead treating them with the same respect accorded to their counterparts among the Allies. Students of military history will enjoy the book for its "what if?" perspective, and the rest of us will simply appreciate a ripping adventure for its own sake. R.L.L. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Customer Reviews
"What if" things had been done differently at Pearl Harbor?
I previously picked up a copy of Pearl Harbor by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. Much to my surprise, it was far better than I expected, and gave me a greater appreciation of Pearl when we visited Hawaii last year. I was recently contacted by the publicist for an advanced reader copy of their follow-on novel Days of Infamy. Of course, I accepted. :) As with Pearl Harbor, it's a well-written historical novel that looks at how the Japanese/American conflict might have played out if the Japanese had made a few different choices in their strategy.
The novel covers a four day period after the initial two attack waves on Pearl Harbor. In this alternative history, the Japanese lead a third wave over the islands along with a coastal bombardment with two of their battleships. This has everyone thinking that an island invasion might be imminent, when in reality it's a ploy to draw out the carriers that fortunately happened not to be docked in Pearl during the attack. Due to a complete and total destruction of the communication facilities, there is little intel that the US can use to figure out where the Japanese fleet is, how large it is, and what their plans might be. Likewise, the Japanese don't know where or exactly how many carriers the US has available or where they were if not docked at Pearl. It's a chess match between Halsey and Yamamoto that involves millions of tons of naval and aerial equipment, tens of thousands of lives, and quite possibly the fate of the free world. The story also involves James Watson, a cryptographer who lost a hand in an earlier conflict, and is not well-equipped to be part of a battle zone. His wife and mother-in-law are Japanese, and that brings an additional burden to his work. The social backlash against *all* people of Japanese descent in the US is starting to whip up, and he can't guarantee that those he loves will be safe from marauding bands of thugs seeking revenge.
Since the timespan covered in this installment of the story is much smaller, there's not as much character development as there was in the first episode. More of the action is focused on the battle strategy and the actual attacks from both sides. Still, there is plenty of personal material here to keep you interested in the characters. Watching people overcome (or be overwhelmed by) their prejudices is a strong theme covered. I was also struck by how much warfare has changed since then. It was possible back then to be within 100 miles of each other and still not know what was going on. Now with satellite imagery and other technology, war is fought at a completely different level.
If you haven't yet read Pearl Harbor by these two authors, do so before this book comes out. That will lay the groundwork for what continues here. For fans of alternative historical novels, this is a great read.
After Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto goes for the American carriers
With their "Gettysburg" trilogy, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen played out how the Civil War might have ended if the Confederates had won the pivotal battle between North and South in the first days of July 1863. Despite the assumptions of critics who leaped to the conclusion the authors were closet Southern apologists, the trilogy basically validated the argument that Forstchen laid out in an essay in "Alternate Gettysburgs" that Robert E. Lee and the Confederates could not have taken Washington, D.C. and that the losing the war was inevitable (although I should not that Forstchen posits a Confederate victory at Gettysburg on the second day while the trilogy he co-authored with Gingrich shifts the pivotal battlefield to Union Mills). With their World War II series, Gingrich and Forstchen take a similar approach. "Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th" rewrites history so that the Japanese surprise attack is even more devastating, and in "Days of Infamy" start playing out what happens after that point.
The crucial change in the historical calculus at the heart of the first book in this series is that Admiral Yamamoto accompanies the task force and personally leads the attack, and consequently the Japanese launch a third attack wave against Pearl Harbor. By blocking the entrance to the harbor, destroying the largest dry-dock, and setting the fuel farms afire, Pearl Harbor is put out of business. I can certainly quibble with the title, because FDR was right: the day of the sneak attack was a "day of infamy," and what Gingrich and Forstchen come up with for the next few days (when the novel ends it is only December 10th) does not constitute additional "days of infamy." But I had trouble making the title of the first volume work and still enjoyed reading the book.
"Days of Infamy" is the more interesting book because Gingrich and Forstchen are now making everything up instead of just setting up their point of divergence from history. The Japanese ambassador in Washington still does not get the declaration of war delivered in time, so Americans are still outraged by the attack, but the key point they focus on this time around is that the attacked missed the American carriers. Having knocked Pearl Harbor out of commission, Yamamoto wants the two carriers. Equally important, Admiral Halsey on the "Enterprise" and Rear Admiral Newton with the "Lexington" are eager to hit back despite the odds (six Japanese carriers in a battle group versus two American carriers hundreds of miles apart). There is nothing Yamamoto can do about the diplomatic foul up, but he has a plan to get the American carriers and baits a trap for them. The Americans know that it is a trap, but after what happened on December 7th they have to strike back despite the long odds. This naval chess match takes up most of the action of "Days of Infamy."
I do not know as much about World War II as I do about the Civil War, but so far in these books I do not have a sense that the authors are indulging in having key details of history repeat themselves. This is one of the pitfalls of alternative histories that authors have to beware, trying to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to rewriting history (i.e., I really, really, really wanted General James B. McPherson to survive their version of the Civil War). What are more fascinating are when the authors play off of history (e.g., Bohunks), and when they come up with rationales for cleaning up some things (e.g., Eleanor's brief little chat with FDR).
Taken together "Pearl Harbor" and "Days of Infamy" comprise the opening act of this series, and I wish they had been one book because the whole point of such a story is to get to the point where things get different and that is pretty much where the first book ends. I have no idea how many volumes will be involved, but there is no way this is a trilogy (my assumption is that the end game is going to involve the invasion of Japan simply because the authors are not going to want to dig a giant hole with their alt history and then pull a couple of atomic bombs out of their hat). I think the next volume will be the pivotal one in the series because it essentially replaces the Battle of Midway by being about the attempt to stop the Japanese from taking all of the American possessions west of Hawaii. The authors have something of an advantage in rewriting the war in the Pacific because nothing they come up with as fiction could compare with the true history of the Battle of Midway, but coming up with something comparable for the next volume will be key.
Second in a Great Alt History Series
The first book in this series, Pearl Harbor, was just the opening act in a days long horror that will set the Pacific ablaze as two of World War II's greatest commanders, Yamamoto and Bull Halsey, clash in the greatest naval battle never to have happened. It is the narrative genius of Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen that makes one think that the battle in Days of Infamy must have happened.
Days of Infamy is also a meditation on one of the essential truths of war. Whatever the issues, whatever the cause, whatever the failure that led up to it, the one thing that is true of every war, especially World War Two, is that young men die decades before their time. There is plenty of such death in Days of Infamy, much of it heartbreaking.
In Days of Infamy young pilots take off from the pitching deck of a carrier with the dawn, knowing that very likely they will not live to see the dusk. Some face that prospect with resolution, some with terror.
Even more horrendous than the terror of battle thousands of feet over the Pacific, taking minutes or even seconds to resolve, is the horror of the aftermath. Days of Infamy tells about burning ships, taking on water, and crews desperately trying to keep them afloat and operational, or at least moving toward some form of refuge. Death by fire or death by water is the fate of too many long after the din of battle stills.
In Days of Infamy Gingrich and Forstchen have done it again, as they did with their epic Gettysburg trilogy, and have captured what war is like, in all of its horror and glory, by showing the reader events in another World War Two that never happened, but might have.
