Infamy: 60th Anniversary: The Classic

¶ … Infamy: 60th Anniversary: The Classic Account of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor by Walter Lord, published by the Henry Holt Company in 2001. Specifically it will review and analyze the book.

This history book tells the now infamous story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 4, 1941, a "day of infamy" in the words of then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Many books have been written on the subject, but this book looks at the event through historical perspective, but also through the eyes of people who were there and lived through the consequences (and some who did not). One critic succinctly sums up the content of this historical work. He writes, "Based on a series of interviews with a multitude of individuals at Pearl Harbor on 7 December. Extremely entertaining" (Greene 258). It is entertaining, but it is also chilling and dramatic, and difficult to understand even with the perspective of time that has come since this horrendous event.

The book opens on Saturday night before the early morning bombing raid of December 7. It begins to introduce some of the "characters" of this book, including naval personnel, civilians, and some of the key players during the following day's events, including many of the Japanese planners and attackers. It also starts to indicate those who will live through the ordeal, and some of those who will not. It shows that this was an intensely emotional and violent time, but it also shows the humanness and sheer bravery of some of the people involved. For example, the author writes of a surgeon working on a patient in the Kaneohe dispensary on the mainland. Lord writes, "He was scrubbing up for the next patient, when he suddenly realized what he had done. The door had distracted him so much he had sewed the wrong parts of the stomach together" (Lord 147). These are real, flesh and blood people, not actors on a stage, and this makes the events seem even more real (and horrific) to the reader.

This book is made much more interesting by using the real remembrances of people who experienced the events at Pearl Harbor firsthand. In addition, Lord does not attempt to sway people's emotions or feelings about the event; he simply reports what happened in chronological order. Another reviewer notes, "Ignoring all of the controversies and avoiding any finger pointing, Lord simply reconstructs, as best anyone can, what happened on that fateful day" (Judd). The book is an unemotional account that becomes emotional and memorable in the reader's eyes, because it is so eloquent in its simplicity and meaning. It is also deeply personal, because of all the personal account, making it abundantly clear this happened to real people who experienced pain, suffering, and emotional damage because of this horrific and unexpected attack. This book is very readable because of the way the author has structured the book, and because it is so personal. It seems to be suitable to a variety of audiences, partly because of its readability, and partly because it is still relevant in today's world. The world is still violent, and this violent attack seems even more real because of continued violence and hatred in the world. Just about any reader who is interested in American history, naval history, or World War II history would do well to read this book, and it would be welcome on most of those people's bookshelves, as well. The author has an easy and relaxed writing style that makes the book read more like a novel than a history text. The reader is caught up in the action and cannot wait to know what happens next, even though they know exactly what happens and when.