New York Times bestseller: The true story of the WWII naval battle portrayed in the Roland Emmerich film is "something special among war histories" (Chicago Sun-Times). Six months after Pearl Harbor, the seemingly invincible Imperial Japanese Navy prepared a decisive blow against the United States. After sweeping through Asia and the South Pacific, Japan's military targeted the tiny atoll of Midway, an ideal launching pad for the invasion of Hawaii and beyond. But the US Navy would be waiting for them. Thanks to cutting-edge code-breaking technology, tactical daring, and a significant stroke of luck, the Americans under Adm. Chester W. Nimitz dealt Japan's navy its first major defeat in the war. Three years of hard fighting remained, but it was at Midway that the tide turned. This "stirring, even suspenseful narrative" is the first book to tell the story of the epic battle from both the American and Japanese sides (Newsday). Miracle at Midway reveals how America won its first and greatest victory of the Pacific war-and how easily it could have been a loss.

Before dawn breaks over the Pacific, young Japanese pilots don the scarfs of ancient warriors -- and in the early light of Sunday morning an American radarman picks up an approaching air force, only to be told by his superiors that the planes are U.S. B-27s. A few hours later, Pearl Harbor is in flames, and America's naval fleet lies in bloodied ruins...

From a renowned team of military historians, here is the gripping, blow-by-blow chronicle of how it happened: from the chance conditions that allowed the Japanese a perfect approach, to a housewife's account of the first assault wave, from a ship's cook manning machine guns to survivors swimming through flaming, oil-slicked water. Told from both the Japanese and American points of view, December 7, 1941 reveals the diplomatic intrigue, the brutal fighting, the panic that followed the attack, and the disbelief, anger, and determination that gripped an America suddenly at war.

The New York Times–bestselling authors of Miracle at Midway delve into the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII in “a superb work of history” (Albuquerque Journal Magazine). In the predawn hours of December 7, 1941, a Japanese carrier group sailed toward Hawaii. A few minutes before 8:00 a.m., they received the order to rain death on the American base at Pearl Harbor, sinking dozens of ships, destroying hundreds of airplanes, and taking the lives of over two thousand servicemen. The carnage lasted only two hours, but more than seventy years later, terrible questions remain unanswered. How did the Japanese slip past the American radar? Why were the Hawaiian defense forces so woefully underprepared? What, if anything, did American intelligence know before the first Japanese pilot shouted “Tora! Tora! Tora!”? In this incomparable volume, Pearl Harbor experts Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon tackle dozens of thorny issues in an attempt to determine who was at fault for one of the most shocking military disasters in history.