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Long Days Journey Into War: December 7, 1941
A reexamination of the bombing of Pearl Harbor presents an hour-by-hour chronicle of the events leading up to and following the attack, discussing the roles of FDR, Rommel, Hitler, and others. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. K.
Hardcover
First published September 10, 1991
About the author
Stanley Weintraub
119 books48 followersWeintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub. He attended South Philadelphia High School, and then he attended West Chester State Teachers College (now West Chester University of Pennsylvania) where he received his B.S. in education in 1949. He continued his education at Temple University where he received his master's degree in English “in absentia,” as he was called to duty in the Korean War.
He received a commission as Army Second Lieutenant, and served with the Eighth Army in Korea receiving a Bronze Star.
After the War, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in September 1953; his doctoral dissertation “Bernard Shaw, Novelist” was accepted on May 6, 1956.
Except for visiting appointments, he remained at Penn State for all of his career, finally attaining the rank of Evan Pugh Professor of Arts and Humanities, with emeritus status on retirement in 2000. From 1970 to 1990 he was also Director of Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies
He received a commission as Army Second Lieutenant, and served with the Eighth Army in Korea receiving a Bronze Star.
After the War, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in September 1953; his doctoral dissertation “Bernard Shaw, Novelist” was accepted on May 6, 1956.
Except for visiting appointments, he remained at Penn State for all of his career, finally attaining the rank of Evan Pugh Professor of Arts and Humanities, with emeritus status on retirement in 2000. From 1970 to 1990 he was also Director of Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 9, 2021
The 'day' recounted constituted the forty-eight hours surrounding the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Weintraub's foci include Hawaii, D.C., London, Berlin, Leningrad, Moscow, Tokyo, Luzon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam. His 'cast' is enormous, sometimes hard to keep track of, but his aim is impressionistic. There's no quiz to follow. While definitely written from the perspective of the U.S.A., there's little flag waving and no overt racism. Indeed the States come off poorly compared to the Japanese. Especially excoriated is Douglas MacArthur, a man with an ego in direct proportion to his incompetence--an estimation I've encountered in a number of books about the war in the Pacific.
August 16, 2010
Ever read a book on some event ... oh, say, World War II ... that went on for hundreds, maybe even approaching a thousand or more, pages? Interesting, but maybe hard to slog through? Yeah, I thought so. This book is about 700 pages, and it's about World War II. But -- pay attention now -- in those 700 pages it only covers THE FIRST TWO DAYS (December 7th and 8th, 1941)!
And so now I have another question for you: Have you ever read a book, especially a good book, but probably a history book, where the author just did not spend a lot of time on a subject -- maybe a sentence, a paragraph or two, maybe even an entire chapter -- but it left you wanting more? "There's a book there" is something I've said a hundred times if I've said it once.
What a fabulous book! Usually the events of December 7th, 1941, and just before and just after occupy, at most, a couple chapters (if that) in every last World War II book I've ever read. This one covers the events -- literally hour by hour -- and it seems like it does so minute by minute. All those books that were "in there" (about the attack on Pearl Harbor) ... are here.
If you're into World War II, and you have not read this book: shame on you. Shame on me for having purchased it more than 10 years ago, but never, until now, getting around to reading it. How embarassing. What's really irritating is that it's such a great book, so easy to read. I could not put it down. How many times have you heard someone say that? Yeah, I know dozens. Well, I could not put this one down. I did, only to sleep.
I can't say enough good about this book. Well, I guess I can say one thing more: it's so good, I'm going to read it again, right now.
And so now I have another question for you: Have you ever read a book, especially a good book, but probably a history book, where the author just did not spend a lot of time on a subject -- maybe a sentence, a paragraph or two, maybe even an entire chapter -- but it left you wanting more? "There's a book there" is something I've said a hundred times if I've said it once.
What a fabulous book! Usually the events of December 7th, 1941, and just before and just after occupy, at most, a couple chapters (if that) in every last World War II book I've ever read. This one covers the events -- literally hour by hour -- and it seems like it does so minute by minute. All those books that were "in there" (about the attack on Pearl Harbor) ... are here.
If you're into World War II, and you have not read this book: shame on you. Shame on me for having purchased it more than 10 years ago, but never, until now, getting around to reading it. How embarassing. What's really irritating is that it's such a great book, so easy to read. I could not put it down. How many times have you heard someone say that? Yeah, I know dozens. Well, I could not put this one down. I did, only to sleep.
I can't say enough good about this book. Well, I guess I can say one thing more: it's so good, I'm going to read it again, right now.
January 11, 2016
It is an interesting concept. Weintraub breaks down December 7, 1941 into roughly a 48-hour "day", allowing for the international dateline and other factors. He flits from war theatre to war theatre, with a incredibly sharp eye for telling details: Paul Tibbet is quickly limned flying in Georgia on the day the attack takes place, and then of course there is another shot of him in the afterword, piloting the Enola Gay over Hiroshima; JFK's Secretary of State, Robert MacNamara, pops up as a Captain, and there are countless fascinating snapshots of the residents of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Hawaii. These are stories that are never told, and the book does great service bringing them to the forefront.
The actual centerpiece of the book, the attack itself, is pretty blandly told. He picks up steam with the depiction of the chaos that reigned at Pearl Harbor after the second wave of Japanese planes left. The accounts of Enterprise planes being shot down by nervy American military on Oahu is heartbreaking, and Weintraub does a good job with accounts of the crisis' aftermath.
In the end, I think the technique --- the hour by hour framework --- vitiates the impact. There are only so many times you can read stories of how shocked people were when they got the news, or how unprepared the British were for the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, before it gets just a bit tedious. Just a bit, but it was enough to make the 700 pages seem a mite long.
On the other hand, Weintraub does lay to rest Toland's polemic about FDR's "responsibility" for the attack. And I have read so many books by him that cover a wide variety of topics!
The actual centerpiece of the book, the attack itself, is pretty blandly told. He picks up steam with the depiction of the chaos that reigned at Pearl Harbor after the second wave of Japanese planes left. The accounts of Enterprise planes being shot down by nervy American military on Oahu is heartbreaking, and Weintraub does a good job with accounts of the crisis' aftermath.
In the end, I think the technique --- the hour by hour framework --- vitiates the impact. There are only so many times you can read stories of how shocked people were when they got the news, or how unprepared the British were for the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, before it gets just a bit tedious. Just a bit, but it was enough to make the 700 pages seem a mite long.
On the other hand, Weintraub does lay to rest Toland's polemic about FDR's "responsibility" for the attack. And I have read so many books by him that cover a wide variety of topics!
August 28, 2022
Great detailed hour-by-hour account of world events surrounding Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. Took me quite a while to gradually read but worth it.
July 30, 2022
This book largely bored me. I found vast chunks of it irrelevant and sleep-inducing. However, there is enough interesting stuff here that I finished it. I don't know that I would ever read it again, and quite frankly I engaged in a rather elaborate back-patting orgy when I concluded it. If you finish this, you may engage in a little back patting as well. You deserve to.
Having trashed the book, let me explain why I finished it: I enjoyed the information about the hours leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Much of that was fascinating. I came away stunned by the number of warnings the intelligence community, such as it existed at the time, had. They largely ignored those warnings, and that enabled the attack, according to this author. The author does an excellent job of putting a human face on the history. He shows you conversations among the main characters. He talks about what they were doing at the time the attack occurred. What bored me most was the padded irrelevant information about what was happening in Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the same hours that Japan prepared its attack and executed it. I just didn't care what was going on in Eastern Europe. There were vast chunks of this that made me wish I could skip more easily. There's a fair amount of information between each heading, and if you skip too much, you do run the risk of missing really good information. The best part for me was the description of the attack itself. Not just the description of damage, but the impact of what happened to those human beings who lost lives and valiantly fought to retain lives. The day still lives in infamy for me, and reading this book reminded me why. The author is talented enough that he built suspense into the narrative even though you know historically how everything ends. Some of the small facts he includes intrigued me immensely. On balance, this was worth the 29 hours I spent reading it. Well, I cheated; I ran the narrator at 2.87X. Her professionalism meant she could handle that speed fine.
Having trashed the book, let me explain why I finished it: I enjoyed the information about the hours leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Much of that was fascinating. I came away stunned by the number of warnings the intelligence community, such as it existed at the time, had. They largely ignored those warnings, and that enabled the attack, according to this author. The author does an excellent job of putting a human face on the history. He shows you conversations among the main characters. He talks about what they were doing at the time the attack occurred. What bored me most was the padded irrelevant information about what was happening in Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the same hours that Japan prepared its attack and executed it. I just didn't care what was going on in Eastern Europe. There were vast chunks of this that made me wish I could skip more easily. There's a fair amount of information between each heading, and if you skip too much, you do run the risk of missing really good information. The best part for me was the description of the attack itself. Not just the description of damage, but the impact of what happened to those human beings who lost lives and valiantly fought to retain lives. The day still lives in infamy for me, and reading this book reminded me why. The author is talented enough that he built suspense into the narrative even though you know historically how everything ends. Some of the small facts he includes intrigued me immensely. On balance, this was worth the 29 hours I spent reading it. Well, I cheated; I ran the narrator at 2.87X. Her professionalism meant she could handle that speed fine.
April 28, 2020
Interesting premise following the events of the day time zone by time zone. By day's end the entire world truly was at war and one gets the sense that each day of the war was filled with intrigue, maneuvering, and personal struggle. But two major flaws became apparent as I read. First, because the events are by hour, certain locations and people become jumbled or don't have the interest-level as others, it's a slog to read about how people learned of the pearl harbor bombing, or captain so-and-so's struggle to move his antiquated ship to safety. This is made worse by the second flaw--the edition i read had several glaring editing errors, forcing me to reread or try to figure out what the hell the author was saying. So, interesting if you really are into WWII history, but forgettable to us general readers.
September 10, 2017
This seems to be some sort of romance. A low quality Pride and Prejudice with a military theme.
June 29, 2024
A highly detailed account of the period with many informative moments.
January 11, 2022
This book is fascinating! It is a compendium of what was happening throughout the affected and effected world in in the 48 hours from December 6, 1941 through December 8, 1941 because of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. It is an amazing collection of vignettes compiled hour by hour. Each chapter or hour begins with a set of clocks displaying the time in the areas of the chapter for example: Hour 1 shows Midnight December 7, Wake Island, 10:00pm December 6, Tokyo, 2:00pm December 6 Moscow and 2:30am Pearl Harbor. The author, Stanley Weintraub, then presents what was happening in those areas. The effort to correlate these entries is mind boggling to me. Weintraub brings together official documents, official messages, newspaper accounts, private letters, telegrams or oral history sources to paint an amazing coherent picture of the world and the war over those 48 hours. Besides the locations in Hour 1, Leningrad, Tobruk, Washington, Guam, Manila, Malaya, Singapore, Berlin, London, Seattle, Bangkok, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Saigon, California, Belgrade, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Hiroshima, Peking, Nihau, Lodz, Yokohama, Pittsburgh, the North Atlantic and South Atlantic, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vladivostok, Vilna, Portland, Addis Ababa, Chelmno, Brussels, Heidenmuhle, Wuchow, Rome, Lanai, and Midway Island all have stories in these 48 hours. These renderings are not limited to the military or diplomatic efforts and actions. The author does a great job in showing what was going on in society throughout the world. I was especially taken by his descriptions of the family members interned in the British territories especially and by the news media columnists arrested as the Japanese took control of areas where US individuals were previously neutral like in Japan and the British territories. I was not aware of the fact that the Japanese staff at the US Embassy in Tokyo agreed to stay interned in the embassy with the US diplomatic staff until they were exchanged seven months later. I was surprised that even cartoons were affected. The Japanese eliminated Mickey Mouse and Popeye from Japanese movie screening. The fighting that the Indian soldiers did in the fight for Hong Kong was very courageous and at times ethically challenging as the story of Jemadar Sherin and his Afridi platoon had to fire on a Japanese unit using a dozen women as human shields. Sherin ordered his men to fire when the enemy came within 150 yards. US college football was affected. The San Jose State College and Willamette University teams were in Hawaii to play. The game was not played and the team members volunteered themselves to the police to help. They were given shotguns and placed on guard duty. The women who accompanied the Willamette team were put to work as nurses aides. This book should be read by anyone interested in World War II! It is a great read!
July 6, 2011
Weintraub gives us the kind of history that is exciting to read as well as being intensely informative. Long Day's Journey into War is an hour by hour examination of the events of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, surrounding events and personalities, and everything else pertinent that was happening on that fateful day, with a grand awareness of the geographical expanse of the world, and that when it is December 7 in some parts of the world, it is December 8 (or December 6), in others. An impressive work.
January 14, 2009
This book takes the reader on a 24 hour around the world journey explaining what was happening in all pertinenet areas of the world. From the early plans of the Japanese to invade Micronesia, Pearl Harbor, Washington DC, England, Germany, India, Japan, Hong Kong, and so forth. It has an amazing amount detail and anecdotal informaiton.
February 2, 2017
As a military historian myself, I'm pretty harsh on works such as this. What's fun is when I don't have to be.
The infamous day broken down into hourly events and told in anecdotal style, with stories ranging over the entire world. Fascinating and well-written, the research alone must have been an incredible task. Highly recommended.
The infamous day broken down into hourly events and told in anecdotal style, with stories ranging over the entire world. Fascinating and well-written, the research alone must have been an incredible task. Highly recommended.
December 11, 2009
Historians have labored this period before, mostly in increments, but Weintraub's is collated in unique narrative style and it all seems to fit together in new and intersting ways.
June 22, 2013
Interesting concept of breaking down the events hour by hour
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews