A Time for War: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Path to Pearl Harbor

by Robert Smith Thompson

Thoroughly engrossing and controversial, this important new work challenges the belief that America decalred ware only because of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. This swift-moving, painstakingly researched narrative argues that the Roosevelt administration, neither isolationist nor neutral, actually forced Japan into war.

16 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[David]

Tough times... Dark and dirty secrets of how the US influenced/contributed to baiting Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor. The book outlines many actions by FDR with China that helped agitate Japan. The book outlines the atrocities that Japan had done throughout Asia. These were "bad leaders" directing "bad things". The US still with no taste for War post WWI, in many corners elected to ignore what was going on as far as human rights, over taking of countries and what were real threats to the US, both in the pacific and Europe... FDR had many decisions to make, good, bad and ugly....

[James Crawford]

As far as presenting a history of the things that led up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this book is very good. It starts primarily in China around 1937 and goes on from there. Throughout the author notes what FDR was doing at that time. In the end, the author lists a number of things He says that the U.S. was effectively at war well before Pearl Harbor. He believes FDR may have known about the planned attack on Pearl Harbor, and that the U.S. provoked Japan into its attack.