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To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
New York Times
bestselling author Jeff Shaara takes on Pearl Harbor, the world-changing attack that catapulted America into World War II, in a novel featuring his trademark "you are there" immediacy.
The master of military fiction details the lead-up to the attack, the events of that terrible Sunday in December, and the aftermath with his signature sense of urgency and intensity. Based on voluminous research and unprecedented access to the archives at the Pearl Harbor memorial and museum in Honolulu, among many other sources, this is destined to be one of Shaara's definitive works and most enduring bestsellers.
The master of military fiction details the lead-up to the attack, the events of that terrible Sunday in December, and the aftermath with his signature sense of urgency and intensity. Based on voluminous research and unprecedented access to the archives at the Pearl Harbor memorial and museum in Honolulu, among many other sources, this is destined to be one of Shaara's definitive works and most enduring bestsellers.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2020
929 people are currently reading
7431 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Shaara
60 books2,160 followersJEFF SHAARA is the award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of seventeen novels, including Rise to Rebellion and The Rising Tide, as well as Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure—two novels that complete his father's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, The Killer Angels. Shaara was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 433 reviews
June 9, 2020
A long-time fan of Jeff Shaara and his work, I was ecstatic when I received his latest novel. These pieces of historical fiction are firmly in the military realm, bringing voices and strong narratives to famous battles fought throughout the American experience. This latest piece is all about the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese brought the Americans out of their isolationism and into the forefront of the Second World War. As with all of Shaara’s pieces, the narrative is split into numerous perspective, in this case: a lowly Navy recruit with a love of baseball (Tommy Biggs), the US Secretary of State who has been juggling increasing reports about Japanese plans for aggression (Cordell Hull), and the man who planned the Pearl Harbor attack (Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto). Biggs comes from a small town in Florida and decides to visit a Navy recruiter on a whim, only to discover that life on the seas may be the fresh approach that he seeks. After Basic Training, Biggs is assigned to the USS Arizona, where his eyes are opened to life in the Navy. While it can be tough, there is also the down time during which he can play baseball and discover what cheap beer and mouthy Marines can add to his life experiences. In Washington, Secretary Hull has been trying to balance an isolationist America against a president who is itching to getting the fight, worried that Britain and France will soon be subsumed by the tyrant, Hitler. All the while, Hull begins to hear grumblings that the Japanese have been discussing goading the Americans into the Pacific fight, hoping to scare them into a quick submission. As tensions mount, Hull gets no clear message from the Japanese ambassador, making things all the more suspect in this geo-political game of chess. Finally, in Tokyo, Admiral Yamamoto is a powerful man within the Japanese Navy and has been concocting an idea that might pull the Americans out of their isolation, only to feel the wrath of the Japanese, who have been spreading their tentacles all throughout the Asian theatre and flexing their muscle. When Yamamoto decides to strike off the Hawaiian coast, he hopes to take out large numbers of the Navy’s fleet and create such chaos so as to scare the political giant. In the latter portion of the book, as the plan to attack inches forward, all three protagonists react in their own ways, including just after the bombs fall. That this event will impact history is without doubt, though the way in which it does so, in the immediate aftermath, is something that Shaara explores with the reader in great detail. Full of all emotions there are, Shaara pulls the reader into this over that takes place over a single 12 month period. Chilling and yet unputdownable at the same time, Jeff Shaara proves why he is the master of this genre and a man that all those with a love of history (particularly military) need to find this book for their reading pleasure.
I am the first to admit that Shaara and his father helped introduce me to military history told with a fictional flavouring, thereby making it a tad more palatable to someone who is not keen on guns and troop movements. Shaara takes the events in history and breathes life into them, while telling some of the better known aspects and adding some gems from his research. The greatest part of the novel is the introduction of characters and dialogue, which adds a dimension and allows the layperson to love the story just as much as those who know the intricacies of the history and military movements. Choosing a simple American boy to offer the reader that ‘wet behind the ears’ perspective is masterful, injecting a naive approach to war and the evils of it all. Then layering two strong men whose accomplishments brought about the power that both America and Japan showed helps to give depth to the seriousness of these events, and the diplomatic to and fro that took place. Shaara wastes little time in the book, offering a rotating narrative and filling the reader with needed information as the story progresses, pushing some of his theories and perspectives he discovered throughout his research. With a mix of short and longer chapters, the reader is able to see how these twelve months were so important in bringing the US into the Second World War, as well as how quickly things changed. I would venture to say that much of the ‘fiction’ offered to this book comes from the dialogue, which must have been at least partially invested. Otherwise, this is a history heavy book that is easily read and loved by all. There is even the usual afterward, which pulls some of the characters out of the book and provides true biographies of what happened to them, if only to whet the appetite of the curious reader. While Shaara had originally promised readers a book on the Cuban Missile Crisis (unless I misread some of the publicity than emerged a few months after Shaara’s last publication), that may have been placed on the back burner to offer this sensational novel, making the longer wait worth it. Brilliant and captivating seem too little to describe this piece, but I will use them for now. Makes me debate if I want to spend a month and binge all of Shaara’s work to feel this energy again.
Kudos, Mr. Shaara, for your brilliance and passion with storytelling. I hope others find the love for your writing that I, a mere Canadian, have found.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
I am the first to admit that Shaara and his father helped introduce me to military history told with a fictional flavouring, thereby making it a tad more palatable to someone who is not keen on guns and troop movements. Shaara takes the events in history and breathes life into them, while telling some of the better known aspects and adding some gems from his research. The greatest part of the novel is the introduction of characters and dialogue, which adds a dimension and allows the layperson to love the story just as much as those who know the intricacies of the history and military movements. Choosing a simple American boy to offer the reader that ‘wet behind the ears’ perspective is masterful, injecting a naive approach to war and the evils of it all. Then layering two strong men whose accomplishments brought about the power that both America and Japan showed helps to give depth to the seriousness of these events, and the diplomatic to and fro that took place. Shaara wastes little time in the book, offering a rotating narrative and filling the reader with needed information as the story progresses, pushing some of his theories and perspectives he discovered throughout his research. With a mix of short and longer chapters, the reader is able to see how these twelve months were so important in bringing the US into the Second World War, as well as how quickly things changed. I would venture to say that much of the ‘fiction’ offered to this book comes from the dialogue, which must have been at least partially invested. Otherwise, this is a history heavy book that is easily read and loved by all. There is even the usual afterward, which pulls some of the characters out of the book and provides true biographies of what happened to them, if only to whet the appetite of the curious reader. While Shaara had originally promised readers a book on the Cuban Missile Crisis (unless I misread some of the publicity than emerged a few months after Shaara’s last publication), that may have been placed on the back burner to offer this sensational novel, making the longer wait worth it. Brilliant and captivating seem too little to describe this piece, but I will use them for now. Makes me debate if I want to spend a month and binge all of Shaara’s work to feel this energy again.
Kudos, Mr. Shaara, for your brilliance and passion with storytelling. I hope others find the love for your writing that I, a mere Canadian, have found.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
May 31, 2020
“It’s the admirals, sir, playing with us like this is their own big-assed bathtub and we’re just toys.”
Jeff Shaara has written some of the best war stories ever published, and he’s done so for almost 25 years. I have read every last one of them. When I was invited to read and review his new novel about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by Random House Ballantine and Net Galley, I was delighted, but also slightly apprehensive, because even after all these years, the subject remains an incendiary one; I needn’t have worried. This may be Shaara’s best book, and that’s saying a lot.
I’ll share a brief note about my own biases going in. My father was among the last men called to serve during World War II; he never left the U.S., however, where he was tasked with training new recruits to the still-new U.S. Air Force. But I grew up hearing about Japanese atrocities, and many of the bizarre stereotypes and misconceptions based on pseudoscience were told to me as fact. When as an adult I announced that I was about to marry a Japanese citizen, I sounded the waters with my family to see if there was resistance. I was told that my parents “still remember Pearl Harbor.” Meanwhile, my husband’s father also served during World War II—in the Japanese army. The topic was never raised by his parents around me, or at all as far as I know; but I asked my spouse a few questions to help me understand the Japanese perspective about this horrific conflict, and then I understood exactly how erroneous most of what I’d been raised to believe actually was.
So I was primed to read this book, and also a little afraid of what I might find. My internal map of Pearl Harbor was studded with emotional landmines, and at the book’s conclusion, none of them had been tripped.
Shaara tells this story primarily through the eyes of three people: Cordell Hull, U.S. Secretary of State under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Admiral Yamamoto, the Japanese architect of the invasion; and Tommy Biggs, a 19-year-old naval recruit from an impoverished Caucasian family in rural Florida.
Shaara faithfully incorporates a character from the rank and file in every story; he does this even if there is nobody on record that he can report on, and so often, he is forced to create a fictional character based on experiences and characteristics from several people. When I saw no such disclaimer in any of his notes, I grew curious and wrote and asked him whether this is the case with Biggs. He replied that this time there is a Tommy Biggs (though the name is not the same), but that he did add the experiences of others in order to flesh him out. So this time, each of the three chief characters is based on an historical figure.
I learned a great deal. Though it’s well known that this attack profoundly crippled the U.S. Navy, sinking or badly damaging most of the fleet, I had never considered it from the Japanese perspective. Looked at in that way, it was not only audacious, it was immaculately planned and wildly successful. I also had never considered what a blunder it was on the part of the U.S. military to leave its equipment, ships, planes, and more so unguarded. In the fallout after the attack, we learn that the Navy considered security to be the job of the U.S. Army and vice-versa. What a colossal bungle.
Japan had emerged victorious from the Russo-Japanese War, and its leadership was suffused with overwhelming confidence. Japanese racial superiority would lead to Japanese dominance throughout China, Indochina, and across all of Asia, they claimed, because they were meant to dominate their portion of the globe. Japanese leaders were convinced that the U.S. would not seek retribution following an attack on its soil because American isolationist sentiment was so strong. They genuinely hoped that this attack would result in an end of the U.S. embargo that crippled Japan, and which existed in order to halt Japanese expansion and force Japan to withdraw from its alliance with the Axis powers. Americans, the Japanese brass told one another, were too big, too slow, too lazy to retaliate. There were voices of dissent, however:
“For any of you who believe the Americans are not worthy of a fight, that they do not have the stomach for blood, perhaps you are familiar with the American Civil War? In the 1860s, they divided and fought each other in the bloodiest war in their history. They did not require any enemy to inspire them. They fought each other. Are you familiar with football?”
Meanwhile the U.S. military, press and popular culture treated the Japanese as a bad joke. One myth dressed up as science suggested that Japan would never be able to build an air force because of an inherent defect in the inner ear of all Japanese. It was physically impossible for them to become pilots! The condescension was rife, everywhere one turned. Hollywood depicted the Japanese as ridiculous, rodent-like creatures with minds that didn’t function properly. The Chicago Tribune stated that for Japan to attack the U.S. was “a military impossibility.” Japanese were said to be too myopic to be effective against a military target. And it goes on.
There’s all sorts of blame to spread around. Nobody in Washington, D.C. had told the top brass at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Short, about the project named Magic, which intercepted and broke Japanese code. They had no idea that Japan was rattling its sabers to such a degree. And these two men appear to have been lazy, bureaucratic fools that ignored what little intelligence came their way. For example, shortly before the attack, the man on watch sees a Japanese sub in the water. Kimmel immediately assumes that the guard has seen a whale, and he goes back to bed.
There are three aspects of this novel that keep the pages turning for me. The first, of course, is my interest in military history. Shaara’s research is meticulous. The book is historical fiction at its best, which is when the contours of the story, even fairly detailed aspects of it, are correct, but the fictional genre is chosen so that dialogue and inner monologue can be added. Second is Shaara’s perceptive nature, and it’s this that permits him to choose the best details to include and cut what is inessential so that pacing never flags. And finally, his capacity to develop a character so that we feel we know him is matchless; in particular I bond to poor Tommy Biggs, a guy that can’t catch a break, until he can.
Nothing I can say will serve as well as what Shaara says himself. Get this book, even if you have to pony up full cover price. This is hands down the best fictional representation of Pearl Harbor on sale today. Believe it.
Jeff Shaara has written some of the best war stories ever published, and he’s done so for almost 25 years. I have read every last one of them. When I was invited to read and review his new novel about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by Random House Ballantine and Net Galley, I was delighted, but also slightly apprehensive, because even after all these years, the subject remains an incendiary one; I needn’t have worried. This may be Shaara’s best book, and that’s saying a lot.
I’ll share a brief note about my own biases going in. My father was among the last men called to serve during World War II; he never left the U.S., however, where he was tasked with training new recruits to the still-new U.S. Air Force. But I grew up hearing about Japanese atrocities, and many of the bizarre stereotypes and misconceptions based on pseudoscience were told to me as fact. When as an adult I announced that I was about to marry a Japanese citizen, I sounded the waters with my family to see if there was resistance. I was told that my parents “still remember Pearl Harbor.” Meanwhile, my husband’s father also served during World War II—in the Japanese army. The topic was never raised by his parents around me, or at all as far as I know; but I asked my spouse a few questions to help me understand the Japanese perspective about this horrific conflict, and then I understood exactly how erroneous most of what I’d been raised to believe actually was.
So I was primed to read this book, and also a little afraid of what I might find. My internal map of Pearl Harbor was studded with emotional landmines, and at the book’s conclusion, none of them had been tripped.
Shaara tells this story primarily through the eyes of three people: Cordell Hull, U.S. Secretary of State under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Admiral Yamamoto, the Japanese architect of the invasion; and Tommy Biggs, a 19-year-old naval recruit from an impoverished Caucasian family in rural Florida.
Shaara faithfully incorporates a character from the rank and file in every story; he does this even if there is nobody on record that he can report on, and so often, he is forced to create a fictional character based on experiences and characteristics from several people. When I saw no such disclaimer in any of his notes, I grew curious and wrote and asked him whether this is the case with Biggs. He replied that this time there is a Tommy Biggs (though the name is not the same), but that he did add the experiences of others in order to flesh him out. So this time, each of the three chief characters is based on an historical figure.
I learned a great deal. Though it’s well known that this attack profoundly crippled the U.S. Navy, sinking or badly damaging most of the fleet, I had never considered it from the Japanese perspective. Looked at in that way, it was not only audacious, it was immaculately planned and wildly successful. I also had never considered what a blunder it was on the part of the U.S. military to leave its equipment, ships, planes, and more so unguarded. In the fallout after the attack, we learn that the Navy considered security to be the job of the U.S. Army and vice-versa. What a colossal bungle.
Japan had emerged victorious from the Russo-Japanese War, and its leadership was suffused with overwhelming confidence. Japanese racial superiority would lead to Japanese dominance throughout China, Indochina, and across all of Asia, they claimed, because they were meant to dominate their portion of the globe. Japanese leaders were convinced that the U.S. would not seek retribution following an attack on its soil because American isolationist sentiment was so strong. They genuinely hoped that this attack would result in an end of the U.S. embargo that crippled Japan, and which existed in order to halt Japanese expansion and force Japan to withdraw from its alliance with the Axis powers. Americans, the Japanese brass told one another, were too big, too slow, too lazy to retaliate. There were voices of dissent, however:
“For any of you who believe the Americans are not worthy of a fight, that they do not have the stomach for blood, perhaps you are familiar with the American Civil War? In the 1860s, they divided and fought each other in the bloodiest war in their history. They did not require any enemy to inspire them. They fought each other. Are you familiar with football?”
Meanwhile the U.S. military, press and popular culture treated the Japanese as a bad joke. One myth dressed up as science suggested that Japan would never be able to build an air force because of an inherent defect in the inner ear of all Japanese. It was physically impossible for them to become pilots! The condescension was rife, everywhere one turned. Hollywood depicted the Japanese as ridiculous, rodent-like creatures with minds that didn’t function properly. The Chicago Tribune stated that for Japan to attack the U.S. was “a military impossibility.” Japanese were said to be too myopic to be effective against a military target. And it goes on.
There’s all sorts of blame to spread around. Nobody in Washington, D.C. had told the top brass at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Short, about the project named Magic, which intercepted and broke Japanese code. They had no idea that Japan was rattling its sabers to such a degree. And these two men appear to have been lazy, bureaucratic fools that ignored what little intelligence came their way. For example, shortly before the attack, the man on watch sees a Japanese sub in the water. Kimmel immediately assumes that the guard has seen a whale, and he goes back to bed.
There are three aspects of this novel that keep the pages turning for me. The first, of course, is my interest in military history. Shaara’s research is meticulous. The book is historical fiction at its best, which is when the contours of the story, even fairly detailed aspects of it, are correct, but the fictional genre is chosen so that dialogue and inner monologue can be added. Second is Shaara’s perceptive nature, and it’s this that permits him to choose the best details to include and cut what is inessential so that pacing never flags. And finally, his capacity to develop a character so that we feel we know him is matchless; in particular I bond to poor Tommy Biggs, a guy that can’t catch a break, until he can.
Nothing I can say will serve as well as what Shaara says himself. Get this book, even if you have to pony up full cover price. This is hands down the best fictional representation of Pearl Harbor on sale today. Believe it.
October 25, 2022
I follow Sharra and collect his books and simply out of fan loyalty I would like to give this book 4 stars. Unfortunately, this book lacks a wow component, something that sets it apart. So I give it my 3 star rating which means it is a good book, worth the purchase price and the time it takes to read it but don't expect any surprises or revelations.
Shaara's books are all historic fictions and the kind of historic fiction that I like. First of all the history is always completely accurate and well researched. While Shaara's books deal with American military history he does not invent stories and characters and then drop them into historic events. Shaara always takes real people that were part of the event being portrayed and that actually lived through the event. The fictional element comes from the fact that the author invents dialogue and conversations for these historic personages. However, the author painstakingly studies these people that he has selected and attempts to create speeches that are consistent with the personality of that person and his/her temper or emotional state in a given setting. This is the format of this most recent publication in which the story is told from 3 perspectives; the Washington D.C. politicians and military figures and primarily Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the Japanese naval planners focusing on Admiral Yamamoto, and a young sailor from Florida whose first posting in the Navy is the U.S.S. Arizona.
I think one of the things that works against this book from my perspective is the fact that the author has decided to use the Pearl Harbor attack for a story basis. Pearl Harbor is one of those military events that has been studied, debated, and written about to such an extent that it challenges the imagination to think anything new can be discovered. Because of that the material dealing with the people in Washington and those in Japan is all very well known, at least to those of us that are history nerds. What is new in the book and what I enjoyed was that part of the book dealing with Tommy Biggs, the young sailor. Tommy doesn't know it but he is part of what will be known as The Greatest Generation. He's 19 living in poverty in Florida with an out of work and bitter father and a long suffering mom. He joins the Navy at the suggestion of a high school friend because there are no jobs and no futures in their corner of the world. He is a kid that hasn't seen or experienced anything in the world. He has his first ever steak meal only after arriving in Honolulu as a rookie sailor rated as a hospital apprentice.
Through Tommy we can learn about the life of an average sailor in 1941. We tour Honolulu and its seedy streets and learn of the native dislike for these sailors. We see the frequently violent rivalry between the sailors and marines and the friendships formed on ships as well as the brutality of ship board life. We then learn about what we all know is coming, the attack. We experience the chaos, destruction, devastation, and carnage aboard the Arizona and see through Tommy's eyes the fate of the Oklahoma, the Vestal and the other ships and their sailors and especially those that survived. Tommy's story alone is worth the price of this book. I visited Oahu and Pearl Harbor several years ago and knew the history but not this history. I wish I had known about Tommy before taking that boat ride out to the Arizona Memorial as it would have made the visit more meaningful, personal. Tommy survived and ended up living and dying in my home town. Tommy had a story we should all know about and there are still a lot, but not a whole lot, of Tommys still with us and we need to preserve their stories but I suggest you read about Tommy Biggs.
Shaara's books are all historic fictions and the kind of historic fiction that I like. First of all the history is always completely accurate and well researched. While Shaara's books deal with American military history he does not invent stories and characters and then drop them into historic events. Shaara always takes real people that were part of the event being portrayed and that actually lived through the event. The fictional element comes from the fact that the author invents dialogue and conversations for these historic personages. However, the author painstakingly studies these people that he has selected and attempts to create speeches that are consistent with the personality of that person and his/her temper or emotional state in a given setting. This is the format of this most recent publication in which the story is told from 3 perspectives; the Washington D.C. politicians and military figures and primarily Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the Japanese naval planners focusing on Admiral Yamamoto, and a young sailor from Florida whose first posting in the Navy is the U.S.S. Arizona.
I think one of the things that works against this book from my perspective is the fact that the author has decided to use the Pearl Harbor attack for a story basis. Pearl Harbor is one of those military events that has been studied, debated, and written about to such an extent that it challenges the imagination to think anything new can be discovered. Because of that the material dealing with the people in Washington and those in Japan is all very well known, at least to those of us that are history nerds. What is new in the book and what I enjoyed was that part of the book dealing with Tommy Biggs, the young sailor. Tommy doesn't know it but he is part of what will be known as The Greatest Generation. He's 19 living in poverty in Florida with an out of work and bitter father and a long suffering mom. He joins the Navy at the suggestion of a high school friend because there are no jobs and no futures in their corner of the world. He is a kid that hasn't seen or experienced anything in the world. He has his first ever steak meal only after arriving in Honolulu as a rookie sailor rated as a hospital apprentice.
Through Tommy we can learn about the life of an average sailor in 1941. We tour Honolulu and its seedy streets and learn of the native dislike for these sailors. We see the frequently violent rivalry between the sailors and marines and the friendships formed on ships as well as the brutality of ship board life. We then learn about what we all know is coming, the attack. We experience the chaos, destruction, devastation, and carnage aboard the Arizona and see through Tommy's eyes the fate of the Oklahoma, the Vestal and the other ships and their sailors and especially those that survived. Tommy's story alone is worth the price of this book. I visited Oahu and Pearl Harbor several years ago and knew the history but not this history. I wish I had known about Tommy before taking that boat ride out to the Arizona Memorial as it would have made the visit more meaningful, personal. Tommy survived and ended up living and dying in my home town. Tommy had a story we should all know about and there are still a lot, but not a whole lot, of Tommys still with us and we need to preserve their stories but I suggest you read about Tommy Biggs.
June 7, 2020
Jeff Shaara makes the events leading up to Pearl Harbor, the attack itself, and it's aftermath come alive in this novel. He tells the story through three principle characters:
Cordell Hull is President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of State who tried to approach and resolve the problem with Japan using diplomatic means.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is the architect of the invasion and who had to convince those around him that the only hope Japan has is a preemptive strike at Pearl Harbor that could delay things by six months.
Seaman Tommy Biggs a nineteen year old from a small town in Florida. He is a gifted hitter at baseball but there is no chance the Yankees are going to discover him and there are no jobs to be had during the Depression. When his best friend joins the Navy he quickly signs up too. After boot camp he is assigned to the USS Arizona as a hospital apprentice.
Japan had emerged the victor in the Russo-Japanese war and believed they were the superior race who would dominate China, Indo-China, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. They looked at the past and decided that was proof.
The United States in the meantime was focused on Hitler and the events in Europe. No one took Japan seriously. The Japanese were short, wore Coke bottle glasses, and could not fly airplanes because of defects in the inner ear. There was also the strong isolationist sentiment. Americans simply did not want to get involved in the problems of others. We were separated from Europe and Japan by oceans. Let them deal with their own problems.
The author makes the reader feel as though they are actually there as events unfold. You are in Washington D.C. as the president and his cabinet try to deal with Japan and the events unfolding in the Pacific while at the same time trying to deal with Winston Churchill's calls for help in dealing with Hitler. You are in Japan as the attack plan is laid out and their Navy train for the attack. And you are onboard the USS Arizona as Tommy and his shipmates go through their daily routine and when they are in port going on liberty.
It is easy to look back and ask how this could have happened? How could the United States have been so unprepared? How could the United States have left it ships, planes, and equipment so vulnerable? After reading this novel I have a better understanding. The characters, both fictional and real, make you feel as though you are there with them as events unfold and what they are thinking. The description of the attack is horrific. I have seen photos, movies, and read other accounts but nothing comes close to how the author manages to convey the horror and what the sailors saw, heard, and smelled at the attack unfolded.
Thank you to Goodreads and Random House / Ballantine for this advance reading copy.
Cordell Hull is President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of State who tried to approach and resolve the problem with Japan using diplomatic means.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is the architect of the invasion and who had to convince those around him that the only hope Japan has is a preemptive strike at Pearl Harbor that could delay things by six months.
Seaman Tommy Biggs a nineteen year old from a small town in Florida. He is a gifted hitter at baseball but there is no chance the Yankees are going to discover him and there are no jobs to be had during the Depression. When his best friend joins the Navy he quickly signs up too. After boot camp he is assigned to the USS Arizona as a hospital apprentice.
Japan had emerged the victor in the Russo-Japanese war and believed they were the superior race who would dominate China, Indo-China, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. They looked at the past and decided that was proof.
The United States in the meantime was focused on Hitler and the events in Europe. No one took Japan seriously. The Japanese were short, wore Coke bottle glasses, and could not fly airplanes because of defects in the inner ear. There was also the strong isolationist sentiment. Americans simply did not want to get involved in the problems of others. We were separated from Europe and Japan by oceans. Let them deal with their own problems.
The author makes the reader feel as though they are actually there as events unfold. You are in Washington D.C. as the president and his cabinet try to deal with Japan and the events unfolding in the Pacific while at the same time trying to deal with Winston Churchill's calls for help in dealing with Hitler. You are in Japan as the attack plan is laid out and their Navy train for the attack. And you are onboard the USS Arizona as Tommy and his shipmates go through their daily routine and when they are in port going on liberty.
It is easy to look back and ask how this could have happened? How could the United States have been so unprepared? How could the United States have left it ships, planes, and equipment so vulnerable? After reading this novel I have a better understanding. The characters, both fictional and real, make you feel as though you are there with them as events unfold and what they are thinking. The description of the attack is horrific. I have seen photos, movies, and read other accounts but nothing comes close to how the author manages to convey the horror and what the sailors saw, heard, and smelled at the attack unfolded.
Thank you to Goodreads and Random House / Ballantine for this advance reading copy.
September 14, 2020
Like all books by Shaara, To Wake The Giant weaves true life events into a story which draws in the reader. Admittedly, I've always viewed the attack of Pearl Harbor to be what I learned in high school: names and dates, maybe a sprinkling of the whys and hows, maybe a little about the consequences, etc. For those alive on this "date which will live in infamy", it was their 9/11 moment. The author is able to pull you back in time by following the words, thoughts and actions of those who witnessed it first hand, from President all the way down to Airman Tommy Biggs. I find it amazing how Shaara does this, and have read almost all of his books. This was not my "favorite", but was right up there with it.
March 28, 2020
528 pages
5 stars
This book deals with three personalities in the main: Secretary of State Cordell Hull President Franklin D. Roosevelt's right-hand man, Seaman Tommy Biggs who is a Hospital Apprentice and baseball batter with talent and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto who thinks the only hope that Japan has of maybe winning a war with the United States is to make a preemptive attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Admiral Yamamoto wants to buy Japan maybe six months with his planned attack, but the rest of the military is against his plan. He must convince them that it is the only way.
Cordell Hull is beset with problems. A good friend of President Roosevelt's, he must deal with various dispatches that mean not what they say, disingenuous ambassadors, and a severely divided military. Those that think Japan is a real threat, those that don't and just where they may attack is given the opportunity.
Tommy Biggs escapes a dying little town in Florida with his best friend to join the Navy. He has some real talent as a baseball player, but he knows there is no hope of going to college or being scouted in his little town. He gets his wish when he is assigned as a Hospital Apprentice – and on the Arizona ! His only problem is a petty officer named Kincaid who seems to hate him. Why he has picked Tommy out of the several thousand men on the ship is anybody's guess.
These three personages, as well as other well known Americans and Japanese come to life in Mr. Shaara’s latest novel. I can well appreciate how difficult this book was to write. It was such a milestone is so many Americans' lives. The author brings color and life to all of his characters. They are so very real that the reader really gets insight into their actions and motivations. As the old television show used to tout: “You are there!” We are in the offices, wardrooms and all other locations described. My hat is off to Mr. Shaara for the energy he brings to all his novels. He is a very fine writer.
I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Ballantine for forwarding to me a copy of this very fine book for me to read, enjoy and review.
5 stars
This book deals with three personalities in the main: Secretary of State Cordell Hull President Franklin D. Roosevelt's right-hand man, Seaman Tommy Biggs who is a Hospital Apprentice and baseball batter with talent and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto who thinks the only hope that Japan has of maybe winning a war with the United States is to make a preemptive attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Admiral Yamamoto wants to buy Japan maybe six months with his planned attack, but the rest of the military is against his plan. He must convince them that it is the only way.
Cordell Hull is beset with problems. A good friend of President Roosevelt's, he must deal with various dispatches that mean not what they say, disingenuous ambassadors, and a severely divided military. Those that think Japan is a real threat, those that don't and just where they may attack is given the opportunity.
Tommy Biggs escapes a dying little town in Florida with his best friend to join the Navy. He has some real talent as a baseball player, but he knows there is no hope of going to college or being scouted in his little town. He gets his wish when he is assigned as a Hospital Apprentice – and on the Arizona ! His only problem is a petty officer named Kincaid who seems to hate him. Why he has picked Tommy out of the several thousand men on the ship is anybody's guess.
These three personages, as well as other well known Americans and Japanese come to life in Mr. Shaara’s latest novel. I can well appreciate how difficult this book was to write. It was such a milestone is so many Americans' lives. The author brings color and life to all of his characters. They are so very real that the reader really gets insight into their actions and motivations. As the old television show used to tout: “You are there!” We are in the offices, wardrooms and all other locations described. My hat is off to Mr. Shaara for the energy he brings to all his novels. He is a very fine writer.
I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Ballantine for forwarding to me a copy of this very fine book for me to read, enjoy and review.
August 8, 2020
This is the story of the bombing of Pearl Harbor primarily told through personal experiences. The three main characters are Tommy Biggs, a 19 year old enlisted man assigned to the Arizona, Cordell Hull, the US Secretary of State and Isoroku Yamamoto, an Admiral in Japan’s imperial Navy.
Others such as Minoru Genda (who oversaw the operation), US Admiral Husband Kimmel/US Commander Joseph Rochefort (who were caught unprepared), Tarro Yoshikawa (a spy), Lt. William Outerbridge (who destroyed a submarine prior to the attack) and George Elliot (who did not pass on information about the incoming planes) rate chapters. There are more key characters.
While the work is fiction, I understand that all the events are actual covering the art of US-Japan pre-war diplomacy, Yamamoto’s skepticism and what it was like on the Arizona before and during the raid. You come to appreciate the planning and training that went into the attack as well as how such a large operation was kept secret. You see of how the key elements of the US military’s information system failed.
I liked that at the end of the book, the author profiles the later lives of key players.
This is could have been a great book, on the order of the author’s father’s The Killer Angels. It is well researched, the characters well chosen. There are good portrayals of the diplomatic dance, Roosevelt’s manner, Yamamoto’s navigation of internal Army-Navy politics, the battle itself and the how the injured were managed. This is brought down by the overwriting of some episodes such as Biggs’s romance, the daily life of the spy, and the character of the Petty Officer, to name a few. Another negative is that the dialog (which is a large part of the text) has all the characters from the enlisted men to the officers to the doctors with the same voice.
Despite the weaknesses I still page turned and increased my understanding of how this happened.
Others such as Minoru Genda (who oversaw the operation), US Admiral Husband Kimmel/US Commander Joseph Rochefort (who were caught unprepared), Tarro Yoshikawa (a spy), Lt. William Outerbridge (who destroyed a submarine prior to the attack) and George Elliot (who did not pass on information about the incoming planes) rate chapters. There are more key characters.
While the work is fiction, I understand that all the events are actual covering the art of US-Japan pre-war diplomacy, Yamamoto’s skepticism and what it was like on the Arizona before and during the raid. You come to appreciate the planning and training that went into the attack as well as how such a large operation was kept secret. You see of how the key elements of the US military’s information system failed.
I liked that at the end of the book, the author profiles the later lives of key players.
This is could have been a great book, on the order of the author’s father’s The Killer Angels. It is well researched, the characters well chosen. There are good portrayals of the diplomatic dance, Roosevelt’s manner, Yamamoto’s navigation of internal Army-Navy politics, the battle itself and the how the injured were managed. This is brought down by the overwriting of some episodes such as Biggs’s romance, the daily life of the spy, and the character of the Petty Officer, to name a few. Another negative is that the dialog (which is a large part of the text) has all the characters from the enlisted men to the officers to the doctors with the same voice.
Despite the weaknesses I still page turned and increased my understanding of how this happened.
June 3, 2020
That's it, my last Shaara book. Terrible and sloppy research.
First, he does not understand the US defense establishment. He places the Secretary of the Navy subordinate to the Secretary of War (actually Army). WRONG. From about 1795 until 1947, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy were equal cabinet level posts, independent of each other. In 1947 the Defense Department was created at cabinet level and the Navy, Army, and Air Force were subordinate to it.
Uboats were not ravaging the US coast in early 1941, that did not happen until early 1942. The Icelandic government was worried about a German landing in 1941, the British had occupied it in May 1940. The USN was not sinking Uboats in 1941. Kimmel was officially commander of the US Fleet, not the Pacific Fleet. His fleet had 9 battleships on December 6, 1941, not 8 (the Colorado was in Bremerton). German invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 and the world knew about it within hours, not up to 5 days later. The Prince of Wales and Repulse was sunk December 10, 1941, not early 1942.
These are the ones I remembered with keeping a written list. I've bought all of his books, but no more. And his writing style keeps getting more tiresome.
First, he does not understand the US defense establishment. He places the Secretary of the Navy subordinate to the Secretary of War (actually Army). WRONG. From about 1795 until 1947, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy were equal cabinet level posts, independent of each other. In 1947 the Defense Department was created at cabinet level and the Navy, Army, and Air Force were subordinate to it.
Uboats were not ravaging the US coast in early 1941, that did not happen until early 1942. The Icelandic government was worried about a German landing in 1941, the British had occupied it in May 1940. The USN was not sinking Uboats in 1941. Kimmel was officially commander of the US Fleet, not the Pacific Fleet. His fleet had 9 battleships on December 6, 1941, not 8 (the Colorado was in Bremerton). German invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 and the world knew about it within hours, not up to 5 days later. The Prince of Wales and Repulse was sunk December 10, 1941, not early 1942.
These are the ones I remembered with keeping a written list. I've bought all of his books, but no more. And his writing style keeps getting more tiresome.
June 21, 2020
Shaara writes as if paid by every single page. The aerial attack on Pearl Harbor doesn't take place until Chapter 35. A Hospital Apprentice would not have gone directly to the fleet from bootcamp at Great Lakes. He would have first attended Hospital Corps School there (as I did some 50 years ago).
Navy Chiefs are not addressed as "sir". That respect is only directed to officers. The Prince of Wales and the Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941, not "early in 1942".
Navy Chiefs are not addressed as "sir". That respect is only directed to officers. The Prince of Wales and the Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941, not "early in 1942".
August 7, 2020
I have always described historical fiction (HF) as the appetizer before the main course as even an average HF can whet a reader’s appetite to read and research the ‘true’ history. In the case of Jeff Shaara’s book about the events leading to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, my experience was completely opposite as it was this book that humanized a tragic attack on an unprepared nation and presented me the opportunity to share the author’s emotional experience. In his “To The Reader” remarks, Shaara writes that “there were times when the story simply became too emotional to write” as he described the events aboard the USS Arizona that tragic morning. I came to understand just how difficult a task it had to be to give life to the horrors experienced by the sailors and Marines aboard the beleaguered battleship under assault that horrific Sunday morning. Although he followed the events leading to “the Day of Infamy” through various actors, it is the story of Hospital Apprentice 2/C Tommy Biggs that truly elevated the son’s writing above his father’s superlative Pulitzer Prize winning The Killer Angels. This is simply a great book for a reader whether he/she be an historical expert or novice.
December 6, 2021
A very personal and detailed account of the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the attack itself, and its aftermath. A look at American and Japanese generals, admirals, politicians, and sailors.
August 8, 2020
Jeff Shaara has done an excellent story on the attack of Pearl Harbor using historical fiction to explain it. The majority of us know the event that took place on December 7, 1941. We know how it ends and the toll it took on our military. There has been endless novels written about this event but this is the first time I have read one using three characters to tell the story of the attack. Sec. of State Cordell Hull, President FDR's right man, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and American Seaman Tommy Biggs are the focus of this narrative. Each character gives us his version of the attack and their personalities read well as the dialogue fits the character. Shaara's meticulous research and his capacity to develop each character is matchless. I quickly identified with Seaman Tommy Biggs. His chapters gave me more insight into the common person who went through the attack. I came to learn to care more about Tommy Biggs than the well know figures we all recognize by name. Many historical novels provide the facts and the events. This novel took a different approach and fully develops and shares the stories of characters and it worked.
August 1, 2020
Historical fiction that puts you in the setting. It is crafted so well, you can almost dispense with the "fiction" label. Shaara handles the dynamics of fitting individual characters into the backdrop of the global perspective very efficiently. And he does so as he gradually raises the drama level.
The attention to detail on the Japanese preparation and diplomatic intrigues is particularly laudable. Yamamato and the ambassadors to the U.S. are clearly trapped in policy tides not of their own making. The imperial government led by bellicose military types are geared toward conflict and despite their reservations, Yamamato et al are duty bound to comply. American complacency and misreading of Japanese intentions only magnifies the threat and ultimate catastrophe. Again kudos for the skillful handling of these intricate interactions.
The terror, confusion, and suffering incurred during the battle scenes and the traumatic aftermath make for a potent and poignant final phases.
Definitely a solid five star rating and I look forward to the next edition.
The attention to detail on the Japanese preparation and diplomatic intrigues is particularly laudable. Yamamato and the ambassadors to the U.S. are clearly trapped in policy tides not of their own making. The imperial government led by bellicose military types are geared toward conflict and despite their reservations, Yamamato et al are duty bound to comply. American complacency and misreading of Japanese intentions only magnifies the threat and ultimate catastrophe. Again kudos for the skillful handling of these intricate interactions.
The terror, confusion, and suffering incurred during the battle scenes and the traumatic aftermath make for a potent and poignant final phases.
Definitely a solid five star rating and I look forward to the next edition.
March 25, 2020
I love historical fiction but I must admit I am picky about what I read. I try never to miss a book by Jeff Shaara though, and was very happy to be able to read this ARC from NetGalley. Once again he brings his literary skills to bear on a singular novel of the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Using historical figures of the time interspersed with fictional characters this story is told with clarity and exceptional knowledge of the subject matter. The majority of us know the event that took place on December 7, 1941, we know how it ends and the toll it took on our military. But you can't help but be immersed in Mr. Shaara's version and it will hold you spellbound until the bitter end. Even though you know what happens to the U. S. S. Arizona you can't help but find yourself there that fateful day when the world changed.
I highly recommend this book!
Using historical figures of the time interspersed with fictional characters this story is told with clarity and exceptional knowledge of the subject matter. The majority of us know the event that took place on December 7, 1941, we know how it ends and the toll it took on our military. But you can't help but be immersed in Mr. Shaara's version and it will hold you spellbound until the bitter end. Even though you know what happens to the U. S. S. Arizona you can't help but find yourself there that fateful day when the world changed.
I highly recommend this book!
October 12, 2020
An excellent book. All you have to do is overlook the bureaucratic crap from both sides at the beginning and the end.
To Wake the Giant looks at Pearl Harbor from 3 unique perspectives. It starts about a year before Pearl from the U.S., Japanese, and from aboard the Arizona.
The Japanese military was mostly a bunch of old fools. From the early process to immediately after they opposed it every step of the way, including after the attack when they were afraid of U.S. retaliation, they turned tail and headed home.
The U.S. military was in a word, naive. They refused to believe the warning signs even as they became more evident. Even after the attack they all stood around pointing fingers and refusing to face the blame.
The Arizona and it's crew were the focal point of the book. There were almost 1200 casualties on the Arizona, almost half of the total for the entire attack. The survivors from the Arizona totaled 335.
My question is, why couldn't the U.S military cooperate with each other? Seems they were more interested in the Army-Navy game or their next round of golf.
Five stars for the reaction of the crew amid the turbulence of the aftermath; also for the scenes in the burn unit. Even the doctors could stay for no longer than an hour due to the stench of burned flesh.
To Wake the Giant looks at Pearl Harbor from 3 unique perspectives. It starts about a year before Pearl from the U.S., Japanese, and from aboard the Arizona.
The Japanese military was mostly a bunch of old fools. From the early process to immediately after they opposed it every step of the way, including after the attack when they were afraid of U.S. retaliation, they turned tail and headed home.
The U.S. military was in a word, naive. They refused to believe the warning signs even as they became more evident. Even after the attack they all stood around pointing fingers and refusing to face the blame.
The Arizona and it's crew were the focal point of the book. There were almost 1200 casualties on the Arizona, almost half of the total for the entire attack. The survivors from the Arizona totaled 335.
My question is, why couldn't the U.S military cooperate with each other? Seems they were more interested in the Army-Navy game or their next round of golf.
Five stars for the reaction of the crew amid the turbulence of the aftermath; also for the scenes in the burn unit. Even the doctors could stay for no longer than an hour due to the stench of burned flesh.
September 19, 2021
I admit it, I am a Jeff Shaara fan. His father's book "Killer Angels" is among my top ten, the book having been made into the movie Gettysburg. After his father's passing, Jeff picked up the torch and wrote two novels to round out the civil war series. Like his father, he tells the tale of war from the viewpoint of multiple folks - the folks doing the shooting, the folks plotting the action and the politicians directing the policy. He has now taken on virtually every war America has been involved in and manages to present history in a most readable fashion. (If school books were this interesting, I would know a lot more history!)
This one, as noted, deals with Pearl Harbor from the planning and political machinations of the Japan to the action aboard the ships as the attacks take place. I have been to a number of signing/lecture presentations by Jeff and have enjoyed those as much as the books. So, if you get to chance to meet him, do so. Otherwise, this book joins a most worthy canon of war fiction. Well researched, well written, and most informative.
This one, as noted, deals with Pearl Harbor from the planning and political machinations of the Japan to the action aboard the ships as the attacks take place. I have been to a number of signing/lecture presentations by Jeff and have enjoyed those as much as the books. So, if you get to chance to meet him, do so. Otherwise, this book joins a most worthy canon of war fiction. Well researched, well written, and most informative.
November 19, 2021
Finally finished this book, Mr. Shaara delivers once again. Ah the build up, a shame the main gist lasted a few chapters. All in all a good book.
September 30, 2020
I've always been enthralled by the "Greatest Generation's" 9/11...From Walter Lord to Gordon W. Prange, I've eaten up much that has been written about the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as visiting the site and taking in the whole experience...Jeff Shaara always, in his retelling of familiar stories, brings a certain "humanity" by personalizing the event with it being viewed through the eyes of some of the participants, allowing the reader to be immersed in "Time & Place" of an event...Along with a number of well-known tertiary characters, the lead up to the attack, as well as the attack itself, Shaara gives us this "Time & Place" perspective through the eyes of Secretary of State Cordell Hull, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's right-hand man, Seaman Tommy Biggs who is a Hospital Apprentice assigned to the USS Arizona and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese strategist behind the attack...Wonderful Stuff!!!
October 7, 2020
Another excellent Jeff Shaara novel! Shaara's mastery of military history and narrative is displayed yet again. This time the focus is mainly on the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. All of the deception, planning, confusion and arrogance on all sides is brilliantly portrayed. I greatly enjoy Shaara's balance between characters who have more of the bird's eye view and grand strategy of things with characters on the ground who were directly effected by everything that happened. Pearl Harbor is an event in American and world history that should neve be forgotten and this novel is a wonderful novel to help us all remember the importance of that infamous day.
March 5, 2021
Jeff Shaara has followed in his Pulitzer-Prize winning father's footsteps, and writes historical fiction that is so source-based, it should almost be called non-fiction. To Wake the Giant is an eyebrow-raising account of the year leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, full of twisted diplomacy, disagreements among government and military leaders (both in the U.S. and Japan), and a racist disregard by both countries for their soon-to-be adversary.
I really enjoyed that this book takes on the "big guys" of the story - FDR, Cordell Hull, Henry Stimson, Husband Kimmel, Minoru Genda, Admiral Yamamoto, Ambassador Nomura - but also lets us experience 1941 through the eyes of Seaman Tommy Biggs, a small-town Florida kid who ends up on the USS Arizona. By looking at the bombing of Pearl Harbor from all these perspectives and more, one comes away with a pretty good idea of where America went wrong in intelligence, preparation, and reaction to the chaotic attack.
Very enjoyable way to learn history! 4 stars.
I really enjoyed that this book takes on the "big guys" of the story - FDR, Cordell Hull, Henry Stimson, Husband Kimmel, Minoru Genda, Admiral Yamamoto, Ambassador Nomura - but also lets us experience 1941 through the eyes of Seaman Tommy Biggs, a small-town Florida kid who ends up on the USS Arizona. By looking at the bombing of Pearl Harbor from all these perspectives and more, one comes away with a pretty good idea of where America went wrong in intelligence, preparation, and reaction to the chaotic attack.
Very enjoyable way to learn history! 4 stars.
December 5, 2023
This book first deserves credit for pulling me out of an epic reading slump. Several tried, and this one succeeded, so that’s worth something.
That said, I enjoyed the book even if by the end I found it perhaps overlong (the first act probably could have used some trimming). As someone who is woefully ignorant of many details of the Pacific theater of WWII relative to those of the European theater, I learned a lot from this fictionalized accounting, whose structure around the points of view of key American and Japanese figures is particularly intriguing.
That said, I enjoyed the book even if by the end I found it perhaps overlong (the first act probably could have used some trimming). As someone who is woefully ignorant of many details of the Pacific theater of WWII relative to those of the European theater, I learned a lot from this fictionalized accounting, whose structure around the points of view of key American and Japanese figures is particularly intriguing.
September 12, 2021
This book does a great job of presenting a balanced view of Pearl Harbor, from both an American and Japanese point of view. The author did his usual great job of deeply researching the subject matter. The end result is a very emotional and highly readable book. If you have read any of Shaara's earlier works, you will appreciate this book. If you haven't read Shaara before, you are in for a treat with this entry.
January 17, 2023
Great book. It's a novel, but is a thoroughly historical account, as can be seen by the research Shaara did. Well worth reading for a solid, balanced treatment from both the American and Japanese perspectives of the slow progression toward the inevitable collision on December 7, 1941.
September 2, 2024
Excellent book on the attack on Pearl Harbor. Loved it as it was told by a person who was there.
May 23, 2020
Jeff Shaara truly has a gift of making history come alive.
Over a year ago, I went to the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredricksburg, TX. Now, I have read a LOT of historical fiction in my life and more than my fair share of WWII books. But as I walked through the museum, I realized just how little I know about the Pacific Theater of WWII. Because I'm me, I immediately started searching for historical fiction set during that time and also went to Jeff Shaara's website to see if he had anything on that topic. Lo and behold, just a few days before he had posted that he was working on a book that covered the events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the bombing itself. I have been anxiously awaiting this book ever since.
And it was everything I hoped for. As I mentioned on my review for Gods and Generals, Shaara has a masterful way of telling multiple sides of the story. And instead of choosing to tell the story from Roosevelt or a general's point of view, Shaara made the decision to follow 19-year-old enlisted Tommy Biggs who is stationed on the USS Arizona (giving insight into the daily life and perspective of an enlisted sailor before the American part of the war began), Secretary of State Cordell Hull (which gives insight into the "peace" negotiations with the Japanese Ambassador), and Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (giving insight into the Japanese thinking and planning that we typically don't hear much about.
There is also a long Afterward giving further details on the characters and research into the "was there a conspiracy and did someone in American know the Japanese were going to bomb and say nothing?" I appreciated the thoroughness and research in this section. It also sets up the next book in this series that will cover The Battle of Midway. (That to be honest I remember being a huge and important battle and a whole room dedicated to it at the museum, annnnd that's all I remember. So I'm looking forward both to the book and a museum revisit.)
If you have any interest in learning "the other part" of WWII, I highly recommend this book. The characters are interesting and fully-fleshed, the pacing is mostly great (if you're used to fluffy novels [hey, it's me!], this will definitely feel a little slower, but the pacing leading up to Pearl Harbor is really good and the battle itself is masterfully told), and I learned so much.
Content: while it's not violent and descriptive for the shock factor, war is hell and during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Shaara does not shy away from the horror and destruction. It was heart-rending in the way to make you understand and feel what was happening. The bombs, the fires, the oil spilling into the harbor. It was awful and you feel that. But be warned if you get squeamish reading about death and destruction.
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
Over a year ago, I went to the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredricksburg, TX. Now, I have read a LOT of historical fiction in my life and more than my fair share of WWII books. But as I walked through the museum, I realized just how little I know about the Pacific Theater of WWII. Because I'm me, I immediately started searching for historical fiction set during that time and also went to Jeff Shaara's website to see if he had anything on that topic. Lo and behold, just a few days before he had posted that he was working on a book that covered the events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the bombing itself. I have been anxiously awaiting this book ever since.
And it was everything I hoped for. As I mentioned on my review for Gods and Generals, Shaara has a masterful way of telling multiple sides of the story. And instead of choosing to tell the story from Roosevelt or a general's point of view, Shaara made the decision to follow 19-year-old enlisted Tommy Biggs who is stationed on the USS Arizona (giving insight into the daily life and perspective of an enlisted sailor before the American part of the war began), Secretary of State Cordell Hull (which gives insight into the "peace" negotiations with the Japanese Ambassador), and Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (giving insight into the Japanese thinking and planning that we typically don't hear much about.
There is also a long Afterward giving further details on the characters and research into the "was there a conspiracy and did someone in American know the Japanese were going to bomb and say nothing?" I appreciated the thoroughness and research in this section. It also sets up the next book in this series that will cover The Battle of Midway. (That to be honest I remember being a huge and important battle and a whole room dedicated to it at the museum, annnnd that's all I remember. So I'm looking forward both to the book and a museum revisit.)
If you have any interest in learning "the other part" of WWII, I highly recommend this book. The characters are interesting and fully-fleshed, the pacing is mostly great (if you're used to fluffy novels [hey, it's me!], this will definitely feel a little slower, but the pacing leading up to Pearl Harbor is really good and the battle itself is masterfully told), and I learned so much.
Content: while it's not violent and descriptive for the shock factor, war is hell and during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Shaara does not shy away from the horror and destruction. It was heart-rending in the way to make you understand and feel what was happening. The bombs, the fires, the oil spilling into the harbor. It was awful and you feel that. But be warned if you get squeamish reading about death and destruction.
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
September 28, 2020
Typically excellent work from Mr. Shaara. He truly brings the characters to life and gives a real feel for the experiences of personalities at every level of the conflict
January 4, 2021
When General Billy Mitchell wrote a report in 1924 that not only predicted the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor but how they would do it, it was rejected out of hand.
Those who've seen documentaries and feature films such as "Tora! Tora! Tora!" know before they pick up Jeff Shaara's accurate and well written "To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor" that military commanders and diplomats in the late 1930s and early 1940s continued to reject a Japanese attack out of hand.
Having read all of Jeff Shaara's historical novels, often about subjects I've studied, I'm accustomed to his impeccable research as well as the fact he makes history so human and readable that by the end of each novel, one feels like s/he was there. Unfortunately, some early Amazon reader reviews said Shaara's research on "To Wake the Giant" was sloppy. Subsequently, those reviews were shown to be inaccurate.
Unlike battles that last for days or weeks or months, the attack itself was short. So this book had to be a little different, focusing for many pages on the events leading up to 8 a.m. (25 minutes later than Mitchell's prediction) on the morning of December 7th, 1941. The events prior to the attack not only demonstrate the viewpoints of the major political and military players but show the attitudes of men serving onboard the Arizona and other ships in Pearl Harbor. Shaara the attitudes and emotions of those involved months in advance but while the attack is underway.
The human factor looms large in this novel and that's one of its major strengths. Once again, Shaara has put us into the action in a way we'll never forget.
Those who've seen documentaries and feature films such as "Tora! Tora! Tora!" know before they pick up Jeff Shaara's accurate and well written "To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor" that military commanders and diplomats in the late 1930s and early 1940s continued to reject a Japanese attack out of hand.
Having read all of Jeff Shaara's historical novels, often about subjects I've studied, I'm accustomed to his impeccable research as well as the fact he makes history so human and readable that by the end of each novel, one feels like s/he was there. Unfortunately, some early Amazon reader reviews said Shaara's research on "To Wake the Giant" was sloppy. Subsequently, those reviews were shown to be inaccurate.
Unlike battles that last for days or weeks or months, the attack itself was short. So this book had to be a little different, focusing for many pages on the events leading up to 8 a.m. (25 minutes later than Mitchell's prediction) on the morning of December 7th, 1941. The events prior to the attack not only demonstrate the viewpoints of the major political and military players but show the attitudes of men serving onboard the Arizona and other ships in Pearl Harbor. Shaara the attitudes and emotions of those involved months in advance but while the attack is underway.
The human factor looms large in this novel and that's one of its major strengths. Once again, Shaara has put us into the action in a way we'll never forget.
July 30, 2020
Jeff Shaara continues to lead the pack of authors writing historical military fiction. Almost every American knows the story of Pearl Harbor and 12/7/1941 - "a date which will live in infamy". Still, Shaara's account of the Japanese planning and American indifference make for a gripping narrative that makes the agony of the U.S. soldiers & sailors feel like a gut punch when the bombs fall. Engaging story lines include the diplomacy of Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the high stakes gambling of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and the innocence of teenager Tommy Biggs who joins the Navy to escape the Great Depression. A gripping story told from multiple angles that never glosses over the fact that war is hell. Highly recommended.
May 19, 2020
First, thanks to Goodreads and Random House for the advance copy of To Wake the Giant that I received as a give-away. This work of historical fiction chronicles the year leading up to and including the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The story centers around three people - Secretary of State Cordell Hull, General Yamamoto (who planned the attack) and 19 year-old Tommy Biggs on the USS Arizona.
Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers and this novel came very close to the intensely personal feel and quick reading style of Larson’s books. Shaara certainly brings the tragic losses of Pearl Harbor into vividly focus. I am a first time reader of Jeff Shaara’s work, but will be reading more if they are as engaging and well researched as To Wake the Giant.
Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers and this novel came very close to the intensely personal feel and quick reading style of Larson’s books. Shaara certainly brings the tragic losses of Pearl Harbor into vividly focus. I am a first time reader of Jeff Shaara’s work, but will be reading more if they are as engaging and well researched as To Wake the Giant.
March 31, 2024
A very interesting book on the attack on Pearl Harbor with perspectives on both sides from various individuals involved and / or responsible. We get the perspectives of the planners of the attack from Country of Japan and the tension between the government and military groups involved in discussing the plans. We also get the perspectives of the government and military powers in the United States and what they did with the information they gathered about Japan and what was happening in Europe during WWII. New points of view, and if you believe this information, facts about the infamous day of December 7th. I enjoyed this historical information. Well done, in my opinion.
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