December 7, 1941

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Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness

By Craig Nelson

Gale Group, 845 pages

The America we live in today was born not on July 4, 1776, but on December 7, 1941, when an armada of 354 Japanese warplanes supported by aircraft carriers, destroyers and midget submarines suddenly and savagely attacked the United States, killing 2,403 men—and forced America’s entry into World War II. Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness follows, moment by moment, the sailors, soldiers, pilots, diplomats, admirals, generals, emperor and president as they engineer, fight and react to this stunningly dramatic moment in world history.

Fields of Battle: Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl, and the Boys Who Went to War

By Brian Curtis

Flatiron Books, 320 pages

In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the 1942 Rose Bowl was moved from Pasadena to Durham, North Carolina, out of fear of Japanese attacks on the West Coast. It remains the only Rose Bowl game to ever be played outside Pasadena. Duke University, led by legendary coach Wallace Wade Sr., faced off against underdog Oregon State College, with both teams preparing for a grueling fight on the football field while their thoughts wandered to the battlefields they would soon be on.

From Here to Eternity

Columbia Pictures, 1953

Based on the James Jones novel of the same name, this is one of the best films made about the days leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Filled with romance, rebellion and honesty, the film features excellent performances by Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed.

The Essential Glenn Miller

RCA, 2005

The soundtrack of the “Greatest Generation.” Wisely ignoring a by-release-date-order approach, producer Barry Feldman opts for a track lineup that, plain and simple, sells the Glenn Miller sound to modern ears—across 1940, 1941 and the first half of 1942—zigging and zagging through various “hot” and “sweet” instrumentals and vocal numbers, alternately featuring Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and the Modernaires.

Infamy: The Shocking Story of Japanese American Internment During WWII

By Richard Reeves

Picador, 384 pages

Acclaimed historian Richard Reeves delivers a sweeping narrative of the atrocity. We learn of internees who joined the military to fight for the country that had imprisoned their families, even as others fought for their rights all the way to the Supreme Court. The heart of the book, however, tells the poignant stories of those who endured years in “war relocation camps,” many of whom suffered this injustice with remarkable grace.