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| Authors: Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy Used: $5.59
You Save: $22.36 (80%)
New (46) Used (31) Collectible (3) from $5.59
Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 7206
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 5.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0312363516
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312363512
ASIN: 0312363516
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Recycled Library Edition
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| Customer Reviews:
 Gingrich: Days of Infamy May 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Even better than its predecessor, Pearl Harbor; Infamy too should be required reading for all US high school students.
Same Old Same old, But Better Than Most May 20, 2008
Days of Infamy is an excellent followup to the first book in this series. While not quite as good as the first one, which covered ten years leading up to Pearl Harbor, this one gives us tense and exciting drama that covers a two day period. Other authors have tried to extrapolate what would have happened if that third wave would have come in to bomb our oil supplies. However none have been quite as detailed as this. Some may consider it two detailed as it covers a fantastic duel between our battleships and the Japanese battleships. I can't believe this is only a trilogy as there are so many great subplots to be explored.
I am surprised that any reviewer considered Turtledove's coverage of this period to be superior. Compared to Gingrich and Forstchen he is a hack, though he once was top of the line. One example is how he had Japanese who had never encouuntered Western civilization talking like Americans, slang expressions and all. I can believe the Japanese people in this Gingrich/Fortschen novel. My Japanese friends feel the same way.
It must be noted that scholars have pointed out that a third wave attack would have been the worst thing Japan could have done, for themselves. This is hinted at in Days of Infamy. Had we been delayed in our fighting Japan by even a year, due to production needs and Germany being our priority, we would have had many more than three atomic bombs. Our desire for revenge, against an enemy empire so over extended, would have been a human disater for Japan. Japan would have been turned into a wasteland and would be strictly third world today.
 What if the US hadn't colonized Hawaii? May 20, 2008
5 out of 50 found this review helpful
More interesting than yet another book that idolizes the U.S. empire, I'd like to see a book that speculates what Hawaii would be like if the U.S. hadn't colonized it Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians.
Books like this, their approach and premises, serve to blind U.S. citizens to the infamy of their own acts of aggression. Our crimes have been much worse than the attack on Pearl Harbor, an attack on a naval base. We went after civilians White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We've all been indoctrinated to believe that the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary, despite the fact that many U.S. military leaders felt otherwise. For instance, Dwight Eisenhower said, "During his (Secretary of War Henry Stimson) recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings. First on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary; and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives."
"Days of Infamy" will be interesting for those who "get off on warfare" (to quote McCain's ally, the "reverend" Rod Parsley). It's another expression of our ugly habit of romanticizing war that this society needs to break Beyond the Weapons of Our Fathers. Instead of fantasizing alternative war scenarios, let's imagine justice for the indigenous people of Hawaii, and sorrow for turning Japan into an inferno beyond Dante's worst nightmare.
American Experience: Hawaii's Last Queen
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
Howard Zinn on War
Why We Fight
Days of Infamy May 19, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
A Great Read and a Fascinating "What If?"
Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen have written a compelling story of what might have happened in the four days following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor if strategy and events had been a little different. This is the first work of fiction written by Newt Gingrich that I have read but it certainly will not be the last.
The story is told from multiple perspectives - Admiral Halsey, Admiral Yamamoto, President Roosevelt and, most interestingly, a fictional Nay Commander - James Watson. The characters and the plot are exceedingly well-developed. From this former Marine's perspective, the descriptions of naval combat are believable and quite realistic. You can almost smell the gun powder and feel the concussions.
Granted, part of this story is a work of fiction but it is quite believable and very thought-provoking. There are lessons to be learned - not only about WW II in the Pacific but warfare in general. It occurs to me that this story could very well be used in places like Annapolis, the Army's Command and General Staff College and Sandhurst to create the background for an interesting war game simulation to teach military strategy.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in WW II and military strategy - it really is a great read.
If Yamamoto had led the Fleet Attack on Pearl Harbor May 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
If Admiral Yamamoto had led the Fleet Attack on Pearl Harbor
Messrs Gingrich and Forstchen make some interesting assumptions in their new alternate history thriller Days of Infamy. What would have happened if Admiral Yamamoto had led the fleet attack on Pearl Harbor? What if the missing American aircraft carriers decided to attack the Japanese fleet? Interesting hypotheses among other questions concerning "what ifs" of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although I disagree with some of their assumptions, Messrs Gingrich and Forstchen do a superb job of presenting their theories in this interesting alternate history. They have crafted a very believable novel. The flight and battle scenes are action packed and very well done. The reaction among the major figures is believable and insightful. All in all Messrs Gingrich and Forstchen have done their homework and present a thoughtful and engaging "what if" alternate history of the Days of Infamy surrounding Pearl Harbor.
Character development is spotty at best and generally shallow. The authors assume the reader is well versed in the major historical figures which at times drags the story for want of "why are they doing this?" "What is their motivation?" The fictional characters flesh out the story but are marginally developed which leaves them as one dimensional. Although not required, it would help the readers if they have read the preceding novel in this series.
No gratuitous sex, language, or violence. There are some graphic battle scenes but all are germane to the story.
All in all a firm recommend, particularly if you enjoy alternate histories. The authors have done their homework and written a realistic alternate history to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
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