Most Popular Books by Gordon W. Prange

Revisit the definitive book on Pearl Harbor in advance of the 78th anniversary (December 7, 2019) of the "date which will live in infamy" At 7:53 a.m., December 7, 1941, America''s national consciousness and confidence were rocked as the first wave of Japanese warplanes took aim at the U.S. Naval fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. As intense and absorbing as a suspense novel, At Dawn We Slept is the unparalleled and exhaustive account of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is widely regarded as the definitive assessment of the events surrounding one of the most daring and brilliant naval operations of all time. Through extensive research and interviews with American and Japanese leaders, Gordon W. Prange has written a remarkable historical account of the assault that-sixty years later-America cannot forget. "The reader is bound to feel its power....It is impossible to forget such an account." —The New York Times Book Review "At Dawn We Slept is the definitive account of Pearl Harbor." —Chicago Sun-Times

The New York Times–bestselling authors of Miracle at Midway delve into the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII in “a superb work of history” (Albuquerque Journal Magazine). In the predawn hours of December 7, 1941, a Japanese carrier group sailed toward Hawaii. A few minutes before 8:00 a.m., they received the order to rain death on the American base at Pearl Harbor, sinking dozens of ships, destroying hundreds of airplanes, and taking the lives of over two thousand servicemen. The carnage lasted only two hours, but more than seventy years later, terrible questions remain unanswered. How did the Japanese slip past the American radar? Why were the Hawaiian defense forces so woefully underprepared? What, if anything, did American intelligence know before the first Japanese pilot shouted “Tora! Tora! Tora!”? In this incomparable volume, Pearl Harbor experts Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon tackle dozens of thorny issues in an attempt to determine who was at fault for one of the most shocking military disasters in history.

A minute-by-minute account of the morning that brought America into World War II, by the New York Times–bestselling authors of At Dawn We Slept. When dawn broke over Hawaii on December 7, 1941, no one suspected that America was only minutes from war. By nightfall, the naval base at Pearl Harbor was a smoldering ruin, and over 2,000 Americans lay dead. December 7, 1941 gives a detailed and immersive real-time account of that fateful morning. In or out of uniform, every witness responded differently when the first Japanese bombs began to fall. A chaplain fled his post and spent a week in hiding, while mess hall workers seized a machine gun and began returning fire. Some officers were taken unawares, while others responded valiantly, rallying their men to fight back and in some cases sacrificing their lives. Built around eyewitness accounts, this book provides an unprecedented glimpse of how it felt to be at Pearl Harbor on the day that would live in infamy.

New York Times bestseller: The true story of the WWII naval battle portrayed in the Roland Emmerich film is “something special among war histories” (Chicago Sun-Times). Six months after Pearl Harbor, the seemingly invincible Imperial Japanese Navy prepared a decisive blow against the United States. After sweeping through Asia and the South Pacific, Japan’s military targeted the tiny atoll of Midway, an ideal launching pad for the invasion of Hawaii and beyond. But the US Navy would be waiting for them. Thanks to cutting-edge code-breaking technology, tactical daring, and a significant stroke of luck, the Americans under Adm. Chester W. Nimitz dealt Japan’s navy its first major defeat in the war. Three years of hard fighting remained, but it was at Midway that the tide turned. This “stirring, even suspenseful narrative” is the first book to tell the story of the epic battle from both the American and Japanese sides (Newsday). Miracle at Midway reveals how America won its first and greatest victory of the Pacific war—and how easily it could have been a loss.

God''s Samurai is the unusual story of Mitsuo Fuchida, the career aviator who led the attack on Pearl Harbor and participated in most of the fiercest battles of the Pacific war. A valuable record of major events, it is also the personal story of a man swept along by his times. Reared in the vanished culture of early twentieth-century Japan, war hero Fuchida returned home to become a simple farmer. After a scandalous love affair came his remarkable conversion to Christianity and years of touring the world as an evangelist. His tale is an informative, personal look at the war "from the other side."

From the New York Times–bestselling authors of Miracle at Midway: A thrilling account of one of World War II’s most legendary spies. Richard Sorge was dispatched to Tokyo in 1933 to serve the spymasters of Moscow. For eight years, he masqueraded as a Nazi journalist and burrowed deep into the German embassy, digging for the secrets of Hitler’s invasion of Russia and the Japanese plans for the East. In a nation obsessed with rooting out moles, he kept a high profile—boozing, womanizing, and operating entirely under his own name. But he policed his spy ring scrupulously, keeping such a firm grip that by the time the Japanese uncovered his infiltration, he had done irreversible damage to the cause of the Axis. The first definitive account of one of the most remarkable espionage sagas of World War II, Target Tokyo is a tightly wound portrayal of a man who risked his life for his country, hiding in plain sight.

Voici racontée pour la première fois de manière magistrale et exhaustive, avec un luxe de détails et un suspense ininterrompu, l''histoire du plus ingénieux réseau d''espionnage du siècle démasqué durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale : celui de Richard Sorge, implanté au Japon pour le compte des services secrets soviétiques, de septembre 1933 à octobre 1941. Fruit de vingt années de recherche, ce récit brillamment mis en scène nous dévoile par le menu, documents et témoignages à l''appui, comment le maître-espion, né d''un père allemand et d''une mère russe, sous couvert de ses activités de journaliste perspicace, se faisant passer pour un nazi bon teint, réussit l''incroyable tour de force de gagner la totale confiance de l''ensemble du personnel de l''ambassade d''Allemagne à Tokyo. Devenu même l''ami et le confident de l''ambassadeur en personne et de son épouse, il parvint également à berner l''officier supérieur de la Gestapo dépêché spécialement de Berlin pour le surveiller, tandis que, parallèlement, son principal agent et comparse, Ozaki, s''infiltrait jusque dans les plus hautes sphères du gouvernement japonais, atteint pourtant d''" espionnite " et de xénophobie jusqu''à l''obsession !... Historien scrupuleux, Gordon W. Prange apporte aussi des éléments inédits et des réponses décisives sur certaines questions longtemps controversées : oui ou non, Sorge a-t-il réellement informé Moscou, très à l''avance, de la date de l''invasion de l''U.R.S.S. par les armées de Hitler ? A-t-il révélé pareillement le jour précis de l''attaque de Pearl Harbor ? Sorge était-il un agent double ? A-t-il été échangé secrètement par les Japonais et non exécuté ? Mais au-delà de la rigoureuse analyse des événements historiques mal connus ou complètement ignorés de la diplomatie secrète avant et pendant la guerre en Extrême Orient, le grand mérite de Gordon W. Prange est de faire revivre, tout au long de son récit, et presque au jour le jour, le fascinant personnage de Richard Sorge, aussi bien dans sa vie publique de correspondant de presse, que dans ses activités d''agent secret ou dans sa vie privée. Ainsi l''amitié et même l''amour tiennent-ils une place inattendue dans un tel ouvrage. Personne n''oubliera les très impressionnants adieux de Sorge à son ami l''ambassadeur allemand Ott qu''il a trahi pendant des années par fidélité à sa foi communiste, ni la fidèle Hanako Ishii, sa maîtresse japonaise, qui, aujourd''hui encore, continue d''honorer sa mémoire avec dévotion. Grâce à elle, à son témoignage capital, à sa collaboration active à l''élaboration de la présente édition, la place de Sorge dans l''Histoire y gagne une saisissante dimension humaine qui éclaire d''un jour nouveau la complexité et l''engagement d''un homme dévoué corps et âme à une cause qu''il glorifia jusqu''à la mort.