To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Jeff Shaara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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 shows 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.
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Malcolm's Round Table 
It is extraordinary that major events with global impact still come as a surprise to so many governments. A pandemic, for instance, has been on the cards since forever. There were supposed to be plans in place to combat it. Also supplies and personnel. But, of course, all those resources were diverted elsewhere. (One has to wonder where.) And so here we are, on both sides of the Pond, winging it.
All those think tanks, and the modelling, and the blue sky thinking. And they still can’t organise their way out of a paper bag. Mitchell must’ve been incandescent. It is one of those occasions where the phrase ‘I told you so’ really isn’t enough.
I’m amazed at the stuff that sneaks up on us in plain sight. Unfortunately, Mitchell died several years before the attack, so he didn’t even get to say, “I told you so.”