Interesting Perspective of a Terrible Month …

This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine Program.

While it appears the market is saturated with books detailing every facet of World War II, DECEMBER 1941 proves that there is still plenty of room for new books on the subject matter. Presented as a day-by-day narrative from December 1, 1941 to December 31, 1941, Craig Shirley provides a fascinating picture of what life was like for the average American before, during and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

DECEMBER 1941 provides a colorful overview of the United States at a pivotal moment in world history. Roughly twenty-five years from its entry in the “War to End All Wars”, millions of Americans sat idly as countries in Europe and South East Asia were simultaneously being savaged by Germany and Japan ... there was little or no fear of the US being dragged into the conflict involuntarily. The days prior to the eventual attack on Pearl Harbor were spent by many focusing on the upcoming Christmas season or professional football games. In the background, we see the diplomatic strains between Japan and the US escalating, but even up to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, there was still hope for a diplomatic solution to the “crisis”. Of course, everything changed once Pearl Harbor was attacked, but I found it particularly interesting in how things changed. While history often presents an overly tidy view of events past for brevity, DECEMBER 1941 sheds details of the massive short-shrift transformation of the United States from a relatively weak isolationist nation to burgeoning superpower. Chock full of political and social Americana, Shirley’s book gives the reader insight as to what the ordinary American citizen experienced before, during and after the country was dragged into a war it tried so hard to avoid.

Craig Shirley deftly and chronologically organizes the book so each day in December is given its own succinct chapter of about fifteen pages that detail a full day of events. I found this method to be helpful in illustrating the progression of events and generate an easier reading flow. Each chapter is essentially a multitude of various sources tied together by the author. Most of the 2,000 sources footnoted are derived from media sources at that particular day in time, giving readers an idea of the daily news most Americans digested with their coffee each morning. Each chapter/day is prefaced with three headlines that appeared in papers from around the country, also shedding light on the pervasive misinformation many Americans succumbed to each morning as well. While a good portion of the chapters are logically dedicated to the internal and global political drama that accompanies any war scenario, it reveals that politics 70+ years ago is merely relative to the political scene today. Yep, the same Hatfield/McCoy relationship between Republicans and Democrats that we know all too well these days was just as nasty back then … even down to the alleged media bias. Amid the obvious dominance of politics, Shirley doesn’t forget the “little stuff” either and by including the various Hollywood gossip of the time (including the “much troubled” young life of Gloria Vanderbilt), as well as sports news and other trivia, readers should get a glimpse of what life was like in households across the country back then. I especially appreciated the revelation of how seriously deadly military life was, not just abroad, but on the home-front due to all the new weapons and war craft that required testing … unfortunately, an ignored aspect of America’s war effort.

What DECEMBER 1941 clearly illustrates, however, is the amazing manner in which the United States galvanized so quickly after Pearl Harbor was attacked and set itself on a path of historical industrialization that seemed unimaginable at the time. Compounding the unbelievable scenario is the fact that the world was on the brink of losing its war against Japan and Germany. While only the month of December is chronicled, it is clear (as evidenced by Winston Churchill’s visit to FDR near the month’s end), that amid those dark days, America’s presence in the fight against oppression was the light the world desperately needed. For better or for worse, the US government granted itself seemingly limitless power over its citizens to achieve the goals it perceived as necessary to win the war and hindsight seems to prove it was the right thing at the right time. Shirley reveals the nuts and bolts that put the United States on its war-footing and simultaneously spurred the generation that fought and won the war. An enjoyable read that chronicles a fascinating moment in modern American history.

After seeing the bashing this book has received by a good portion of other reviewers in terms of editing, bias and historical accuracy, I am compelled to defend the author’s work to a degree. First, I never interpreted the book to serve as the definitive historical text on anything and everything that occurred in the month of December 1941, but an overview (well-sourced, I might add) that presents a snapshot of life in America at this critical time. A huge majority of the research presented are quotes from newspapers and magazines that actually covered events … at that time (a time that was, as the book repeatedly illustrates throughout, rife with misinformation coming from all directions). To put it simply, most all of the information provided was what Americans were reading at the time. Second, the author succeeded in giving this reader an idea of what it would have been like to live through those days and how life drastically (and permanently) changed for that generation in such a short period of time. I’ll accept the punctuation and grammatical errors to the point in which it didn’t ruin the essence or flow of the book for me. So, as far as the “factual errors”, I say take it up with the then-publishers of the periodicals providing so much of the book’s material … if they’re still alive. Lastly, regarding the argument that the book as being biased against FDR/Democrats: if anything, read page 542, where the author (in his own words) laments that FDR never lived to see the end of a war that, he more than anyone else in the world, was responsible for winning. Considering the magnitude of World War II in the history of mankind, you can’t get a more glowing reference than that.