Eyewitness to Infamy: An Oral History of Pearl Harbor

by Paul Joseph Travers

Gathers first-person accounts of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and military activities on the base before and after the attack

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War

275 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1991

Reviews

[Melissa]

An interesting read with a lot of perspectives not typically heard in other Pearl Harbor accounts, like civilians and those on ships that weren't targeted. The individual accounts were very good, but the framing could have used some editing/fact-checking.

Each chapter opened with background information about the ship/attack/world, but that no bibliography or citations were provided. Some of the information in these background pieces was incorrect or inconsistent with other sources (the chapter stating the USS Arizona exploded at 8:20 stood out as particularly egregious). The formatting around the framing of the oral histories was also inconsistent, making it difficult to gauge when the survivor's account ended and the author's framing resumed.

A good book with valuable stories, but it could have benefitted from better editing/research.

[Al]

Read this book many years ago, a little outdated now, so but good for historical purposes.

[David Johnson]

Just not a great read. And only 48 eyewitness accounts.

[Jennifer]

An amazing "oral history". I was intrigued by this book, I had a great Uncle who was at Pearl Harbor and I wanted to hear "survivor" stories. What I got was first hands account of this momentous day. An amazing book, the fact that these survivors can tell their story is wondrous, and the fact that within a moments notice, the world changed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to "brush up" on history. A true, raw account of Pearl Harbor, told by those who were there.

[jeffrey]

Gripping personal narratives of a variety of December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor experiences. Interesting is the thread that many of the witnesses knew by various means- through contemporaneous local newspaper stories, official orders, practice exercises, etc., the armed forces personnel knew there was likely be an imminent Japanese attack in some form -- and yet generally the fighting ships and airfields were incomprehensibly unprepared.

[Kendrick Hughes]

rather interesting but stilted read