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A Date Which Will Live Infamy: An Anthology of Pearl Harbor Stories That Might Have Been
All Original Stories "December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy." President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's unforgettable words informed the American people that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and initiated America's entry into World War II. But what if things had happened differently? A Date Which Will Live in Infamy is an anthology of fictional alternatives to the events leading up to, during, and following the surprise Japanese attack in Hawaii. Also included is an appendix containing a timeline of the attack and essays on the diplomatic context of the situation and the realities addressed in writing alternative histories about Pearl Harbor.
348 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2001
8 people want to read
About the author
Brian M. Thomsen
61 books10 followersBrian Thomsen was a founding editor of the Questar Science Fiction line of books, and served as managing fiction editor at TSR, Inc.; he also wrote over 30 short stories, and collaborated with Julius Schwartz on Schwartz's autobiography. He also worked as the publisher for TSR's Periodicals Department at one point. He was a consulting editor at Tor Books; as an author he was a Hugo Award nominee.
He died on September 21, 2008, at his home in Brooklyn at the age of 49. He was survived by his wife, Donna.
He died on September 21, 2008, at his home in Brooklyn at the age of 49. He was survived by his wife, Donna.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 20, 2017
As a working archivist & historian for fifty years, and a science fiction junkie for rather longer than that, I’ve always been a sucker for the alternate history yarn. Change one tiny, believable thing and what are the consequences? (And the tinier and more mundane the change, the better.) The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has long been popular “point of departure,” if only because what actually happened seems like such a confluence of coincidence and serendipity in retrospect. The Japanese basically caught every good break it was possible to catch.
I’m not familiar with Thomsen, but Greenberg has a long string of thematic anthologies under his belt. And the dozen stories in this collection all were specially written, so you will have never seen any of the before. There are a few well-known authors -- Simon Hawke, Ed Gorman, William Dietz -- but also a number of new ones, or at least new to SF. The “what ifs” under consideration run the gamut, too. What if that crucial telegram from the War Department arrived in Honolulu in enough time for the fleet to put to sea? What if FDR really did know what was coming but sacrificed the battleships in order to push America into the war he knew was inevitable? What if the attack was stealthily arranged by Churchill for the same ends? What if the attacking Japanese went for a third strike (instead of calling it off from nervous caution) and completely wiped out the Navy’s Pacific oil supply? What if, because of horrible weather, the Japanese abandoned the attack before it ever happened, and the U.S. remained isolationist for two more years? What if a private training a disloyal wife stumbled on the plot? Can a credible argument be made that the attack was a good thing for the U.S. in the long run, because it crystallized the international issues and brought the country together in its thirst for revenge?
Most of these ideas are well handled and the authors embed them in real “stories” (i.e., they aren’t just discursive essays). A few, however, simply deal with Pearl Harbor in a sentence or two and then go off on some other “what if” about World War II that the author apparently was more interested it. Pretty good stories, but not really faithful to the volume’s theme. Still, though there are no award-winners here, there are no actual clunkers, either. If you appreciate alternate histories, and especially if you have an interest in military history, I can recommend this one to fill up your weekend.
I’m not familiar with Thomsen, but Greenberg has a long string of thematic anthologies under his belt. And the dozen stories in this collection all were specially written, so you will have never seen any of the before. There are a few well-known authors -- Simon Hawke, Ed Gorman, William Dietz -- but also a number of new ones, or at least new to SF. The “what ifs” under consideration run the gamut, too. What if that crucial telegram from the War Department arrived in Honolulu in enough time for the fleet to put to sea? What if FDR really did know what was coming but sacrificed the battleships in order to push America into the war he knew was inevitable? What if the attack was stealthily arranged by Churchill for the same ends? What if the attacking Japanese went for a third strike (instead of calling it off from nervous caution) and completely wiped out the Navy’s Pacific oil supply? What if, because of horrible weather, the Japanese abandoned the attack before it ever happened, and the U.S. remained isolationist for two more years? What if a private training a disloyal wife stumbled on the plot? Can a credible argument be made that the attack was a good thing for the U.S. in the long run, because it crystallized the international issues and brought the country together in its thirst for revenge?
Most of these ideas are well handled and the authors embed them in real “stories” (i.e., they aren’t just discursive essays). A few, however, simply deal with Pearl Harbor in a sentence or two and then go off on some other “what if” about World War II that the author apparently was more interested it. Pretty good stories, but not really faithful to the volume’s theme. Still, though there are no award-winners here, there are no actual clunkers, either. If you appreciate alternate histories, and especially if you have an interest in military history, I can recommend this one to fill up your weekend.
February 8, 2017
Interesting SF and alternate history scenarios.
July 26, 2011
If you want to voluntarily waste your time this is the book for you. If you like a book filled with empty pages this book is for you. But if I were you I would just pick something else.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews