Description
Book SynopsisThe Road to Pearl Harbor offers a timely examination of the conflict in the Pacific prior to the attacks on Pearl Harbor and offers lessons applicable to understanding contemporary Great Power flash points between Asia and the West. This volume brings together renowned historians and analysts of grand strategy to map out the fateful decisions that culminated in war. The contributors take a pragmatic view of the policy and strategy options, as well as the decisions made by the leaders of the great powers. This important history underscores that the choices made by political, military, and naval leaders mattered in determining questions of war and peace.
Highlighting Japan's war against China and the protracted resistance of Chiang-Kai-shek's Nationalist regime,
The Road to Pearl Harbor provides historical context for understanding the struggle for mastery in Asia and decisions for war. The book also makes an important contribution to interwar naval history by examining the views of the Japanese navy's leaders, who wanted to build up their navy to defeat Britain and the United States at sea. This history is certainly relevant, as the concluding chapter demonstrates in an eye-opening examination of the current views held by Chinese naval officers about how to fight a future war in the Pacific.
Trade Review“In this impressive, well-documented anthology, Maurer and Goldstein provide insights into the interconnected problems and issues confronting the powers of Asia, Europe, and the United States during the interwar years, and the military and foreign policy dilemmas faced by their leaders. Indispensable to understanding the pathway to Pearl Harbor!”—J. Michael Wenger, co-author, Pearl Harbor Tactical Studies series
“Absolutely a significant contribution to the history of the War in the Pacific. This wonderful anthology is informed by the wealth of material that has been declassified in English-language sources as well as archival sources in China and Japan.”—John T. Kuehn, author of
Agents of Innovation, former Ernest J. King professor of maritime history, U.S. Naval War College
