Days of Infamy
Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen
A Book Review by Dr. Perry J. Martini
In 2007, bestselling authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen launched a new epic adventure series about World War II in the Pacific, with their book Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th, 1941, which instantly rocketed to the New York Times bestseller list.
This first book in this series, Pearl Harbor, was just the opening act in a day long horror that will set the stage for the fictional docudrama and have the Pacific ablaze as two of World War II’s greatest commanders, Yamamoto and Bull Halsey, clash in the greatest naval battle never to have happened. It is the narrative genius and literary masterpiece of Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen that makes one think that the battle in Days of Infamy surely must have happened.
Days of Infamy is also a meditation on one of the essential truths of war. Whatever the issues, whatever the cause, whatever the failure that led up to it, the one thing that is true of every war, especially World War II, is that young men die decades before their time. There is plenty of such death in Days of Infamy, much of it heartbreaking.
In Days of Infamy young pilots make dawn take offs from the pitching deck of a carrier, knowing that very likely they will not live to see the dusk. Some face that prospect with resolution, some with terror. The unfolding story is absolutely brilliant. Fast paced and filled with tension and suspense. Every page resonates with the momentous events and great personalities of World War II – and scenes so carefully crafted you feel like you’re there. This is a ‘must read’ for all who look at history and wonder: “What if…” — Oliver North, Lt. Col., USMC (Ret.), host of War Stories on the Fox News Channel
Gingrich and Forstchen’s now critically acclaimed approach, which they term “active history,” examines how a change in but one decision might have profoundly altered American history. In Pearl Harbor they explored how history might have been changed if Admiral Yamamoto had directly led the attack on that fateful day, instead of remaining in Japan. Building on that premise, Days of Infamy starts minutes after the close of Pearl Harbor, as both sides react to the monumental events triggered by the presence of Admiral Yamamoto. In direct command of the six carriers of the attacking fleet, Yamamoto decides to launch a fateful “third-wave attack” on the island of Oahu, and then proceeds to keep the Japanese fleet in the area to hunt down the surviving American aircraft carriers, which by luck and fate were not anchored in the harbor on that day.
Historians have often speculated about what might have transpired from legendary “match-ups” of great generals and admirals. In this docudrama of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the notorious gambler Yamamoto is pitted against the equally legendary American Bill “Bull” Halsey in a battle of wits, nerve, and skill.
Days of Infamy recounts this alternative history from a multitude of viewpoints—from President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and the two great admirals, on down to American pilots flying antiquated aircraft, bravely facing the vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft. Gingrich and Forstchen have written a sequel that’s as much a homage to the survivors of the real Pearl Harbor attack as it is an imaginative and thrilling take on America’s entry into World War II.
It is somewhat ironic but important to note that in today’s obituary columns the names and photographs of over 2000 American veterans of World War II appear each day. The memory of this war albeit a faded past to so many generations is brought back to the forefront of the American mindset by this outstanding book.
In Days of Infamy Gingrich and Forstchen have done it again, as they did with their epic Gettysburg trilogy, and have captured what war is like, in all of its horror and glory, by showing the reader events in another World War Two that never happened, but might have if certain events were planned differently in the fog of war.
