Days of Infamy: Active History and the Teaching of History
Days of Infamy: Active History and the Teaching of History by Newt Gingrich (more by this author) Posted 04/29/2008 ETUpdated 04/29/2008 ET This week our new novel, Days of Infamy , is being published by St. Martin's Press. Days of Infamy is the sequel to Pearl Harbor , (just released in paperback) and carries on the story of "what might have been" if a different, more aggressive commander -- Admiral Yamamoto -- had led the Japanese Fleet in their surprise attack at Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. The Wrong Admiral for the Wrong Job In real history, the Japanese high command assigned their Pearl Harbor strike force of six aircraft carriers to Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. If ever there was an assignment of the wrong man for the wrong job, it was this one. From the beginning of his forty-year career, Nagumo had been trained in surface warfare, especially the use of destroyers and cruisers as "hit and run" weapons. Thinking like a destroyer commander, he always saw th...