Countdown to Pearl Harbor

The Twelve Days to the Attack

By: Steve Twomey

Narrated by: Holter Graham

A fascinating look at the twelve days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor—the warnings, clues and missteps—by a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter.

In Washington, DC, in late November 1941, admirals compose the most ominous message in Navy history to warn Hawaii of possible danger, but they write it too vaguely. They think precautions are being taken, but never check to see if they are. A key intelligence officer wants more warnings sent, but he is on the losing end of a bureaucratic battle and can’t get the message out. American sleuths have pierced Japan’s most vital diplomatic code, and Washington believes it has a window on the enemy’s soul - but it does not.

In a small office at Pearl Harbor, overlooking the battleships at the heart of America’s seafaring power, the Commander of the Pacific Fleet tries to figure out how much danger he really faces. His intelligence unit has lost track of Japan’s biggest aircraft carriers, but assumes they are resting in a port far away. The admiral thinks Pearl is too shallow for torpedoes, so he never puts up a barrier. As he frets, a Japanese spy is counting the warships in the harbor and reporting to Tokyo.

There were false assumptions, and racist ones: The Japanese aren’t very good aviators and they don’t have the nerve or the skill to attempt a strike so far from their home. There were misunderstandings, conflicting desires, painful choices. And there was a naval officer who, on his very first mission as captain of his very first ship, did exactly the right thing. His warning could have averted disaster, but his superiors reacted too leisurely. Japanese planes arrived moments later.

Twomey’s telescoping of the twelve days leading to the attack unravels the crucial characters and moments, and produces an edge-of-your seat drama with fascinating details about America at this moment in its history. By the end, the reader understands how assumption is the root of disaster, and how sometimes a gamble pays off.

©2016 Steve Twomey. All rights reserved. (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Exactly what I wanted

In depth work about the political, military, and societal factors that culminated in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Focusing heavily on American intelligence failures and the complacency that allowed the Japanese to achieve such complete surprise. Pairs well with Walter Lord’s book Day of Infamy to get a more complete picture of December 7th, 1941.

Please narrator don't attempt voice's

Someone should have told the narrator that trying to do voice's is not his thing. The history is interesting but the bad attempt at voices is distracting.

had some slow parts but over all a good listen

over all work the credit but it can be a bit slow in sooner parts

Good read

Where does Countdown to Pearl Harbor rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Never really knew what the lead up was to the attack. Amazing that we were "surprised" it happened, but hindsight is 20/20 and intelligence was very limited to what we are accustomed to today. Great research

Well researched and a detailed read

I enjoyed this book tremendously, although it was a bit wordy at times. I have never seen all of the pieces of the puzzle from the perspectives of Japan and the United States put together as they were in this book.

An Excellent Historical Story

Expertly told...I had no idea of this history or its story. This story needs to be more fully understood by ALL students in schools and colleges as well as the General public.

This explained a lot about the failures on Dec 7th

This book so wonderfully shows the human and system failures that resulted in the attack on Pearl Harbor.and in doing so, it reports the history, not the fault findings that continue to this day. There is a lot of areas that need to be considered in the telling of the story and the author does an excellent job at covering as much as possible.

New insights even for history buffs

I enjoyed learning about the weaknesses in the US preparation for war in the Pacific. The book makes it clear that with the knowledge they had at the time, it would have been a leap of faith for Admiral Kimmel and General Short to anticipate and prepare for an air raid. After all, the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was unprecedented. Never before had a force of aircraft carriers attacked a distant naval base by surprise.

However, it's also clear that Kimmel and Short could have done a lot more. They could have had a long distance air patrol, torpedo nets (especially after the British raid on the Italian navy in harbor in Taranto), and crews alerted to imminent hostile action.

But it was disappointing that the book did not address the US response to this lack of preparation after the attack. The book concludes with a postscript that briefly mentions the court martial of Kimmel and Short. I expected a discussion and analysis that was as insightful as the rest of the book, but the author did not discuss the command changes, changes in military procedure, and military response after the attack.

As with a lot of history books, this one is also written from the point of view of the victors and Japanese sources are few. It is never clear why the Japanese chose to attack and start a war that they knew they could not win.

The Facts Build to a Crescendo Despite Comical Reading

The author does a good job pulling together the multiple clues the U.S. Military had available to prevent being caught by surprise by Japan's attack on Dec. 7, 1941. The bad part: the reading by Holter Graham borders on laughable, with comical emphasis on certain words. At time it sounds like listening to a high school play, no disrespect intended to teenage actors.

A Great Piece Of Work

As someone who, at age 14, got his first experience in the reading of a “thick” books on history by reading my fathers copy of Samuel Elliot Morrison’s “Two Ocean War”, I can heartily recommend this book.

Twomey weaves a 12 day history steeped in the thoughts, racism and feelings of the time. Another time in history where the established ways get trampled by technology, concepts and attitudes that are straining to move forward.

A phenomenal work. Riveting and as exciting as any modern novel.

Oh, and 44 years later, I still have the same copy of Two Ocean War.