"Newt's "Pearl Harbor"" Topic

It's a novel. Written with his goombah, Forstchen.
I enjoyed their "Gettysburg" what-if trilogy, so I am asking about this one, before I fork over $15 USD for the paperback.

Is it another what-if, or a straight "factual" novel? Turtledove did a what-if Pearl Harbor already, so I am wondering if the world is ready for two of them.
I would read the Turtledove, except for the fact that he is incapable of writing a likeable character.

I swear CSPAN had a show with Newt on this that was pretty interesting but now I can't seem to find it.

there's this:

link

But that's not the thing I was thinking of ..it was a signing event I have in mind.

The theory is that just one man can change the course of history. In this case Yamamoto commands the task force and launches a second strike later in the day. The second novel is out, Days of Infamy (yup, same title as the Turtledove book) and to my mind is a bit better read than the first. It picks up where the first one left off.

So far, the books in this series are pretty good. Nothing too bizarre or fantastic – Yamamoto is the main instrument of difference, and the rest of the story flows from that basic change premise without adding ridiculous "What if Rommel had a PLasma Gun" moments.

I read a book some years ago. I believe the title was "Burning Mountain." The plot was "what if the atom bomb test had failed, and the conventional war had to be continued for another year." It was about the American invasion of Japan. As I remember, it was pretty good.

As the authors call it – it is "active history". I liked both of the books – once I started it was hard to put them down.

Brent

"launches a second strike later in the day"

No, close, the Japanese under Yammamoto launch the *third* strike that Nagumo canceled historically, which gets the oil tank farms, etc., and sets up some carrier actions in the second book. So these books are very historical "what ifs," no absurd time-traveling Afrikaaner separatists giving AK-47s to the Confederacy as in "Guns of the South" by Turtledove. Good reads, the pacing moves along and like PK Inc said, hard to put down.

Another good historical "what-if" is "1945" by Robert Conroy in which the coup to seize the Emperor succeeds which prevents the surrender of Japan, and the US is forced to invade Japan and drop an additional Bomb to end the war.

link

Better than the Turtledove series on the same topic (not hard to do), not as good as the 'Grant Moves East/Gettysburg' trilogy but that is just my opinion.

I was hoping they'd tack on a second book to that 1945 European War extended that was their first joint effort.

*sighs*

I wishwishWISH even noted authors would do their research before exploring this sort of topic. I mean, I took one look at this book and immediately thought (as a military historian), "Hmmm. You know, I'll bet the Japanese STILL lose in the end."

Incidentally, given how much anti-aircraft fire and all that the IJN encountered on Wave 2, I would not have liked to have sent in Wave 3. Just a thought.

"the US is forced to invade Japan and drop an additional Bomb to end the war."

Why did we invade, then? Just keep dropping those suckers until they yell "My Give Up!" Jar Jar Binks style, or we parking lot the whole farking locale.

"Why did we invade, then?"

Not enough fissable material to make additional bombs.

Again, can the authors do some research? If the US continues to starve Japan for six months with the naval blockade, there would be enough fissionable material for (IIRC) up to ten Nagasaki-style devices, which would certainly have put paid to Japan's war effort…on top of the starvation.

Gamer X, you are correct. Mea Culpa. I do wonder though, why the remaining battleships of battleship row didn't reply when the bombardment by the two Japanese battleships began.

I'm reading the second book, "Days of Infamy." I skipped the first book since it was not recommended and had bad reviews as being too slow. So far I'm about 100 pages in and really enjoying the sequel though.

Finished it last night at 2 AM. This book was awesome. I highly recommend it!