"Japan 1941"

Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy (Eri Hotta)

I got this book for Christmas, and it was a nice surprise; in my continued quest to read all about the less reported on facts of history, this book fills in a sizable gap. My schooling covered the leadup to WW2 in the Pacific in a super quick sketch (Oil embargo > Pearl Harbor > Midway > A-bomb > Pokemon), and this book is a interesting if depressing look at the Japanese decision making that lead to Pearl Harbor.
I learned a lot from this book - surprisingly, Tojo comes out looking okay, possibly better than Prince Konoe, the previous prime minister, who is painted as weak willed and paralyzed by tough choices. (The villain of the piece is foreign minister Matsuoka, architect of the Tripartite Pact that made Japan one of the Axis powers.)  Just about the only two figures who escape unscathed are Yamamoto (the unwilling planner of the Pearl Harbor attack) and the Emperor Hirohoto himself, who was anti-war but so powerless that about the most he could do is ask skeptical questions and recite a anti-war poem.
All in all, this isn't the kind of blockbuster you need to run out and pick up immediately, but I'd recommend it (doubly so if someone else buys it for you, I suppose).

Grade: B