I appreciated this review of Percy Greaves’s book by Richard Ebeling.
Many books have appeared over the years about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And among them have been outstanding “revisionist” works challenging the “court history” of America’s “innocence” in the events leading up to that “date that will live in infamy.”
But none of these excellent histories have offered the detail and thoroughness of Percy Greaves’ important work. He lived through the times, served with the Republicans when the Congressional investigations were undertaken on the background of the attack, and knew all the “facts” from the inside.
While approaching his subject with a point-of-view, no one can accuse Percy of an “axe-to-grind.” He is interested in honestly and factually tracing out the ideas, actions, and consequences of FDR’s foreign policy leading up to December 7, 1941.
But the conclusion at the end of the book is that FDR maneuvered U.S. and Japanese relations into a corner that had to lead to one end — conflict in the Pacific.
