Days of Infamy

A solid alternative history, well-researched, only a few technical errors. Interesting characters, good battle scenes. A bit officer- and politician-heavy; the enlisted men are pretty much anonymous. Considering the depth of detail in the battle scenes, it would have been nice to have their perspectives. But a good read, not too schlocky. I was leery of how Gingrich would write, and maybe I should credit his coauthor, but as a whole, much better than I expected. I'm going to read some Bill Mauldin as an antidote, though.

I was only moderately impressed with "Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8, 1941," the first title in Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen's alternative-history series about World War 2 in the Pacific. While the action scenes weren't bad, the character development wasn't great and an awful lot of time was spent with characters sitting in rooms talking about Chinese politics and other back-story matters.

"Days of Infamy," on the other hand, doesn't have that problem. The first 170 pages or so are one sustained battle scene, and following a brief lull in the action, most of the rest of the book is too. Unlike "Pearl Harbor," where the point at which the authors' fiction deviated from fact may have been obscure to people not familiar with show more the details of the attack, the events of "Days of Infamy" (as distinct from many of the characters) are fictional from start to finish. The authors are thus free to create a compelling, even engrossing, story. Certainly, I was pulled in right away, and read the whole volume cover to cover in just a few hours this weekend.

Although the authors did a better job with character development this time than in the first book, this series really is not "about" the men and women in any significant way. They are war stories painted on a very large canvas. And now that Gingrich and Forstchen have defined their alternate -- though still very plausible (no time-travel or anachronistic weapons) -- world, they're free to pull out the stops and let the guns roar. I still don't believe the series will displace Wouk, say, among the great novels of the second world war, but for an exciting ride for a few hours on a weekend, they're not bad at all. show less

A great continuation of the storyline laid down in Pearl Harbor. Very interesting "what if" book.

Great story, easy read.