Pearl Harbor A primary source history

*Starred Review* The In Their Own Words series touts the fact that it uses primary sources speech and document excerpts, contemporaneous news accounts, etc. but most of each book's content is comprised of a narrative text and numerous photos. That's not a bad thing, however, because the texts themselves are very well-written and pack lots of information into a slim volume. Pearl Harbor begins with the events of December 7, 1941, but succeeding chapters go further back, to the opening of Japan, and Hitler's war in Europe (though seeds of that conflict get short shrift). Readers get a sense of not just how the war developed but, thanks to the primary sources, what was happening behind the scenes. Decoded Japanese documents are fascinating, and especially moving are the reminiscences of those present on that fateful day. Adding considerable value to the series are the time lines that border each page and the spread of major figures with short bios and photographs that conclude each volume.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist