"A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter chronicles the 12 days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, examining the miscommunications, clues, missteps and racist assumptions that may have been behind America's failure to safeguard against the tragedy,"--NoveList. "In Washington, DC, in late November 1941, admirals composed the most ominous message in US Navy history to warn Hawaii of possible danger--but they wrote it too vaguely. They thought precautions were being taken, but never checked to be sure. ln a small office at Pearl Harbor, overlooking the battleships, the commander of the Pacific Fleet tried to assess whether the threat was real. His intelligence unit had lost track of Japan's biggest aircraft carriers, but assumed they were resting in a port far away. Besides, the admiral thought Pearl was too shallow for torpedoes; he hadn't even put up a barrier. As he fretted, a Japanese spy was counting the warships in the harbor and reporting to Tokyo. There were false assumptions and racist ones, misunderstandings, infighting, and ego clashes. Through remarkable characters and impeccable detail, Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Twomey shows how careless decisions and blinkered beliefs gave birth to colossal failure. But he tells the story with compassion and a wise understanding of why people--even smart, experienced, talented people--look down at their feet when they should be scanning the sky. The brilliance of Countdown to Pearl Harbor is in its elegant prose and taut focus, turning the lead-up to the most infamous day in American history into a ticking-time-bomb thriller. Never before has a story you thought you knew proven so impossible to put down."--Dust jacket.

Maps on lining pages

Preface: the boys at Opana -- An end, a beginning -- Hitokappu's secret -- The Admiral Chief of the Pacific Fleet -- Betty -- It doesn't mean us -- Machine gun short -- Ambassador Joe and President Frank -- Their mail, opened and read -- The talents of Nippon -- The ships that were not there -- The smoke of secrets -- A time to look -- Out of their depth -- Your Majesty -- Dinner at the Halekulani -- From the vacant sea.