Today marks the sixty-eighth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into World War II. It shocked the nation–and the world (even Japanese diplomats were surprised by the attack). And by pushing us into the Second World War, it spelled the end of an America that thought it could stay untouched by the rest of the world.
If you’re interested in learning more about this momentous event and its aftermath, we have numerous books on the subject, from the classic At Dawn We Slept to the much more recent Pearl Harbor Betrayed. One of the more fascination explorations of the events of December 7 is Pearl Harbor Ghosts, an examination of the attack’s impact on Hawaii, which went from being a sleepy tropical archipelago to a military-industrial boomtown. And if you want to do some armchair traveling, visit the website of the USS Arizona Memorial. Here is footage from the attack that was broadcast to stunned audiences in the following days.
If you want to observe the anniversary in a less studious way, we’ve got the 2001 Jerry Bruckheimer film Pearl Harbor at both the main library and the East Branch.
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