A tense and fast-paced account of the development of the conflict between the US and Japan, ultimately resulting in the devastating bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 which caused large-scale destruction of American forces and led the USA into World War II. Pearl seeks to uncover the real reasons why the leaders of the US failed to pick up the huge threat to their security until it was too late, and why the Japanese felt the compulsion to launch an attack in the first place. Was Roosevelt's confidence in the safety of America misplaced? Did arrogance on both sides make the war inevitable?

Pearl is an excellent exploration of where the culpability lies, as the reader is placed at the heart of the action of the attack on Pearl Harbor that left 2,337 American citizens dead. Many stories of individual heroism and cowardice emerge as essential parts of the Pearl Harbor narrative, as Pearl follows the American and Japanese navies in their fight to protect their nations.