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- To wake the giant : a novel of Pearl Harbor / by Shaara, Jeff,1952-author.;
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt watches uneasily as the world heads rapidly down a dangerous path. The Japanese have waged an aggressive campaign against China, and they now begin to expand their ambitions to other parts of Asia. As their expansion efforts grow bolder, their enemies know that Japan's ultimate goal is total conquest over the region, especially when the Japanese align themselves with Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, who wage their own war of conquest across Europe. Meanwhile, the British stand nearly alone against Hitler, and there is pressure in Washington to transfer America's powerful fleet of warships from Hawaii to the Atlantic to join the fight against German U-boats that are devastating shipping. But despite deep concerns about weakening the Pacific fleet, no one believes that the main base at Pearl Harbor is under any real threat. Told through the eyes of widely diverse characters, this story looks at all sides of the drama and puts the reader squarely in the middle. In Washington, Secretary of State Cordell Hull must balance his own concerns between President Roosevelt and the Japanese ambassador, Kichisaburo Nomura, who is little more than a puppet of his own government. In Japan, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto wins skeptical approval for his outrageous plans in the Pacific, yet he understands more than anyone that an attack on Pearl Harbor will start a war that Japan cannot win. In Hawaii, Commander Joseph Rochefort's job as an accomplished intelligence officer is to decode radio signals and detect the location of the Japanese fleet, but when the airwaves suddenly go silent, no one has any idea why. And from a small Depression-ravaged town, nineteen-year-old Tommy Biggs sees the Navy as his chance to escape and happily accepts his assignment, every sailor's dream: the battleship USS Arizona. With you-are-there immediacy, Shaara opens up the mysteries of just how Japan--a small, deeply militarist nation--could launch one of history's most devastating surprise attacks. In this story of innocence, heroism, sacrifice, and unfathomable blindness, Shaara's gift for storytelling uses these familiar wartime themes to shine a light on the personal, the painful, the tragic, and the thrilling--and on a crucial part of history we must never forget.- Subjects: War fiction.; Historical fiction.; Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941; World War, 1939-1945;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Ducktails, drive-ins, and broken hearts : an unsweetened look at '50s music / by Davis, Hank,1941-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.They all tried, but few singers and musicians from the 1950s became stars. Yet many of them had stories to tell that were far more interesting than the ones you already know. Author Hank Davis was bitten by the music bug as a teenager. By the time he entered college in 1959, he was no stranger to New York's recording studios and had a few 45s of his own on the market. Spanning a 45 year career in music journalism, Davis has spent time backstage, in motel rooms, and on tour buses to uncover stories that rarely made the official annals of pop music history. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews and new research, 'Ducktails, Drive-Ins, and Broken Hearts' offers a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the winners and losers during rock 'n' roll's formative era. How did a decade as uptight and puritanical as the '50s produce so much cringe-worthy, politically incorrect music? What was it like to see a pale cover version of your latest record climb the charts while yours sat unplayed by mainstream radio stations? How did precious Elvis tapes end up in a Memphis landfill? And who was that thirteen-year-old girl who made a five-dollar vanity record at Sun just two years after Elvis had-and ended up singing backup on "Suspicious Minds" and "In the Ghetto?" This book is a must-read for all fans of '50s music.- Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Musicians; Singers; Sound recording industry; Popular music;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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