Welcome to the WWII Forums! Log in or Sign up to interact with the community.

Author signing in about new book on Pearl Harbor

Discussion in 'WWII Books & Publications' started by AMOH, Sep 30, 2016.

  1. AMOH

    AMOH New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2016
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    2
    [SIZE=11pt]Hello everyone, [/SIZE]
    [SIZE=11pt]Members over in the "newbie" section suggested that this would be a useful place to to let forum members know about our new book. The book A MATTER OF HONOR, Pearl Harbor: Betrayal, Blame, & a Family’s Quest for Justice, will be published on November 15 by HarperCollins.[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=11pt]The book's focus is Admiral Husband Kimmel, who in 1941 was Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet – whose treatment after the attack Vice President Joe Biden has called “the greatest injustice in U.S. military history”.[/SIZE]

    [SIZE=11pt]As many of you know, Admiral Kimmel was relieved of command, accused by a presidential commission of “dereliction of duty” and “errors of judgment”, publicly disgraced, and retired. There were calls for him to be jailed, even shot. The deaths of 2,403 men, mostly under his command, had largely been laid at his feetRather than go quietly into obscurity however, Kimmel struggled – through nine investigations – to convince the world that he was innocent of the allegations. . The famous and the less famous testified, some reluctantly, to what – they claimed – had really happened. Books were published. Americans argued. Had Kimmel been the victim of a grotesque official conspiracy, as even he surmised in his less restrained moments?[/SIZE]

    [SIZE=11pt]The fight has never ended. When Kimmel died, his two ex-Navy sons continued the struggle. In 2000, with the muscled backing of Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Strom Thurmond, and John Kerry, both houses of Congress voted for the posthumous restoration of the Admiral’s four-star rank. Today, his grandsons and the extended Kimmel family continue the fight. This is a family that holds to the American tradition, less often voiced today, that nothing is more important than truth, integrity – and honor. [/SIZE]

    The book is not only Kimmel’s story, however, it seeks to unravel the many apparent mysteries of Pearl Harbor. It clears FDR and his advisers of the charge that they knew the attack was coming. Nevertheless, it establishes that there were appalling failures - and duplicity and betrayal in high places in Washington.

    A MATTER OF HONOR is not published until November 15, so we'll only be able to answer limited questions about it until then. After publication, however, we'd welcome weighing into a conversation about the subjects it raises with any of you.

    With regards,

    Anthony (Summers) & Robbyn (Swan)

    www.anthonysummers.com
    www.robbynswan.com
     
    Otto likes this.
  2. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2010
    Messages:
    1,270
    Likes Received:
    416
    I look forward to this book.
     
  3. belasar

    belasar Court Jester

    Joined:
    May 9, 2010
    Messages:
    8,515
    Likes Received:
    1,176
    Welcome to the forum and good fortune with your book.

    You know I'm sure it would be a challenge to pick a more controversial subject and some will praise and others pan for no better reason than their hard wired beliefs on what happened and what should have happened.

    Again, welcome and good luck.
     
  4. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2009
    Messages:
    14,288
    Likes Received:
    2,605
    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Welcome Robbyn and Anthony. Your book sounds like it should be of interest here. Larry (Opana Pointer) is our resident Pearl Harbor expert. You might want to connect with him.
     
  5. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2008
    Messages:
    18,246
    Likes Received:
    5,669
    When he's not in the body shop, that is.

    I will have a few questions when I get to a real computer.
     
  6. AMOH

    AMOH New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2016
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    2
    Great to hear from you all - especially you Larry.
     
  7. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2008
    Messages:
    18,246
    Likes Received:
    5,669
    Can you give us a sketch of what Kimmel did wrong and right at Pearl?
     
  8. AMOH

    AMOH New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2016
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    2
    Hi Larry,

    I'm a little circumscribed about what I can say about Kimmel's performance until after our official pub date on November 15.

    Given your username, can I presume radar is a particular interest of yours - did you in fact yourself serve in a radar unit?

    Best,

    Robbyn
     
  9. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2008
    Messages:
    18,246
    Likes Received:
    5,669
    No, but I read the entire Hearings starting when I was 14. Took four years. Since then I dabble a bit in the topic.
     
  10. AMOH

    AMOH New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2016
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    2
    "No, but I read the entire Hearings starting when I was 14. Took four years. Since then I dabble a bit in the topic."

    You are a man after my own heart....
    I think you'll find A Matter of Honor to be something you'll be able to get your teeth into then. In more than 100 pages of source notes, you'll find we rely heavily on the testimony and documents in the PH hearings volumes, then on new documents we've located in the U.S., British, and Dutch national archives - and we've tried to give the clearest possible citations for those because we want interested readers or researchers to be able to push the story further if they can..

    We try to avoid the trap that many authors seem to fall into of relying books and other secondary sources. I'm sure on the Pearl Harbor story you've encountered numerous examples of that leading research astray over the years.

    Robbyn
     
  11. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2008
    Messages:
    18,246
    Likes Received:
    5,669
    I had a serious disagreement with a prof. at Purdue when I was in grad school about the use of primary v. secondary sources. I got the impression that we should be discussing what other people said about events rather than what actually happened. We ended up agreeing that I didn't want to take any more of her classes.
     

Share This Page