A groundbreaking history that considers Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective--and is certain to revolutionize how we think of the war in the Pacific.

When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men--military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor--put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start? Introducing us to the doubters, bluffers, and schemers who led their nation into this conflagration, Hotta brilliantly shows us a Japan never before glimpsed--eager to avoid war but fraught with tensions with the West, blinded by traditional notions of pride and honor, nearly escaping disaster before it finally proved inevitable.

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[美] 堀田江理（Eri Hotta），生于日本东京，先后在日本、美国和英国接受教育，并先后执教于牛津、东京和耶路撒冷，研究领域为国际关系。还著有：《泛亚洲主义与日本的战争：1931-1945》(Pan-Asianism and Japan’s War 1931-1945)。现居美国纽约。