Japan鈥檚 decision to launch a war against the United States is masterfully recounted in Eri Hotta鈥檚 Japan: 1941 (Knopf Doubleday, 2103). Few of the Japanese warlords who launched the war thought they could win a protracted fight against America鈥檚 vast industrial machinery and human resources. But they hoped a crushing defeat at Pearl Harbor would lead the Americans to sue for peace and end the economic embargo that threatened to strangle Japan鈥檚 expansionist designs on Asia. It was a grievous miscalculation.
