Pearl Harbor Christmas: A World at War, December 1941 by Stanley Weintraub; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Malcolm Hillgartner

Christmas 1941 came little more than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The shock—in some cases overseas, elation—was worldwide. While Americans attempted to go about celebrating as usual, the reality of the just-declared war was on everybody’s mind. United States troops on Wake Island were battling a Japanese landing force and, in the Philippines, losing the fight to save Luzon. In Japan, the Pearl Harbor strike force returned to Hiroshima Bay and toasted its sweeping success. Across the Atlantic, much of Europe was frozen under grim Nazi occupation.

Just three days before Christmas, Churchill surprised Roosevelt with an unprecedented trip to Washington, where they jointly lit the White House Christmas tree. As the two Allied leaders met to map out a winning wartime strategy, the most remarkable Christmas of the century played out across the globe.

Pearl Harbor Christmas is a deeply moving and inspiring story about what it was like to live through a holiday season few would ever forget.

“A minor genre, the day-by-day chronicle, receives a fine addition as veteran historian Weintraub devotes a chapter each to the last ten days of 1941 plus New Year’s Day…Readers will enjoy his opinionated portraits of the allied leaders as they hammered out strategy, much of which was rendered irrelevant by subsequent events.”—Publishers Weekly

“A vivid eleven-day account of a World War II holiday…The author brilliantly juxtaposes the horror and violence of war with the tender nostalgia of Christmas…Erudite, sweeping, and contemplative—classic Weintraub.”—Kirkus Reviews

Stanley Weintraub is Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of arts and humanities at Penn State University. The author of dozens of histories and biographies, he is a National Book Award finalist and a regular book reviewer for the New York Times and the Times Literary Supplement of London. He lives in Newark, New Jersey.