Walter Lord interviewed nearly 600 participants in the tragic and treacherous attack on the USA's prime Pacific naval base in the Hawaiian Islands. From about half an hour before the attack to the realization later in the day that the pride of the American navy lay sunk or burning in the oil-blackened, wreckage-strewn waters of the harbour, the reader is given the authentic picture. It is an immensely human story - the numbed shock of the survivors, the enthusiasm of the Japanese pilots and the bravery of American sailors as well as the bewilderment and sometimes panic of the participants - is vividly described.