There are many myths surrounding the disaster at Pearl Harbour. Michael Gannon disproves two of the most tenacious: first, that there was a conspiracy to withhold intelligence from the Pacific commander in order to force a Pacific war and, second, that Admiral Husband E. Kimmel was informed but failed to act. Instead, Gannon points to two critical factors ignored by others: that information about the attack gleaned from the "Magic"code intercepts was not sent to Admiral Kimmel and that there was no possibility that Kimmel could have defended Pearl Harbour because the Japanese were militarily far superior to the American forces in December 1941. Beginning with the essential background story of Japan's imperialist mission and the United States' uncertain responses - especially two lost chances of delaying the inevitable attack until the military was prepared to defend Pearl Harbour - Gannon uses newly revealed primary documents to create an authoritative account of the attack. From there he goes on to explore eyewitness accounts of the Japanese tactical victory and the aftermath, which focuses on the commander, who was blamed for the biggest military disaster in American history.