Days of Infamy

Harry Turtledove is the pseudonym used very successfully by a Southern California history professor who has become a giant in the genre that is referred to as either “alternate history” or “speculative fiction.” He provides brain candy for history buffs: A world in which the Spanish Armada not only defeated the navy of Elizabeth I but also successfully occupied England, and another, in which the Confederacy won the U.S. Civil War, are among the many he’s constructed. His newest novel offers the possibility of a world in which the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a full-out invasion rather than a hit-and-run swipe at the U.S. Navy. The result is a gripping book that makes it clear just how lucky the United States was to have things go its way in 1941; it’s a read worthy of an all-nighter.