Noted Author Comes To Putnam For Pearl Harbor's 75th Anniversary

PUTNAM VALLEY, N.Y. -- Historian and New York Times bestselling author Craig Nelson will present an author talk at the Putnam Valley Free Library on Saturday, Dec. 10, as the country approaches the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Craig Nelson, author of "Pearl Harbor: from Infamy to Greatness," is speaking in Putnam Valley for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
Photo Credit: *contributed*

Rachel Martin

11/26/2016 6:00 p.m.

His latest book, "Pearl Harbor: from Infamy to Greatness," was published in September. The program, part of the "Our American History" series, sponsored by the Putnam Valley Historical Society, is free and open to the public.

One reviewer of the book, Doug Stanton, puts it this way:

Craig Nelson has completely retold the epic story of Pearl Harbor. Using his skills as a reporter and a literary stylist, he not only deftly paints the fleeting image -- an enemy pilot waving as he flies by, a cup of coffee trembling on a table while outside a war commences -- but a world roiled in titanic struggle.
His gifts as storyteller, his empathy and scope, will appeal to fans of Walter Lord’s 'Day of Infamy' or Cornelius Ryan's 'A Bridge Too Far,' and, in surprise, the inquiry of Lawrence Wright's 'The Looming Tower.' This book has a thousand poignant and unforgettable moments. You’ll read Pearl Harbor and want to pass it to a friend."

"The America we live in today was born, not on July 4, 1776, but on Dec. 7, 1941, when an armada of 354 Japanese warplanes suddenly and deliberately attacked the United States, killing 2,403 men," organizers note.

"Now, 75 years after the actual event, Nelson's 'Pearl Harbor: from Infamy to Greatness,' follows, moment by moment, the sailors, soldiers, pilots, admirals, generals, emperor and president as they engineer, fight and react to this overwhelming moment in history."

In writing the book, he and his research team spent five years and analyzed nearly a million pages of documents, re-examined the original evidence assembled by federal investigators, and ultimately provide a blow-by-blow account from both the Japanese and American perspectives.

Nelson is the author of several award-winning books including the New York Times' bestseller, "Rocket Men," "The Age of Radiance," "Let's Get Lost," "Thomas Paine" and "The First Heroes."

His writing has also appeared in wide variety of publications, including National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Science and Reader's Digest.

The talk will begin at 10 a.m. The library is at 30 Oscawana Lake Road, in Putnam Valley.

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