1942 a novel

1942 a novel by Robert Conroy is the first what if book I've read to completion. It might spoil me for other books in this genre because I think it's better than most. It assumes that the Japanese have conquered Hawaii. Instead of retiring after two attacks on the fleet, they decided since they had such good success, why not try a third attack and destroy our oil supplies. This they did. The next 358 pages are nitty gritty war scene and human beings trying to live under Japanese rule. The scenes involving the kempetei, the military police, are probably almost too real to read. Japan operated under the dictums of bushido which believed that anyone who did not die defending their country were less than human and should be treated accordingly.

I thoughly enjoyed the book. This is Mr. Conroy's fourth what-if book. The other three are: 1901, 1862 and 1945. I will try another.

Newt Gingrich has also written a what-if book about Pearl Harbor that I will, after reading Conroy's version of what -if, take a look at. Gingrich's version with him being a politician and a student of history might be more heavy on past history. I'll see.