I have seen a revisionist view of the attack on Pearl Harbor promulgated by several different authors on lewrockwell.com and mises.org. They believe Roosevelt intentionally provoked Japan to attack the U.S., and that the U.S. knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor before it actually began. The most commonly cited source is Robert Stinnett’s book, “Day of Deceit.” I took a look at the book on Amazon and noticed it has received criticism from people who appear to have extensively researched the subject. Just take a look at the 1-star reviews.
My question is, has anyone read this or other revisionist literature on the issue? Do these theories hold up to critical analysis, or are they fraught with wishful thinking and unsatisfactory evidence? I will probably check this book out from the library when I return to university in a month.
Even without the historical documents, Its not hard believe. Its common knowledge that Roosevelt wanted to be in the war, but was held back by public opinion. Its also common knowledge that Roosevelt engaged in every act of war he was capable of, the US was at war with Japan before pearl harbor.
Assuming that you are somewhat of a libertarian, or an anarcho-capitalist or similar [however defined], a good question for yourself might be:
knowing what the true, fundamental nature of all governments is, why would you assume, at the outset, the truth of any aspect of any version of “the truth” as propagated by any government, especially where wars are concerned?
People who say ‘I have extensively researched X’ usually means ‘I have read a book or two on X and formulated a concept that cannot be wrong according to my own logic’.
Don’t trust amazon reviews. I wouldn’t trust anyone on historical material that isn’t a historian and even historians should be seen under the light of skepticism. If you want to read a book on Pearl Habor revisionism then read it and deduce its points through your own logic.