Beginning on December 21, 1941, two weeks after Pearl Harbor, and ending on January 1, 1942, Pearl Harbor Christmas centers on Winston Churchill's Christmas visit to Franklin Roosevelt, but covers much more. Weintraub is a master at discovering fascinating details, which keep the tale of negotiations between Roosevelt and Churchill and their various subordinates from becoming dull. Showing that already, by December 1941, the world was at war, Weintraub keeps the reader apprised of events in the Pacific and on the Russian front, as well as how the war was beginning to affect the home front in the U.S.
Researching and writing over 60 years after the end of World War II, Weintraub has had access to many facts unknown to most people at the time they occurred. Although I had read enough already about "Dugout Doug" MacArthur to consider him no hero, Weintraub's depiction of MacArthur's constant lies to his superiors about what was actually happening in the Philippines was shocking to read about -- the author has his doubts about Churchill as well.
In December 1941, my mother was a senior in high school; she would go on to work in the local shipyard after graduation. My father, who had joined the National Guard at 16, was in the Army, since FDR had Federalized the Guard in summer 1940. He was stationed on an island off Portland, Maine, as a coast artilleryman; he would later serve in the Pacific Theater. Reading this book helped me to understand a bit of what it was like for them to live through that time. Highly recommended. ( )

December 1941 and Pearl Harbor was a Christmas never to be forgotten. Churchill took time away from the grim circumstances in Europe to make a surprise visit with Roosevelt, while US forces were battling Japanese in the Philippines and on Wake Island. It was a remarkable, and dangerous journey for Churchill, but it had a positive outcome with the beginnings of the United Nations being formed.

An interesting and well-written historical account. ( )

Won't improve your opinion of Macarthur or Churchill.