Mount Vernon Historian Releases Book on Pearl Harbor, World War II

Historian and Mount Vernon resident Craig Shirley wasn’t born until after World War II came to a close, but his early family life provided him with ample material about what was life during the war.

Shirley dug a little deeper—much deeper, in fact, consulting tens of thousands of individual sources across the country—to write his latest book, “December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World.” The book was released Nov. 22, just in time for the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Wednesday.

The Imperial Japanese Navy attack on Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941, sank or severely damaged five U.S. battleships, destroyed hundreds of warplanes and killed 2,400 people.  Shirley’s book examines the days surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack and the U.S. entry into World War II.

Although Shirley wasn’t born until 1956, he grew up hearing about his family’s involvement in World War II. His uncle, Ellsworth “Barney” Shirley, was a member of the U.S. Navy and a radio operator and rear gunner on a plane that was shot down in 1945 off the coast of what was then Indochina, while making a bombing run over Saigon. His uncle died in the crash.

Shirley’s grandmothers, meanwhile, were “Rosie the Riveters.” One grandmother tested machine guns on the home front. His grandfather was a civil defense block captain, and his father, who was only a boy, collected scrap metal and rubber with the Boy Scouts of America.

“I grew up in a family where the point of reference in family conversations was ‘before the war, during the war and after the war,’ ” Shirley said. “I grew up listening to these various stories, mostly on the home front and the sacrifices they went through and rationing of sugar and coffee they want through.”

Shirley, who has always had a keen interest in American history, decided to expand his portfolio with his new book. The concept came to him from multiple directions, he said.

“The idea didn’t come to me from any one source,” he said. “It was something I’ve been thinking about for a time.”

While the attack on Pearl Harbor is the lynch pin of the story, the book focuses on the entire month of December 1941 in the United States. Each of the book’s 31 chapters retells a day in the life in America, including military affairs, culture, politics, economics and bombing threats to major cities on the east and west coasts.

“I tried to weave it together into a story that would be informative and entertaining and tell how critical this one month was in the history of America,” Shirley said.

Shirley consulted a myriad sources to write the book, including archival material, presidential libraries and war department materials. He labored for two years before the book was complete.

Shirley has lived in Mount Vernon for 16 years, and previously lived off Fort Hunt Road. He is currently the first Reagan scholar at President Ronald Reagan’s alma mater, Eureka College in Illinois, and guest lectures at schools around the country on Reagan and politics.

Shirley has also written two books on Reagan and is currently working on a political biography of former House Speaker and current Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

“December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World,” is available at most major retail booksellers, including Barnes & Noble, Sam’s Club, Costco and Amazon.com.