From the author of Forrest Gump and A Storm in Flanders comes a riveting chronicle of America's most critical hour. On December 7, 1941, an unexpected attack on American territory pulled an unprepared country into a terrifying new brand of warfare with a ruthless enemy. Novelist and popular historian Winston Groom vividly re-creates the story of America's first year in World War II. In the beginning of 1942 the Allies experienced a relentless cataract of devastating defeats. The Axis overran most of Europe, North Africa, and the Far East-and the future of the world hung in the balance. But midyear the tide began to turn. Bringing the drama to life as only this Pulitzer-Prize nominated storyteller can, Winston Groom tells how America finally went on the offensive in the Pacific, winning such critical battles as Midway and successfully invading enemy strongholds at Guadalcanal and New Guinea. In the West, the United States Army began to push the Germans out of North Africa. Though it would take another three years to run the Axis beast to the ground, Groom reveals 1942 as the defining act in the great drama of the war.