Why Did Japan Attack?

PITTSBURGH—Reporters preparing articles about the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor can arrange interviews with Donald Goldstein, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and a leading expert on Pearl Harbor. He is the author or coauthor of 25 books, including two best-sellers, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (McGraw-Hill, 1981) and Miracle at Midway (McGraw-Hill, 1983).

Goldstein will be featured at the Pearl Harbor 65th Anniversary symposium, "A Nation Remembers," sponsored by the National Park Service in cooperation with the Arizona Memorial Museum Association at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, Hawaii Dec. 2-5. Goldstein will lead a session Dec. 3 titled "Japan 1941: Why They Attacked," during which he'll explain why the Japanese government thought it was in its best interest to go to war with the United States. He'll also lead a session on Dec. 5 titled "At Dawn We Slept: The Writing of an Epic," which will explain how Gordon Prange's well-respected book on the Pearl Harbor attack was actually written by two graduate students, Goldstein and Katherine Dillon. Goldstein will recount stories about Prange and his dedication to collecting tremendous details on Pearl Harbor and the war in the Pacific.

Goldstein recently donated his private collection of historical World War II materials to Pitt—pushing Pitt's Discover a World of Possibilities capital campaign past the $1 billion mark in gifts and pledges. The Goldstein Collection includes about 4,400 books, 13,000 photographs, 300 films and videotapes, and transcripts of 200 interviews with Japanese and American participants in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The collection was independently appraised at $890,000 in February 2006.

Goldstein is available at 412-648-1026 (O) and goldy@pitt.edu.

For a list of Pitt faculty experts, visit http://www.umc.pitt.edu/m/experts.html.

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11/20/06/scl