[Inyokern]

There were already conspiracy books about Pearl Harbor appearing before Stimson died. Come to think of it, John Flynn was writing before FDR died. And didn't John Toland write his book before Prange died?

I don't know anything about Flynn. Toland's book "Infamy" came out (to the best of my knowledge) in 1982, two years after Prange died.

[aristeides]

On pre-1980 Pearl Harbor conspiracy writing, see Pearl Harbor Historiography: A Lesson in Academic Housecleaning . There was plenty.

[aristeides]

I checked my copy of Infamy (which I did not have at work.) It is indeed copyright 1982. But doesn't that mean that professional writer Toland would not have been working on it well before Prange's death.

As I said in a previous posting, I am a retired naval cryptographer. I also have a Ph.D. in ancient history (well, actually, classics, but my dissertation was on a historical subject.) I have always found Prange's work unimpressive. He strikes me as one of what Charles Beard called the "court historians," who told the story that suited the establishment, and thereby advanced his career. Because his aim, like that of the mainstream media, is not to present the truth, when one learns from him, it is despite him. Whereas people like Beard, Toland, Stinnett, and Wilford are primarily interested in the truth.