Commentary by author, credentials at end of article: When I was a young child growing up, I read and consumed books ferociously. One book I picked up at a garage sale piqued my interest. It was “How Japan Plans to Win.” In the book, published in 1940 (before Pearl Harbor), but developed from notes and thoughts in the 1930s, a vocal and energized Japanese Naval Officer theorized a strategy to defeat the United States in the Pacific. It sounded pretty prescient of things that played out shortly after its original publication. I always thought—“How could this have happened? Here’s their...