1942: The Year That Tried Men’s Souls

It was a time when an unexpected attack on American territory pulled an unprepared country into a terrifying new brand of warfare with a ruthless enemy. Soon after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, German U-boats were sinking hundreds of U.S. merchant ships, some right off the American coasts. The beginning of 1942 was a relentless cataract of defeats. By May, it appeared to many that the entire Western Pacific, including Australia, would be in Japanese hands.
Then, in June, the tide began to turn. Off Midway Island, aided by new technologies in code cracking Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded his outnumbered fleet to victory in one of the most decisive sea battles in naval history. In the West, the British defeated Rommel's panzer divisions at El Alamein and the U.S. Army landed in Algeria and Morocco to begin the push to force the Germans out of North Africa. Though it would take another three years to run the Axis beast to the ground, a year that began in a pall of uncertainty would end with the hope and vision of victory.
Allowing us into the admirals' strategy rooms, onto the battle fronts, and into the heart of a nation at war, 1942 tells the story of America's most critical hour - a year of perseverance, courage, and ingenuity in the face of great odds, during which America rose against adversity and displayed the qualities that have made her what she is to this day.