The Year of Peril

The Year of Peril: America in 1942 presents a vivid, tightly focused portrait of the United States at a pivotal moment of World War II, when shock, mobilization, and urgent decision making transformed the nation. It follows the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the frantic conversion of industry and society to a wartime footing, and the military crises and turning points of the year from Midway to Guadalcanal and North Africa. Alongside strategic and political developments, the book illuminates the domestic upheavals of rationing, labor migration, and civil liberties tensions, showing how 1942 set the trajectory for American power while exposing the burdens and contradictions of wartime unity.