A String of Pearls, From Infamy to Victory, a WWII Series—Book One
USS Arizona, BB-39. The name stirs emotions.
A vibrant leviathan that sailed the world’s oceans in the name of the United States, she was already twenty-seven years old on December 7, 1941. But she was still the pride of the Navy and a favorite of politicians, like President Franklin D. Roosevelt who witnessed the laying of her keel in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1914, and Hollywood stars who used her as a backdrop for patriotic films of the 1930’s. Like an ageless siren, Arizona could still draw a smile, even from those newfangled aircraft carriers whose airplanes buzzed her like a swarm of angry bees during war games.
Had the awful events of that fateful Sunday morning not occurred at Pearl Harbor, the Arizona probably would have passed through the rest of her life peacefully and been scrapped sooner than later. However, her fate would be to serve as a focal point of hate and vengeance when she and most of her crew were incinerated. But…was it a bomb that destroyed her, or wasArizona the first casualty of longstanding international gamesmanship that led to a war that had to be fought?
A String of Pearls engages the reader in a series of “what-ifs.” Get to know Arizona’s men. Listen in on conversations between Roosevelt and Churchill. Fly in a Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. Visit with ordinary military men who would be asked to perform extraordinary feats by their rival governments and get to know the women who loved them. Witness the epic battle of the Bismarck and the Hood. Fly with the Japanese pilots who carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the frustration and heroism of one who was forced to sit on the sidelines. Take a trip back in time and listen to Glenn Miller play A String of Pearls, and come to realize we struggle with the same issues today.
About the Author
Ben Baglio has had a lifelong interest in history. His particular affection for the generation who fought World War II both on the homefront and on the farflung fields of Europe and the Pacific is personified by his first historical novel, A String of Pearls. The testaments to the desperate battles, from the Arizona resting at Pearl Harbor to the American cemetery at Normandy’s Colleville Sur Mer overlooking Omaha Beach, speak to him of unimaginable valor and hope for better tomorrows.
Dr. Baglio has spent his career working as a public school educator and college professor. He is the author of the four-book World War II series From Infamy to Victory, as well as his nonfiction work Kid’s Are The Easy Part, an insider’s perspective on school reform. When not working as an educational consultant, he continues to write historical fiction. He lives with his wife on Long Island, New York.
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