Books like "And I was there" by Layton, Edwin T.

In this candid memoir, Admiral Edwin T. Layton reveals the chain of events that led to the intelligence breakdown preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. As the fleet intelligence officer for Admiral Nimitz, Layton offers an inside view of the U.S. Navy’s decision‑making process and the personal rivalries among senior officers in Washington that, he argues, allowed Japan to achieve its secret objective. Drawing upon his wartime records and first‑hand experiences, the book provides a detailed account of the days and weeks before the attack, highlighting the systemic failures that created a gap in the U.S. security apparatus. Layton also touches upon subsequent battles in the Pacific, including Midway, illustrating how lessons learned from Pearl Harbor shaped Allied strategy in the later stages of the war.

First publish date: 1985