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Pearl Harbor After a Quarter of a Century

Left and Right Journal cover

Tags U.S. HistoryWar and Foreign PolicyWorld HistoryPolitical Theory

08/08/2014Harry Elmer Barnes

The surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is regarded by most persons who recall it at all as an isolated dramatic episode, now consigned to political and military archeology. Quite to the contrary, on account of our entry Into the war, it became one of the most decisive battles in the history of the human race. It has already proved far more so than any of the "fifteen decisive battles" immortalized by Sir Edward Creasy.

Volume 4, Number 1 (1968)

Author:

Harry Elmer Barnes

Harry Elmer Barnes (1889-1968) was a pioneer of historical revisionism, meaning the use of historical scholarship to challenge and refute the narratives of history promulgated by the state and the political class, or as Barnes himself termed it, "court history." Long regarded as a progressive intellectual leader of the American Left, Barnes became associated with the Old Right for his opposition to the New Deal and to American entry into World War II. His work has had a profound influence on New Left historians such as William Appleman Williams and Gabriel Kolko, as well as on the historical writings of Murray Rothbard and other libertarians.

See Murray Rothbard's obituary, "Harry Elmer Barnes, RIP."

Cite This Article

Barnes, Harry E. "Pearl Harbor After a Quarter of a Century." Left and Right 4, No. 1 (1968): 9-132.