Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was not the highest ranking Japanese naval officer in the Pacific War era but he was a radical advocate of naval air power and the mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hoyt, the author of numerous studies of World War II, capably relates the intriguing life and times of Yamamoto and explores the thinking of this complex man who, in spite of his role at Pearl Harbor, had profound misgivings about Japan's chances in a war against the United States.