Examines the current resurgence of Pearl Harbor as a site of historical memory, commemoration, and spectacle

December 7, 1941—the date of Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor—is "a date which will live" in American history and memory, but the stories that will live and the meanings attributed to them are hardly settled. In movies, books, and magazines, at memorial sites and public ceremonies, and on television and the internet, Pearl Harbor lives in a thousand guises and symbolizes dozens of different historical lessons. In A Date Which Will Live, historian Emily S. Rosenberg examines the contested meanings of Pearl Harbor in American culture.
Rosenberg considers the emergence of Pearl Harbor’s symbolic role within multiple contexts: as a day of infamy that highlighted the need for future U.S. military preparedness, as an attack that opened a "back door" to U.S. involvement in World War II, as an event of national commemoration, and as a central metaphor in American-Japanese relations. She explores the cultural background that contributed to Pearl Harbor’s resurgence in American memory after the fiftieth anniversary of the attack in 1991. In doing so, she discusses the recent “memory boom” in American culture; the movement to exonerate the military commanders at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short; the political mobilization of various groups during the culture and history "wars" of the 1990s, and the spectacle surrounding the movie Pearl Harbor. Rosenberg concludes with a look at the uses of Pearl Harbor as a historical frame for understanding the events of September 11, 2001.

"A Date Which Will Live makes a valuable contribution to understanding how World War II is perceived in American cultural memory. The author . . . is judicious in her survey of viewpoints on Pearl Harbor." - Journal of Military History

"No one familiar with Rosenberg's work will be surprised to learn that A Date Which Will Live is both high-quality scholarship and a pleasure to read. The strengths of Rosenberg's earlier books and articles are present here: attentiveness to ambiguity and nuance, a beguiling prose style, and-most important-a capacity to break down the barriers between diplomatic and cultural history so thoroughly that one often forgets the obdurateness with which those fields have been segregated until recently. . . . A Date Which Will Live is a major achievement that fully measures up to the standards we have come to expect from this scholar."
- Reviews in American History

"A Date Which Will Live is a scholarly, well-documented, comprehensive analysis of the significance of Pearl Harbor to Americans. It provides a fine review of the numerous attitudes and interpretations that a nation may have as regards a shaping event in its history." - Journal of Pacific History

"[Rosenberg] skillfully illuminates the intersection between memory and history. . . . A Date Which Will Live brims with insight, sharp analysis, and a keen sense of irony. It marks a welcome addition to an increasingly vibrant genre of cultural history." - Western Historical Quarterly

"A Date Which Will Live is a penetrating and elegant work of cultural and social history that challenges the contrived distinctions that are frequently drawn between ‘high’ and ‘low’ history, or between so-called ‘rational’ history and 'nostalgic’ myth. Instead, it explores the intertextuality that exists between cultural memory, historical production, media representation, and public political discourse, and the intense political contests that lie behind the articulation of national narratives. . . . In sum, this is an excellent book that makes a genuine contribution to the growing literature on the national myths and narratives that lie at the centre of American identity and political discourse." - Journal of American Studies

"Some books are meant for a popular audience, some for an audience of academic specialists. This book is meant for both. The subject of memory as a field of historical exploration is new enough that specialists wishing to get their feet wet will find this a useful, even penetrating volume. Yet the author and her publisher are clearly hoping to reach the wider audience of readers who are caught up in efforts to harness the meaning of Pearl Harbor to contemporary events. These readers, too, could do no better than to start with this interesting and lively volume." - American Historical Review