On December 7, 1941, America's hopes of remaining neutral in World War II disappeared in the oily smoke that roiled from her battleships burning at Pearl Harbor. The nation faced Herculean tasks to strike back against the Imperial Japanese military that had attacked her. Victory demanded crossing thousands of miles of ocean, creating new weapons, and arming hundreds of thousands of young men to fight their way across a series of desolate islands that a fanatical enemy had fortified to exact the highest possible price from the American troops. Historic Photos of World War II: Pearl Harbor to Japan   portrays this epic story, using black-and-white photographs selected from the finest archives and private collections. From the sinking of the   Arizona   to the raising of the Stars and Stripes over Japan,   Historic Photo of World War II: Pearl Harbor to Japan   depicts in a way mere words cannot the determination, struggle, and sacrifices of America's fighting men as they rose to the challenge of liberating free peoples of the Pacific from a conquering invader.