Gordon Prange

Gordon William Prange (July 16, 1910–May 15, 1980) was the author of several World War II-based manuscripts, published after his death in 1980. Dr. Prange was a Professor of History at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1937-1980 with a break of nine years (1942-1951) of military service overseas and in the postwar era occupation of Japan, when he was Chief Historian on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff. It was during this time that he collected material from and interviewed many former Japanese military individuals and civilians, information which was later used in the writing of his books. Several were New York Times bestsellers, including At Dawn We Slept and Miracle at Midway.

The university's website contains this information about Professor Prange:

"Gordon W. Prange was born in Pomeroy, Iowa on July 16, 1910. He studied at the University of Iowa, receiving his Ph.D. in 1937. That same year, he began his teaching career as a professor of history at the University of Maryland. In 1942, he was granted a leave of absence from the University to embark on a wartime career as an officer in the United States Navy. He was sent to Japan in 1945 as a member of the American Occupation Forces. He completed his Navy service soon thereafter, but continued in Japan as a civilian from 1946 to 1951 as chief of General Douglas MacArthur's 100-person historical staff. When censorship of the Japanese media by Allied Forces was lifted in 1949 and the Civil Censorship Detachment disestablished, Professor Prange, recognizing the historical significance of the CCD material, arranged for its shipment to the University of Maryland. The materials arrived at the University in 1950. On September 15, 1978, the Board of Regents of the University of Maryland passed a motion to name the collection the 'Gordon W. Prange Collection: The Allied Presence in Japan, 1945-1952.' Professor Prange continued to teach at the University of Maryland until several months before his death on May 15, 1980. He is still remembered by alumni as one of the University's truly great teachers, and is well known today for major works on the war in the Pacific, particularly Tora! Tora! Tora!"

Dr. Prange's manuscript about the attack on Pearl Harbor is credited as the basis for the screenplay Tora! Tora! Tora!, filmed in 1970 while Prange took a leave of absence from the Universiy of Maryland to serve as technical consultant during its filming. His extensive research into the attack on Pearl Harbor was the subject of a PBS television program in 2000, "Prange and Pearl Harbor: A Magnificent Obsession", and was acclaimed "a definitive book on the event" by The Washington Post.

Selected bibliography

All by Gordon W. Prange, with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon:

• At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (1981), ISBN 0-07-050669-8
• Miracle at Midway (1982), ISBN 0-07-050672-8
• Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge Spy Ring (1984), ISBN 0-07-050677-9 in which the authors detail the undercover operations of the spy ring headed by Richard Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki which transmitted highly secret information from Tokyo to the Soviet Union between 1933 and 1941
• Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History (1986), ISBN 0-07-050668-X
• December 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor (1988), ISBN 0-07-050682-5
• God's Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor (1990), ISBN 0-08-037440-9

External links

• The Gordon W. Prange Collection Template:En icon and Template:Ja icon at the University of Maryland