[jacobtowne]

Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan by Ronald H. Spector is hands down the best account I've read. The book combines scholarship with eminent readability.
The author draws on declassified intelligence files as well as British, Japanese, and American archival material.
Mr. Spector, who has served as historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, served with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam.
JT