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patriotmike's review against another edition
3.0
Think I got carpal tunnel from flipping through 750 pages on my phone.
clarke11235's review against another edition
4.0
Both detailed and sprawling. Amazing how a much forgotten war impacted so much of the next many decades.
radbear76's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting and detailed book. It jumps around a little in time which made it slightly confusing at times, but definitely worth reading.
blackshirt's review against another edition
4.0
This is an incredibly well-written book that tells the story of great men like Truman, MacArthur, Mao, and Stalin, and men most people have never heard of by name - soldiers - the politics of the time, and the historical forces at play that lead to the Korean War.
It tells the story of each of the men mentioned by name - the experiences that shaped them, their flaws, their strengths, and sometimes their motivations. Their actions both good and bad are laid bare.
It describes the tragedy of being a soldier at Kunuri, of MacArthur, Johnnie Walker, and even Marshal Peng, the general of the Chinese army in Korea. It's a deep look at a critical juncture in America - the inflection point when America begins to take on its new internationalist role, which it generally did not want after harboring intense isolationist views since its founding.
Herein lie portraits of courage in combat, courage in politics, and - very rarely - courage in both from the same man. But there are also portraits of crippling egoism, racism, disrespect, and cowardice when faced with what one knows should be done and what one actually does. I was outraged at times, proud at others. I was constantly educated. It's a history with nuance, and I loved it.
It tells the story of each of the men mentioned by name - the experiences that shaped them, their flaws, their strengths, and sometimes their motivations. Their actions both good and bad are laid bare.
It describes the tragedy of being a soldier at Kunuri, of MacArthur, Johnnie Walker, and even Marshal Peng, the general of the Chinese army in Korea. It's a deep look at a critical juncture in America - the inflection point when America begins to take on its new internationalist role, which it generally did not want after harboring intense isolationist views since its founding.
Herein lie portraits of courage in combat, courage in politics, and - very rarely - courage in both from the same man. But there are also portraits of crippling egoism, racism, disrespect, and cowardice when faced with what one knows should be done and what one actually does. I was outraged at times, proud at others. I was constantly educated. It's a history with nuance, and I loved it.
danjewett's review against another edition
5.0
A huge gap in my understanding of events that greatly influenced the american politics of my formative years has been filled in.
mark_lm's review against another edition
4.0
Halberstam’s 2007 history of the Korean War is excellent. He balanced political and military views of the war and chose the political and military battles to discuss with the adeptness of the experienced Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and historian that he was. The first third of the book is political with mini-biographies of McArthur, Truman, Acheson, Mao, Kennan, Kim Il Sung, Syngman Rhee, Ridgway, and others. If you’re eager to read about the war itself, this may slow you down, but Halberstam used the novelistic technique of starting the book with the disastrous battle at Unsan out of temporal sequence to draw you in.
Besides whatever intrinsic value it has, reading this history is an antidote to the current blather about the uniqueness of our political divisiveness, the politicization of the media, and the megalomania of our leaders. Here the reader can read about the posturings of Douglas McArthur, his support from Henry Luce and Time magazine, and the pervasive lobbying power of the Nationalist Chinese and Chiang Kai-shek.
Besides whatever intrinsic value it has, reading this history is an antidote to the current blather about the uniqueness of our political divisiveness, the politicization of the media, and the megalomania of our leaders. Here the reader can read about the posturings of Douglas McArthur, his support from Henry Luce and Time magazine, and the pervasive lobbying power of the Nationalist Chinese and Chiang Kai-shek.
sleepyboi2988's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book, I knew next to nothing about the Korean War and I picked this up at my local Habitat for Humanity and decided to rectify that situation. He expertly weaves the political backgrounds, the generals backgrounds, the strategic overviews, and the first hand accounts of the men on the ground into one flowing story. To understand the American politics behind the war he also presents the Russian, North Korean, and Chinese going ons as well. It is (as most books of this kind are) a sad read as well, the amount of human life wasted because of political aspirations and fear is horrible. Excellent in depth overview (if that makes sense) of the war in my opinion.