The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam

This long book brings the Korean War to life. The author writes a riveting account of the war that was fought on multiple different levels. Korea was a key location in the ideological battle between western capitalism and eastern Communism. The United States had little understanding of Korea and had reneged on previous promises. On the communist side, the conflicts conflicts between Russia and China created issues for support. On the battlefield, Korea was in the realm of Douglas MacArthur. However, he spent much of his time in Japan and had very little understanding of the Koreans or the conditions on the ground. The book portrays him as a cocky old man who thinks he is above the law. He had great victories in the past and won't listen to his subordinates. However, he will gladly take credit for their plans after they succeed. His arrogance is a big cause of the prolongation of the Korean war. The victory at Incheon probably helped delay his eventual firing. The other sycophants under him denied intelligence and resulted in significant loses. Only with better leadership did the western UN forces gain ground.

Mao's communist forces were able to take advantage of MacArthur's arrogance to achieve some early victories after they entered the war. However, he also fell to arrogance.

In the end, the long war left Korea back in the state it was where the allies divided it after the end of World War II. On the geopolitical front, the US and China ended up needlessly poisoning their relationship. Attempts to contain communism probably helped more to maintain it.

The author is very opinionated, with sources to back his opinions. The Korean War had plenty of heroes and villains. What did it accomplish?

The Korean War: A History

The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings

While subtitled "a history", this book is just as much a meta-history of the Korean war as a history of the conflict itself. There is a significant review of past writings about Korea. It explores how the war was perceived at the time and how perceptions have changed, especially after Vietnam. The actual western "Korean War" is placed as one small chapter in an ongoing conflict between Korea and Japan, with significant Chinese, Russian and American involvement. Korea itself has had well-defined boundaries for centuries. The division between North and South Korea, however, the divicsion between North and South Korea was based on an arbitrary line created by Americans. The North had been dominated by anti-Japanese freedom fighters, while the south had more collaborators. The sides both were filled with corruption and committed numerous atrocities during the conflict. Neither side could really lay claim to the title of "good guys". South Korea has looked into the atrocities with a truth and reconciliation commission. The North remains autocratic and continues to be officially at war with the South. The goals of the Koreans are not the same as the goals of other countries in the conflict. The western forces had little respect for Koreans themselves, and ended up fighting an indeterminate conflict that gets lost between the "success" of World War II and the "failure" of Vietnam. Korea continues to live with this small episode in the ongoing conflict.