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The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
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Amazon.com Review
David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book for the Vietnam War. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivalled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another dark corner in our history: the Korean War. The Coldest Winter is a successor to The Best and the Brightest, even though in historical terms it precedes it. Halberstam considered The Coldest Winter the best book he ever wrote, the culmination of forty-five years of writing about America's postwar foreign policy. Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures -- Eisenhower, Truman, Acheson, Kim, and Mao, and Generals MacArthur, Almond, and Ridgway. At the same time, Halberstam provides us with his trademark highly evocative narrative journalism, chronicling the crucial battles with reportage of the highest order. At the heart of the book are the individual stories of the soldiers on the front lines who were left to deal with the consequences of the dangerous misjudgments and competing agendas of powerful men. We meet them, follow them, and see some of the most dreadful battles in history through their eyes. As ever, Halberstam was concerned with the extraordinary courage and resolve of people asked to bear an extraordinary burden. The Coldest Winter is contemporary history in its most literary and luminescent form, and provides crucial perspective on the Vietnam War and the events of today. It was a book that Halberstam first decided to write more than thirty years ago and that took him nearly ten years to write. It stands as a lasting testament to one of the greatest journalists and historians of our time, and to the fighting men whose heroism it chronicles. Includes an Afterword by Russell Baker Tributes to David Halberstam David Halberstam died at the age of 73 in a car accident in California on April 23, 2007, just after completing The Coldest Winter. Legendary for his work ethic, his kindness to young writers, and his unbending moral spine, Halberstam had friends and admirers throughout journalism, many of whom spoke at his memorial service and at readings across the country for the release of The Coldest Winter. We have included testimonials given at his memorial service by two writers who made their reputations at the same newspaper where he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War reporting, The New York Times: Anna Quindlen ...David occupied a lot of space on the planet. Perhaps he felt the price he must pay for that big voice, that big reach, that big reputation, was that his generosity had to be just as large. Most of us, when we take to the road and meet admiring strangers, vow afterward to answer the note pressed into our hands or to pass along the speech we promised to the person whose daughter couldn't be there to hear it. But with the best will in the world we arrive home to deadlines, bills, kids, friends, all the demands of a busy life. We mean to be our best selves, but often we forget. David did it. He always did it. The note, the call, the book, the advice. When I mentioned this once he dug his hands deep into the pockets of his grey flannels, set his mouth at the corners, looked down and rumbled, "Well, but it's so easy." That's nonsense. It's not easy. But it is important, and why he has been remembered with enormous affection by ordinary readers all over this country, and why each of us who live some sort of public life would do well, with all due respect to Jesus, to ask ourselves about those small encounters: what would David do? ... Read her full tribute Dexter Filkins ...If I could use a sports metaphor--and I think David would have appreciated that--David was the pulling guard, as in a football game. The pulling guard who sweeps wide and clears the hole for the running back who runs through behind him. We reporters in Iraq were the running backs. David went first--a long time ago--and cleared the way. In Iraq, when the official version didn't match what we were seeing on the streets of Baghdad, all we had to do--and we did it a lot--was ask ourselves: what would Halberstam have done? And then the way was clear.... Read his full tribute A Timeline of the Korean War How It Began January 1950 Secretary of State Dean Acheson leaves Korea out of America's Far East Defense Perimeter. June 25, 1950 The North Korean Army crosses the 38th parallel with a force of about 135,000 troops. The Republic of Korea is taken completely by surprise by the invasion and their forces are soon in full retreat. July 7, 1950 General Douglas MacArthur is officially put in command of the forces set to defend the Republic of Korea. August 1950 Relentlessly focused attacks by the North Koreans drive the ill-prepared defense forces into the country's southeast corner. The Pusan Perimeter is established as the last best hope of maintaining a toehold on the peninsula. August-Sept. 1950 The North Koreans launch assault after assault against the Pusan Perimeter, with particularly brutal fighting taking place along the Naktong River. U.S. soldiers are in constant danger of being overrun. September 15, 1950 MacArthur delivers his masterstroke with the amphibious landings at Inchon. The invasion blindsides the North Korean defenders and relieves pressure on the Pusan Perimeter. UN forces are able to drive north from Pusan and east from Inchon. By the end of September the North Korean forces are routed on all fronts, Seoul has been recaptured, and MacArthur receives permission to cross the 38th parallel. The Debacle November 1950 U.S. soldiers march deep into North Korean territory, eventually reaching the Yalu River border with China. But the first warning of a conflict with the Chinese takes place at Unsan, where the Eighth Cavalry is mauled by a surprise engagement. By the end of November Chinese Communist forces mount a major offensive at Kunuri and the Chosin Reservoir. December 1950 Overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers, UN forces are battered to positions below the 38th parallel. General Walker is killed in an accident, and General Ridgway takes over his command. General MacArthur lobbies relentlessly for attacks into China, an action that would draw China, and likely the USSR, into a full-scale war. Tensions between Truman and MacArthur escalate. January-February 1951 The Chinese reach the high-water mark of their assault. General Ridgway aggressively combats the Chinese in the fight for the central corridor, with major battles fought at Wonju, Twin Tunnels, and Chipyongni. April 11, 1951 Truman relieves General MacArthur of his duties. Raucous public outcry in support of the celebrated general further erodes Truman's popularity. The End July 27, 1953 After years of bloody stalemate, a cease-fire is signed between North Korea and the UN. The border established is very close to the original line at the 38th parallel. It is estimated that the war cost 33,000 American, 415,000 South Korean, and up to 1.5 million Chinese and North Korean lives. In the arena of U.S. foreign policy, the lessons of Korea still largely remain unlearned. The drive to Seoul, September 16-28, 1950
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From Publishers Weekly
Reviewed by James BradyAt the heart of David Halberstam's massive and powerful new history of the Korean War is a bloody, losing battle fought in November 1950 in the snow-covered mountains of North Korea by outnumbered American GIs and Marines against the Chinese Communist Army.Halberstam's villain is not North Korea's Kim Il Sung or China's Chairman Mao or even the Soviet Union's Josef Stalin, who pulled the strings. It's the legendary general Douglas MacArthur, the aging, arrogant, politically ambitious architect of what the author calls the single greatest American military miscalculation of the war, MacArthur's decision to go all the way to the Yalu [River] because he was sure the Chinese would not come in.Much of the story is familiar. What distinguishes this version by Halberstam (who died this year in a California auto crash) is his reportorial skill, honed in Vietnam in Pulitzer-winning dispatches to the New York Times. His pounding narrative, in which GIs and generals describe their coldest winter, whisks the reader along, even though we know the ending.Most Korean War scholars agree that MacArthur's sprint to the border of great China with a Siberian winter coming on resulted in a lethal nightmare. Though focused on that mountain battle, Halberstam's book covers the entire war, from the sudden dawn attack by Kim Il Sung's Soviet-backed North Koreans against the U.S.-trained South, on June 25, 1950, to its uneasy truce in 1953. It was a smallish war but a big Cold War story: Harry Truman, Stalin and Mao, Joe McCarthy and Eisenhower, George C. Marshall and Omar Bradley, among others, stride through it. A few quibbles: there were no B-17 bombers destroyed on Wake Island the day after Pearl Harbor, as Halberstam asserts, and Halberstam gives his minor characters too much attention.At first MacArthur did well, toughing out those early months when the first GIs sent in from cushy billets in occupied Japan were overwhelmed by Kim's rugged little peasant army. MacArthur's greatest gamble led to a marvelous turning point: the invasion at Inchon in September, when he outflanked the stunned Reds. After Inchon, the general headed north and his luck ran out. His sycophants, intelligence chief Willoughby and field commander Ned Almond, refused to believe battlefield evidence indicating the Chinese Communists had quietly infiltrated North Korea and were lying in wait. The Marines fought their way out as other units disintegrated. In the end, far too late, Truman sacked MacArthur.Alive with the voices of the men who fought, Halberstam's telling is a virtuoso work of history. (Sept.)James Brady, columnist at Parade and Forbes.com, is author of several books about Korea. His latest book is Why Marines Fight (St. Martin's, Nov.). Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Product details
Hardcover: 719 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Books (September 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401300529
ISBN-13: 978-1401300524
Product Dimensions:
6.1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.6 out of 5 stars
601 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#86,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
It was towards the end of the book for me to finally understand why Mr. Halberstam titled his work 'The Coldest Winter' instead of Winters being plural. The author focused the majority his book on the beginning of the war (June 25, 1950) through to a decisive battle at Chipyongni (February 13-15, 1951). The Chinese came to the rescue of the North Koreans on October 26, 1950. That winter saw temperatures dropping as low as minus-forty degrees without considering the windchill factor. Mr. Halberstam does an excellent job of clarifying for me why we got involved in the whole mess to begin with. The war had nothing to do with strategic value. At its core, the Korean War was simply about multiple egos needing to satisfy their superiority over others.The book explains the objectives and motivations of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, North Korea's Kim Il-sung, South Korea's Syngman Rhee, China's former leader Chiang Kai-shek, the Truman Administration, General Douglas MacArthur, General Matthew Ridgway, and other notables. What 'The Coldest Winter' does so well is place the Korean War in the broader context of the region's history and how cultural misunderstandings and prejudices caused the conflict. Man, it continues to depress me how cavalier some leaders can be with human lives, especially their own people. The author attempts to analyze the mindsets of such monsters as Stalin and Mao as well as some U.S. officers and political leaders. Especially in the United States, presidents are sometimes in control and, at other times, they are pulled along by political forces beyond their command. General MacArthur and his toady General Ned Almond are placed in an especially negative light in the book. Mr. Halberstam also shows how all military engagements involve varying levels of political infighting by different officers. The U.S. military has chains of command, but subtle forms of insubordination are rampant. The author's depictions of certain battles are edge-of-your-seat stuff. The book includes twenty-five helpful black-and-white maps but no photos. I also found the glossary of military terms at the beginning of the book to be quite helpful.The book's epilogue gives a remarkable assessment of the Korean War's continuing ripple effects, even today. 'The Coldest Winter' is the best kind of history book. It varies from giving a broader perspective of political machinations at play as well as detailed accounts of combat. The complexity and moral ambiguity of war are front and center. There are stories of heroism, cowardice, bravery, and farce. However, despite the author's descriptions of General MacArthur's power and hubris, I am still at a loss how such a megalomaniac was able remain a power onto himself and could so easily be insubordinate to our country's Commander in Chief, especially in some very public displays. The late William Manchester's highly praised 'American Caesar' is going to be on my future reading list to hopefully give me a clearer picture of the narcissist. 'The Coldest Winter' has not one dull moment in its nearly 670 pages.
This is an excellent history of the Korean War. This is an especially good read if you are interested in the causes of the war, regional and global implications, strategic and operational military decision making, and the political impacts back in the U.S. Although the author delves into some of the battles and gives the tactical perspective of Division and Regimental commanders/soldiers, most of the emphasis is on the key personalities involved at the national and strategic level and the impacts of their decisions. MacArthur, rightly so, comes out looking very bad. This is an excellent companion book to the classic T.R. Fehrenbach book, This Kind of War, which describes in gritty detail the hardships that the common Soldiers endured. I recommend both books to get an idea of how the rugged terrain, harsh climate, and historical geopolitical situation would make a war on the Korean peninsula very difficult and costly.
If you're unfamiliar with the Korean War, you will find this an easy book to read. However, it's not a study of the war in terms of campaigns or actions taken by the belligerents, so you aren't going to get a blow-by-blow picture of how the war progressed. Rather, this is mostly a study in background and some of the primary personalities involved, with coverage of just a very few particular events tossed in. In particular, MacArthur takes a real beating in this book, which I think is utterly deserved, but there are many other books that do likewise. Some other people also get the spotlight, particularly national leaders, military commanders and American soldiers on the ground. It really is an easy read and there's plenty of information on history and policies that led to and shaped the war. On that level, it works very well, and I enjoyed the book. But if you're wanting a treatment of the military events in chronological order or by major battles, then this isn't really what you are looking for. The vast majority of the book covers the period from the start of the war (and its genesis) to the time Mac is fired, which leaves little coverage of the final two-plus years of the war. And it's from that those months that the book derives its name, a period of time in which my dad served in Korea and knows exactly what "coldest winter" means.
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