5 comments about The Korean War (Unabridged).

1. The Korean War took the world by surprise when, in the morning of June 25 1950, thousands of North Korean troops came crashing across the 38th parallel separating the two Koreas. The ensuing war would come to pit the American -led United Nations against North Korea and communist China . In this well researched work, Max Hastings looks not only at the conflict itself but also its origins and its often forgotten lessons. Hastings writes of a United States that was thoroughly unprepared for a war of this type, with near disasterous results. In the end, the consequences of the mistakes on both sides would prolong the conflict , cost millions of lives and left the Korean peninsula devastated. However the conclusion drawn from the book is one that the American effort in Korea, though flawed, was indeed very necessary and ultimately not in vain.



2. A good solid one volume account of the Korean war that gives the general reader a good insight into the war although I would prefer a work from an American perspective. Well worth the pricing on Amazon.



3. This book treats the war as military history, from the power struggle on the penninsula following the end of WWII to the final Armistice. The Korean War is a complicated conflict (you wouldn't know it from watching MASH though) which saw both sides surge north and south, with new belligerents getting involved in the war at different points and with a mix of WWII technology on the ground and Cold War technology in the skies. Max Hastings does an excellent job of putting the conflict together not just in terms of the "big picture" but also in the eyes of those who fought it.



4. I bought this book because I wanted an unbiased view of the conflict. I did not want to read about only the positive aspects of the war from an American perspective. The American military, as well as the Truman Administration, made some pretty big blunders during this war and should be rightfully criticized. That said, I was surprised (and a little annoyed) to read how Mr. Hastings portrayed the American role. If one did not have much prior knowledge of the Korean War, they would walk away with the impression that the Americans were a bunch of blundering fools after reading this book. The British and Commonwealth troops are held high on a pedestal, marvelling at how incompetent their American conterparts are. The Commonwealth and other U.N. troops should be praised for their contribution to the war effort. The British & Belgian stand at the Imjim is of legend. Unfortunately, Mr. Hastings does this at the expense of the American contribution. I was hoping for an unbiased version of the war but did not receive it in this book.



5. A smoothly readable, nicely paced overview of the Korean war. Hastings is one of the best at narrative history.

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