5 comments about The Captains: Brotherhood of War 02.

1. I have read the entire series more than once, and it gets better every time I read it. Mr. Griffin definately has the gift for describing the military community. I gave 20 years to my country, and I can't wait for him to talk about the Air Force.



2. I love the whole Brotherhood of War series, but the Captains is my favorite. Griffin is the king of ground pounder fiction! If you skip the rest of the series, read this one!



3. The Captains is certainly one of the best books in any of the series Griffin has written. I served in armored cavalry and in MI and Griffin knows the army and its array of characters. He is a master of character development, dialogue and military humor. There is none of the obsequious boot-licking of the military present in Clancy's novels. Unlike Clancy, who has his lips firmly entrenched on the military's derriere, Griffin pulls no punches. I can't give Griffin a better salute than to say, GARRYOWEN, SIR!



4. WEB Griffin's second in the series of the Brotherhood of war. Having been completely addicted after reading the Lieutenants, I couldn't wait to read this book when it came out. Griffin's idea to present sequels that parallel military promotions is a great theme. As each person's career advances, so the plot line is moved along. This time, the Korean War breaks out, Lowell, Felter, MacMillan, Parker are there to do what only they can do - stop the bad guys.
   
   Griffin can write with such authority because he was once a soldier, he knows his subject matter and has an uncanny ability to translate that to the reader. Largely based on fact, these novels put you there. Of course it helps that the heros are always near the top decision makers, are incredibly brave, good looking and studs to boot.
   
   I have read and re-read this book many times and thoroughly enjoyed it each time. If you want a very real picture of what the bond of brotherhood is like in the military, these are great novels.



5. I bought this for a friend for Christmas because she told me of how traditionally this author's books was given to her by an important family member. She had the Lieutanants and was finishing that up and spoke of getting this one next all the way to the Generals. All I can say is when she opened it, the results was this HUGE smile and a Big Thanks!

5 comments about The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950: The Battles That Saved South Korea--and the Marines--from Extinction.

1. Bill Sloan has written another commendable story of combat. This time he covers the opening months of the Korean War when South Korea and especially the US were unprepared to repulse an invasion from the north. The signs were there but were ignored by MacArthur in Japan and by Washington. The author has chosen the first three months when the US was slowly coming up to speed, throwing in reinforcements piecemeal against the determined NKPA.
   
   Before beginning his war coverage, the author describes how Truman and Johnson in the five years since WWII had gutted the Armed Services, especially the Marine Corps which was on life support. He goes on to depict the Army as poorly trained and equipped as well as low in morale. To make matters worse, the non confrontational ways of Acheson in regards to China and Soviet Union only encourage Stalin to help train and equip North Korea to invade the South.
   Mr Sloan's battle coverage begins with the fall of Seoul and continues down the peninsula toward the important port of Pusan. In between Seoul and Pusan, you'll read about the battles for Suwon, Osan, Kum River, Taejon, Kumchon, Yongdong, Sanju, Sachon, Kosong, Obong-ni Ridge, Taegu and the Naktong River line, also called the Pusan Perimeter.
   These were days when US Forces, both Gis and Marines, suffered heavy casualties and by August were almost pushed into the sea. In September there was a reversal when MacArthur landed at Inchon and within two weeks recaptured Seoul, saw the Pusan breakout and the full fledge retreat of the NKPA back to North Korea. MacArthur wasn't satisfied with regaining the 38th Parallel; he talked Truman into attacking the North with the objective of combining the two countries into one democratic one.
   
   The battle coverage of the select engagements was good, descriptive. Using many sources including primary documents as well as interviewing 56 veterans, Mr Sloan was able to present many first hand experiences that added to the tactical details, giving greater depth to the book. The book closes with a brief summary of the rest of the war that includes UN forces invading the North, the Chinese counterattack, the dragged out negotiations as well as the present day circumstances. There is closing remarks on Truman and MacArthur as well as a discussion on whether the war had merit or if it is appreciated by the current generation.
   
   Even though I really liked the book and eagerly recommend it, I couldn't give it five stars. The author provides too small of a window into the war, specializing too much which gives an incomplete view of the battle. I understand that was the author's intent but if this is the only book on the Korean War you read, you will have an incomplete picture of it. It can't compete with the full coverage books from Clay Blair, Bud Hannings and Roy Appleman. Secondly, there are only a few large scale maps of the peninsula. It would have been helpful to have a detailed map of each engagement covered; it certainly would have helped to follow the action. Also provided are photos and an extensive Notes section, Bibliography and Index.



2. With his fourth telling of a significant battle fought by U.S. armed forces, I believe Bill Sloan takes his place on the honor roll of current military historians. His latest effort tells the all-too familiar story of unprepared U.S. units facing another major conflict -- this time only five years after the end of World War II. But in those five years, Washington politicians concentrated on gutting the U.S. military to the extent of abolishing the Marine Corps.
   
   When North Korean soldiers plunged into South Korea in June of 1950, those same politicians had to call on troops trained mostly for peacetime duties and who were sent into battle facing dangerous shortages of equipment and supplies, including ammunition.
   
   Much like his other books, Sloan provides an overall picture of what was at stake and how U.S. civilian and military leaders dealt with the emergency. In those chaotic early days of the Korean War, American troops faced the possibility of being pushed into the waters of the Korean Strait by a vastly smaller nation.
   
   While Sloan tells of strategic conferences of the various commanders, his emphasis is again on the individual servicemen who were thrown into the fray and eventually forced the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel and recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul. It was truly a triumph of historical proportions.



3. While this book is not perfect, I like how Bill Sloan took the Korean War and expanded it beyond the Inchon invasion and the disastrous retreat in the fall of 1950. Here we see of the United States army was defeated as a military force by the NKPA. We get an almost blow by blow description of how the the Army's destruction as a fighting force from 1945 and onwards lead to the route of the forces sent into Korea in the summer of 1950.
   
   The book also does a great job describing the well known risks associated with the Inchon landings and how controversial they were. Sloan also heaps criticism on Douglas MacArthur for going for trophies and not trying to cut off and eliminate the retreating North Korean's.
   
   All in all this is a decent book which offers a unique insight into a little known corner of our least well known war.



4. Having personal knowledge of this war, I find Mr. Sloan's research lacking, at least in some regards. I am referring specifically to his treatment of General William Dean.
   Some of the examples of incomplete research are as follows:
   1. Pg. 68--"Mediocre grades prevented him from getting an appointment (to West Point)." In fact, General Dean was the Valedictorian of his high school class (1918).
   2. Pg. 68--Mr. Sloan says that General Dean had been "a senior advisor to the South Korean Police and Constabulary." In reality, he had been the Military Governor, and had been instrumental in establishing the Republic of Korrea.
   3. Pg. 69--Mr. Sloan quotes an unnamed officer of the 24th Division: "Fundamentally, he was a silly man. He still didn't know what war was." He also quotes a company clerk (corporal) of a medical unit: "In my opinion, Dean was one of the worst division commanders in the history of the U.S.Army." But Mr. Sloan does not quote General MacArthur, who said: "General Dean had succeeded heroically. The enemy had been forced to deploy and was delayed long enough for the Pusan Perimeter to form and make possible the Inchon landing later." And he does not quote General S.L.A. Marshall: "To my mind, there is no doubt of the critical and decisive nature of Dean's holding action outside Taejon. He carried out the maneuver under the worst possible conditions, was forced to feed his green forces piecemeal into the fray, but he succeeded in stopping the Communists. If the Communists had had a clear right of way to Pusan, the war would have ended right there. There is no doubt that this was one of the great pivotal points of the war. Personally, I feel that Dean has become one of the truly giant figures among this country's more heroic leaders."
   I can't help but wonder why Sloan ignored comments like these, but included the misleading ones he did, when General Dean's involvement in the Korean War had an influence on "The Battles That Saved South Korea--and the Marines--From Extinction."



5. Fantastic read on the beginning of the Korean War!!! The only good thing to come out of the war was that it saved the Marine Corps from being put "out to sea" by President truman and the powers that be in D.C.. It also shows that General Douglas MacAuthur had lost his mind in handling the battlefield decisions during this war. Countless lives would not have been lost if he wasn't so greedy and full of himself.
   This will be one of those books that you won't be able to put away, once you begin to read it....

5 comments about War Trash.

1. Unfortunately, I'm not prone to write about books I like. Instead, I like to complain about books I detest. However, War Trash was an exception. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found its history well researched, the east vs. west juxtaposition to be captivating, the conflicting loyalties of the hero to be closely felt, and the writing style to be very good. As an amateur historian, I fairly well knew of the outcome of the protagonist, but I stilled ached for him when the inevitable was about to occur. In the end, it was a good book and it read well.
   
   g



2. With an eye to recent headlines, Ha Jin has in interviews dismissed his choice of subject matter for War Trash as coincidental. The Abu Ghraib scandal was yet to break when the idea for Ha's war memoir-style fiction took root. All the same, readers may wince to consider the immediacy of this tale. Revealed is a world in which prisoners of war are held in an American-controlled camp, where Geneva Convention guidelines function as a debatable set of criteria, bent at will by upper brass. Small comfort can lie in the sharing of blame. "In the art of inflicting pain, the Chinese and the Koreans were much more expert than the Americans," notes the narrator. A striving, even-handed work of fiction, War Trash follows a Chinese army "volunteer" in Korea, who describes the experience of interned Communist POW's.
   
   Narrator and protagonist Yu Yuan is a man of reserve who eschews ideology and embraces instead the politics of preservation in his attempt to navigate the wartime landscape of the Korean Peninsula. A graduate of a Nationalist military academy, Yuan's English-speaking abilities qualify him as a potential asset both to his Red Army superiors and to the Nationalist factions that rise to prominence in the prison camps, and so Yuan's loyalty is tried at turns. Aware of the political and personal stakes of the game playing out around him, he depicts in his memoir the power struggle among the captured. With careful detail of character, kingpins are sketched in their comeuppance. Corrupt leaders drive the formation of Nationalist and Communist camps among the prison population, further enforcing an atmosphere of violence.
   
   Employing a tone that is remarkable in its restraint, Ha Jin populates Yuan's narrative with more quiet outsiders than dangerous henchmen. Numbering on the side of the Communists are a great many men who, like Yuan, simply wish to return home, though this desire is tempered by the possibility of being shamed, or worse, by a Communist regime that has ordained capture to be dishonorable. War Trash explores the practicalities and motivations of choosing between countries, between opposing systems of government. Propaganda campaigns notwithstanding, the deciding factors between China and Taiwan often boil down to a captive's sense of fear or notion of honor. Apart from suicide, there seem to be few options available to a captured Chinese soldier wishing to maintain the good stead he held prior to the war. Refusing repatriation to China would mark him as a traitor and spell danger for his family left behind on the mainland, finally resulting in a life of uncertainty in Taiwan.
   
   Yet this choice is embraced by a large majority of Chinese POW's, who have declared loyalty to the Nationalist party of Chiang Kai-Chek. With the Generalissimo's radio address for weekly inspiration, these men do their best to coerce other prisoners into joining their camp, even going so far as to tattoo anti-Communist designs or slogans on men of rank in an attempt to force hands. In spite of being classified under a false name and rank, Yuan is discovered by the leader of the Nationalists, a certain Chief Wang, to be an officer and graduate of the very military institute once headed by Chiang Kai-Chek. Wang marks Yuan as a man with a bright future in Taiwan and makes a play for his loyalty, frustrating Yuan's attempts to remain uncommitted with a particularly outrageous tattoo.
   
   A broken jade barrette from his fiancée reinforces Yuan's desire to remain true to his life in China, as obfuscated motives encroach from all sides, threatening his simple loyalties. Threats are enacted by both political factions. Meanwhile, rumors filter through the camp fueling speculation on the prospective success or failure of truce negotiations, as the certainty of outside realities begins to fade. Yuan plays his role dutifully through twists of plot and fate, attempting to serve reason and decency. Shadowy informants repeatedly thwart Yuan's intentions, and the forthright man slides into duplicity in an attempt to guarantee his future and his sanity.
   
   Accompanying scenes of battlefield and political conflict are Yuan's accounts of friendships and observations of nature. Ha Jin's use of detail is inspired in its ability to conjure up for the reader the Korean landscape, as in a description of pheasants in the demilitarized zone: "In the east, toward the Imjin River, stretched an orchard, whose apple and pear trees had all shed their leaves, their branches often bearded by hoarfrost in the morning. In the west rose a hill, treeless but covered with tall grass and teeming with ring-necked pheasants. We often gathered along the barbed-wire fence to watch the birds fly up and away with fruity cackles. From the distance the males' iridescent plumage glittered in the sunlight like tiny explosions and often brought out shouts among us. How we wished we could have gone hunting for them. ...Pheasants, unlike human beings, seemed to have multiplied thanks to the war."
   
   Resisting any signs of collapse under the weight of historical accuracy (which it nonetheless maintains), War Trash celebrates the human moments stolen from the ordeal of imprisonment. Ha Jin creates a literate and compassionate narrator in Yuan, who makes an opportunity of his detainment as he can, teaching his peers the basics of how to read and write. In efforts to improve himself he is led to the Bible, where he finds solace in the futile plight of man as recounted in Ecclesiastes (though his primary purpose in reading is the expansion of his English vocabulary). Yuan's quiet urges toward education and the arts belie a character that in other circumstances would prove decent but unexceptional. However, amidst a cacophony of competing slogans, the voice of our narrator remains for the reader a steady guide on a difficult journey.
   
   Ha's prose excels in quietly recalling images of a Korea torn by a sense of futility. Now, as contentious and protracted negotiations with North Korea reappear in today's headlines alongside accusations of American human rights violations, the perspective of War Trash retains a certain immediacy. A challenging but enjoyable read, the book is surprising in its ability to strike a clear and convincing depiction of Chinese, American, and Korean cultures, and the interactions among the three. Revealing fault as well as humanity on all sides, War Trash edifies both our historical and human perspectives.



3. Ha Jin's War Trash is a story of mind control and submission through harsh and tortuous circumstances! The author brings the reader into the mind of someone forced to participate in events just for his survival and the survival of his family. It also shows the hypocrisy of military leadership and how they manipulate men who serve under their command! What is even more remarkable about this story is the author's uncanny ability to portray characters in a historical setting with rich details. Personally, I thought the author fought in the Korean War only to learn that he was born after the conflict.
   
   A great writer and story teller as it shows the individualism of the main character against the back drop of early days of communist rule in China! If you love Chinese culture, then this book is for you.



4. You can read many other reviews that will note the plot and progress of the book. All I would like to say is that if you are a fan of melodic writing (as most Asian American authors excel at) or just a fan of Ha Jin, then this is a must read. I would probably read Waiting, the Bridegroom (short stories), or a Free Life first. This book is a little more intense than the aforementioned trio. If you are interested in a raw look into the POW camps during the Korean war, then check it out. I mean, National Book Award and Pen/Faulkner award winner. You can't go wrong.



5. A skewed but fascinating view of the Korean War as seen through the eyes of a Chinese prisoner of war. The conflicts of the war in which he was captured are less intense than the seething politics within the prison camp where most of the story takes place. The followers of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-Tung within the camp mimic the civil war taking place on the outside between the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang. Like many prison novels, this one is about physical, mental, and spiritual survival, but it also reveals much about the events that shaped the current conflicts between Taipei and Beijing.

5 comments about Under Fire: Corps 09.

1. This is the first time I've been exposed to Griffin's Corps novels. I listened to this one on tape, and I found it totally gripping! The characters are warm and very believable. Some are larger than life (ie: Major McCoy), but that's required in a novel of this type. One strong character is needed to carry the story along. I loved the inside look at one of the major battles of the Korean War (the attack on Inchon), and I liked the glimpse that we got of some real people, like General Douglas MacCarthur and President Harry Truman. I think Griffin has a really good understanding of the American Armed forces and the way that things are done there, and he tells a whopping good tale! I actually had shivers when I heard James Laughton describe the battle to take the two Korean islands that were required before the landing at Inchon could occur. And that's another thing - James Laughton does a wonderful job of reading this very exciting book. I truly enjoyed it, and am going to read or listen to other books in this series.



2. This book came in excellant condition and I would recommend
   the seller. Book came right away. Would like to Thank the
   Seller for getting it out so quickly.



3. I think W.E.B Griffin(his real name is William E. Butterworth)is the best current day writer. I highly recommend this and all of his other books. This book is number 9 of 10 in the Corps series



4. Haven't read the book as yet but if it's as good as the condition that I received it in, I'll be very happy. Good copy, received when promised and clean enough to leave laying around on the coffee table. Thank You, Ken Driscoll



5. I purchased the entire set on another site for a decent price. My only issue with this book is the fact that we jumped from mid WW II to the beginning of the Korean Conflict five years later. I was expecting a book that finished up WW II. it would have been nice to know what happened to some of the characters that are missing in this one. You get rather attached to them.
   
   Macklin is back in this one and like in real life people like him wind up in easy jobs where they interfere with the people who actually do good work.
   
   I enjoy the history lessons you get in a W.E.B. Griffin book and the politics that are involved in trying to get anything done. I get attached to his characters and always want to know more about them. I like how he combines fact and fiction. At least with his books you know which is fact and which is fiction whereas others try passing fiction off as fact especially if it is a work that makes the entire military look bad.

5 comments about Retreat, Hell! (Corps, No 10).

1. Ok, I'm giving this two stars because it is slightly entertaining, especially the historical references but the authors writing style got so obnoxious I threw the book on the donation pile after finishing about half of it.
   
   Problems:
   
   1) Black and White character development. The protagonists are all pretty and wealthy (or destined to be wealthy) and of good moral fiber. No shades of grey whatsoever.
   
   2) Repetition. Sequence of events and factoids are repeated ad nausem. I can't count how many times a reference was made to the rice paddies of Korea being fertilized with human feces. Interesting fact? Maybe, but after mentioning it three times one would think the author made his point. Another example; Character entrances for the military characters are always listed them by their title and status, eg Private Peter Rabbit USMCR. It just feels like the author was trying to pad the word count.
   
   Such a shame as this book had potential. I hope the other books by Griffin deviate from this pattern. I will avoid any of his other works unless someone tells me otherwise.



2. 1. I'm not going to judge this book to harshly because it is a decent book. But more importantly, this is my first Griffin book. I'm going to assume that anyone with this guy's staying power has to have some substance behind all of his books.
   
   2. The main problem I had with this book (which can be taken as a complement) was that it ended abruptly. I wanted to learn more about subsequent events etc... Just in case there was another book to pick up after this one, I checked WEB Griffin's website--> it appears that this is the latest or last book in the USMC series.
   
   3. Anyway, with all of the books this guy has written as well his reputation, I'll at least try 1-2 more books, but this one was average from my point of view.



3. The book was sent to my son. He enjoys W.E.B. Griffin very much and wants to read all of the different series he has written. So far, he has completed Brotherhood of War and this book was the last in The Corps series. I believe the delivery was very quick, but I have no idea of the condition of the actual book. I intend to continue ordering used books through Amazon.com. We are all very happy with all the orders we have placed with you.



4. Griffin seems to be getting worse regarding the language used by the women in his books. I'm aware that men use this offensive language at times (maybe frequently) but have been spared its use by females, gratefully. In my experience, it's not realistic.



5. Reviews on this one are mixed to say the least. After reading (intensely) the preceeding six or so novels in the series over a couple months I just ran out of steam on this one. It seemed a bit of a stretch to pull together the whole cast of characters again five years later. I gave up after the first couple of chapters. Maybe I'll try it again during another deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

5 comments about The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.

1. There is a need for more books on the Korean War, but this one does not accomplish that goal. David Halberstam presents what seems to be personal vendettas and anecdotal evidence to support his own political views. I made it as far as page 179 and then got tired of hearing his diatribes. Will someone please write a decent account of the Korean War?



2. David Halberstam's "The Coldest Winter" is one of the most fascinating histories of war that I have read. It provides a detailed account of the political background leading up to the Korean War with Mao's army first fighting the Japanese and Chiang's Kuomintang forces, Stalin's involvement and refusal to commit Soviet troops, Kim Il Song's background and rashness, MacArthur's seeming imperial autonomy in the Dai Ichi Building in Tokyo, and the continuing deference and ambiguous orders issued to him by the Joint Chiefs and the White House. Much history about most of the men involved, like Dean Acheson, Averill Harriman, Harry S Truman, Dean Rusk, Henry Luce, and a host of others, is well-developed so that the reader has insights into their thinking.
   
   The story is extremely readable and entertaining as Halberstam carries his readers through the political machinations, incompetence, and corruption of the Nationalist Chinese. Their influence in Washington on foreign policy is shocking to discover. Even as Chiang's troops constantly abandoned their American-supplied weapons and materiel in the field to the communists, the China Lobby urged congress to pass more and more appropriations bills that simply led to a better supplied enemy as the Nationalists retreated. The extreme right-wing Republicans supporting Chiang, who were known as the "China Firsters," denigrated the patriotism of those who did not fully agree with them and made Truman's life difficult as he tried to limit the scope of the war. In retrospect and in fairness, the actions of many in that group seem treasonous today, but have to be considered within an era in which the U.S. was finding its way as a newly-minted superpower in a turbulent and dangerous post-war world with its threat of a Soviet takeover of Europe.
   
   Halberstam's chronicle of the frigid war in Korea is gripping as the weakness of the U.S. army and the incompetence of many of its senior commanders are exposed. Those who suffer the most through his pen are General Ned Almond; who is revealed to be rash, abrasive, short-sighted, and reckless with the lives of American troops; Charles Willoughby, who as MacArthur's top intelligence officer, refused to accept reports from the field of Red Chinese infiltration of the Korean peninsula and whose faulty analysis and twisted logic led to massive underestimation of the size and ability of Mao's army and heavily contributed to the needless deaths of U.S. servicemen; and, MacArthur himself, who bathed in glory after Inchon, but who was insubordinate, never spent a single night in Korea, and claimed to be able to respond to the Chinese through his intuition, since he "understood the oriental mind." USMC General O.P. Smith is shown as one of the few competent senior officers as he smells the Chinese ambush awaiting the Marines and deliberately delays execution of Almond's orders to rush north toward the Yalu. Smith's caution and efficiency saved countless U.S. lives and administered large scale casualties on the enemy. Halberstam draws parallels between the blind northern push by Almond and the massacre of Custer's men at Little Big Horn. As I read about the crossing of the 38th parallel by the Americans and the rapid push north, it reminded me of how the Russians retreated in the face of Napoleon's army, leading them deeper and deeper into a vast country until they were annihilated.
   
   The centerpiece of this account of the war is, of course, the friction between MacArthur and President Truman and MacArthur's relief for insubordination and meddling in political affairs. Perhaps at no time since the Civil War has our founders' constitutional scheme been as threatened as it was by the general's outrageous disregard for civil oversight of the military and rogue statements of U.S. foreign policy.
   
   Halberstam's Korean War history is a comprehensive masterpiece, which is easy to read, compelling, and difficult to put down. I highly recommend it to all readers interested in military and diplomatic history.



3. I am a history buff and as such was looking to fill the void that is my lack of knowledge of the Korean War. I have read Halberstam before and am troubled that this would be his last.
   The other reviews have given quite a detailed description of the scope of the book so let it suffice to say that I couldn't put it down. It has truly been since I first discovered Grisham that I could not put down a book, let alone a non-fiction. Well, I do need to amend that somewhat. At points in the book I was so overwhelmed with emotion as he recanted veteran's tales, that I had walk away for a day before shaking it off and then eagerly returned.
   Yes, it did fill the void and I also learned more than I had ever hoped for on the larger picture of the early years of the cold war, the loss of China and the resultant politics back home. I certainly had to move Doug MacArthur down a shelf or two on my pantheon of historical figures, but I already knew that he should have retired a few years earlier.
   I recommend it to anyone looking to understand the Cold War, the Truman/MacArthur episode, Communist China, military tactics and strategy, or the Washington Politics of the McCarthy era that have some eerie similarities to our own times. But most of all, it is simply a page turner and you can't wait to read what happens next.
   America will miss Halberstam.



4. "The Longest Winter" is the story of the first winter of the Korean War, 1950-1951. CW covers the original North Korean invasion, the counterattack by the United Nations forces ("the "Inchon Landing"), the Chinese entry to the conflict and the ultimate stabilization of the front lines under the leadership of General Matthew Ridgeway. This critical period was the core of the Korean War. Author Halberstam drives headlong into the full maelstrom of front line combat including heroism, military politics and some appalling failures of command. Halberstam correctly emphasizes the importance of leadership at the company and platoon levels. There are excellent background sketches of the ruling circle of the era: President Truman, Kim Il Sung, Dean Acheson, George Marshall, Joseph Stalin, Syngman Rhee, Mao Zedong, and Generals MacArthur, Almond and Ridgeway. Personalities plainly matter to this author. Ridgeway stands out as everyman's hero and MacArthur receives the full brunt of Halberstam's sharpest barbs. Looming darkly in the background of CW is the constant drone of domestic politics. Korea was an unpopular war and the Republicans cut President Truman no slack. What pressures HST was have faced; one can only admire the man's courage in the face of it all. There are some minor points of criticism: Maps are strong but not always conveniently placed and there are zero (!) photographs. Vietnam era readers may have no idea what many of these guys looked like. Perhaps future printings can correct these defects. Also, the author's attempts to square the circle by seeking parallels with the Vietnam conflict are downright awkward and definitely superfluous. Some might carp with CW's length but this reviewer was perfectly comfortable with the 669 pages. The bottom line is that "The Coldest Winter" is a serious, thoroughly researched book on a customarily passed over/disregarded time in this nation's military and political history.



5. The Coldest Winter is labelled a history of the Korean War, but as with any work by David Halberstam it contains much more than the story of the conflict of 1950-53 itself. This is primarily the story of the early Cold War years, when two superpowers, unsure of themselves and in constant fear of attack, uneasily jockeyed for position and influence in the world. I believe it will become one of the standard histories of that era.
   
   When North Korea invaded South Korea in the summer of 1950 an avalanche of consequences quickly ensued. The United States and the United Nations quickly took action to block aggression by what they perceived to be a monolithic Marxist bloc. The Communist world, in reality, was riven between factions and only theoretically controlled by the Soviet Union and its dictator Joseph Stalin. The war began with a fast paced roar but then bogged down in an endless bloody stalemate.
   
   Halberstam did some of his finest writing since The Best and the Brightest in The Coldest Winter. He was a master of the telling anecdote and the revealing character study. Men like Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman who have become icons of history have their weaknesses as well as their strengths clearly displayed. But the finest parts of The Coldest Winter deal with the stories of the ordinary soldiers which are told here, often for the first time.

5 comments about A Gesture Life: A Novel.

1. "A Gesture Life" chronicles the life of Doc Hata. Korean by birth he was raised by an adoptive Japanese family and subsequently lived the better part of his life in a small New York suburb of Bedley Run. Always feeling like an outsider Doc Hata has spent his life adapting to his surroundings. Upstanding, honest and hardworking, he has mastered the art of projecting a persona that has garnered respect and standing in the community. But his efforts to assimilate himself into his environs through a `life of gestures and politeness' has actually detached him from anything real - the ultimate trade-off for `fitting in.'
   
   Through a haunting flashback to WWII we learn of an event that had significantly impacted Doc Hata's character. As a medic in the Japanese army he failed to save a `comfort girl' to whom he had developed an emotional attachment. That event leaves an indelible mark on Doc Hata's existence. He will adapt without emotional involvement.
   
   In Bedley Run his interactions with neighbors are courteous but at arms-length, his affairs with women are ephemeral, his relationship with his adopted daughter, Sunny, is tumultuous. Connections with anything real elude him. Late in life Doc Hata begins to realize that perhaps he has erred in his ways and attempts to detach his past and atone for his misgivings.
   
   "A Gesture Life" is a theme-heavy novel written in the graceful prose style of author Chang-Rae Lee. Definitely not a plot-driven or action-oriented novel but if you enjoy superb writing then this may be the book for you.



2. The story involves Franklin Hata, a Japanese bachelor immigrating to the states in 1963, settling down in a small eastern town, opening a medical supply store, and subsequently adopting a Korean girl. There are flashbacks to Hata's young years as a medic in a Japanese military camp, and the horrors that occurred there during WWII.
   A beautifully written, eloquent yet simple account of Hata's struggle with his personal relationships and a fascinating perspective on life from the protagonist's point of view. Especially compelling is the brutally painful relationship with his daughter in the present time, and the nightmarish circumstances in the military camp and with the female "volunteers" brought there during WWII. His prose is always understated while at the same time powerfully able to keep the reader wide-eyed in the midst of his story, feeling the horrors, pain and beauty, strongly reactive to the array of wonderfully noble and flawed characters, and keeping you spellbound throughout the book. I cherished the time spent reading this first Chang-rae Lee authored book, and will immediately seek out more. He is absolutely amazing!



3. This is a rich and poignant story about a Japanese man of Korean descent who emigrates to the U.S. Franklin Hata leads a quiet life as a model citizen and retired medical supply store owner in an upscale town. Most of his story is told in flashback, and there are two main threads in his past. One is his stint as a medic during World War II, and the other is his more recent past, particularly the evolution of his relationship with his adopted daughter Sunny, also Korean. Both stories are heartbreaking in their own way. During WWII the Japanese conscripted Korean women into service to provide sex to the soldiers. His friendship with one of the "comfort" women has a tragic consequence that in some ways parallels a critical event in Sunny's life. After WWII, Franklin manages to avoid true intimacy, even with Sunny. By the end, however, he has changed, partly by Sunny's reentry into his life with a young son in tow, and partly by events that have caused him to connect with his neighbors and acquaintances. The words "gesture" and "façade" are repeated throughout the novel and are surely metaphors that apply to Franklin, as his calm demeanor belies a traumatic past. The rhythm of the prose in this gem of a novel is very yoga-like, even as the story becomes progressively more intense.



4. I've read few books that rely on introspection for the entire story line. All of the endless introspection in Gesture comes from a stereotypical main character, i.e., good ol Doc Hata, duplicitous and emotionally unavailable. It becomes obvious his thoughts are not to be trusted and therefore the story line is not to be trusted. See the problem? Admittedly I read for entertainment and am not pleased when I have to work out multiple possibilities in my mind as I read, or wade through endless mental ruminations that seem to lead nowhere plus they suffer from a lack of credibility. Doc is likable in his town and yet so unlikable to me. It left me asking: What was that the point of the story? Not sure and don't really care.
   
   The best way I can rate a book is would like to read it again. No, I wouldn't want to read Gesture again and would fight to keep from reading it again. The writing, the construction of the sentences and phrasing, is good. But there is never a payoff to all of those nicely written words, just some minor revelations that you already suspected and were not looking forward to reading.



5. Downside is that it is less a cohesive novel with a plot and a beginning, middle and end and more a collection of exercises in writing, albeit beautifully written.

5 comments about The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.

1. David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter is a masterfully written book. It reads easily about a myriad of complex situations. David is at his best when he discusses the interpersonal relations which take up a lot of the book.
   
   However, it should be noted that the author has a definite liberal perspective. Two examples stand out. From Halberstam's description of the pressures leading up to the war, it sounds as though the major cause of the war was the misunderstandings between the commmunist nations and the U.S. While it is true that the communist nations did not expect the U.S. to join militarily with South Korea and the U.S. did not expect a North Korean attack, the primary cause of the war was the North Koreans invading the south. I do not believe it was a symmetric misunderstanding, but a communist military invasion.
   
   Second, Halberstam suggests that Secretary of State Dean Acheson, New Deal political hero author of many early cold war American policies, deserves more credit than Ronald Reagan for ending the reign of the USSR. While Acheson may have set in place many of the policies for the cold war, this is an odd claim.
   
   There also seems to be a general tendency to explain conservative/Republican views of the time as "far right" but to portray liberal/Democratic views as common sense. However, Halberstam is clearly willing to point out flaws in both Democrats and Republicans.
   
   In any case it's an excellent book for what it is, but the reader should be aware of the perspective of the author.



2. David Halberstam's final book, the Coldest Winter, offers a great primer on the early days of the Korean War. The book starts with the immediate lead-up to the war, its early terrible days for the US and UN forces, the counterstrike at Inchon, the US drive to the north, and the Chinese resistance and push back. The end of the book sets up the longer and better known stage of the war, the stalemate along the 38th parallel. I was certainly familiar with the bare bones of the Korean War when I read the book, but I did not know the particulars of MacArthur's undermining of US policy or the extent the Chinese were involved.
   
   Halberstam has two major focuses:
   1. The individuals actually fighting in Korea, the hardships they faced, and their bravery. Some of the stories, including an early one about an injured soldier miraculously surviving and crawling back to US forces for over a week.
   2. The failings of the senior military leadership in the Korean theater, particularly MacArthur and Ned Almond. To be fair to these generals, some of the confusion and poor decisions may have had to do with the fog of war and not just stupidity and ego. But the evidence Haberstam musters for the egos of these men is pretty damning.
   
   The book does not get into two political matters that would have been interesting. The book quickly summarizes how the UN became involved, but did not discuss what resources were actually committed by the other UN nations. The book also does not go into MacArthur's machinations after being removed from his command.



3. I found it hard to put this book down, so masterful is Halberstram's unique style, which shifts effortlessly from individual stories of soldiers in battle to deft portraits of the commanders to welcome historical background. It is absolutely riveting. However, it inspired me to read more on the Korean War and Douglas MacArthur in particular. In his effort to make MacArthur the villain of the book, Halberstram ignores or pays short shrift to anything that might undercut his argument. He glosses over or fails to report any conflicting view and concentrates on the General's mistakes, while, except for Inchon, ignoring his tactical successes and personal heroism. For example, he portrays as idiocy MacArthur's venturing past the narrow waist of Korea while pursuing the retreating North Korean army, instead of establishing a defensive line. This ignores contemporary and current military agreement that MacArthur lacked the troops necessary for a defense in depth and that the terrain at the 'waist' was unsuitable for the sort of manuevers he might be called upon to maintain that line should the North Koreans regroup and attack. MacArthur felt he had little choice but to pursue and destroy the North Koreans, not to mention fulfill the UN Mandate to reunify the peninsula (to which Halberstram gives short shrift). However, many of MacArthur's subsequent actions during this pursuit were unforgivable, as Halberstram reports.
   
   I highly recommend this book, but suggest it be balanced with additional reading on the subject.



4. At the beginning of this book I thought this might be a very interesting read, but barely into the first chapter I already find that without any factual information he starts bashing General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Instead maybe he should do a little more research concerning the Commander. MacArthur wasn't the problem in Korea it was Liberal administration attitudes who tied his hands. I largely think General MacArthur possible could have ended the war allot sooner if they had let the commander DO HIS JOB and save lives! Again if you had read transcripts from back then you would find that he never did anything without the approval of the JCS or President Truman (who often would wait long periods without making decisions). The author really should go back and read some biographies concerning the General such as "Reminiscences by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur" maybe this would have changed his attitude. I was hoping even though the Author works for the New York Times this might actually have been an unbiased work "I was wrong"!
   
   The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean WarA former U.S. Army soldier and current Chief Petty Officer



5. Fans of Halberstam will immediately recognize his writing by the detailed research informing The Coldest Winter. Detailing the events leading up to the Korean War and analyzing the personalities and motivations behind the decisions made before and during the conflict makes for an interesting read. What one must be comfortable with in reading The Coldest Winter, though, are the lengthy digressions. One almost gets the impression that telling the story is incidental to the author's primary motivation for writing this book: to examine the political decisions and military miscalculations on both sides and enlighten the reader as to what drove those decisions.
   
   The prose is vintage Halberstam - clear, crisp and easy to read. And like all of the author's works, the book is painstakingly and meticulously researched. That said, the author spends far too much time on the back story. When he relates an event in history he tends to provide much context and then goes off on various tangents, the relevance of which can be difficult to discern.
   
   Make no mistake: Some of the analysis is interesting, particularly that which illuminates the idiosyncratic personalities of the decision-makers, but much of it seems unfocused. Perhaps this can be attributed to bad editing.
   
   The Coldest Winter reveals much about the causes of the war. Additionally, the heretofore unknown facts and interesting insights into the larger-than-life characters that figured so prominently in politics, foreign policy and military affairs during this period make the book worthwhile. One has to wonder though how many of the 736 pages are necessary to tell the story of the Korean War, a conflict that spans only 37 months. There is perhaps too much context. For instance, for a better understanding of the events leading up to our entry into the Korean War, why do we need to know about Secretary of State Dean Acheson's affinity for the liberal left and defense of Alger Hiss? How much of that is relevant to Truman's decision to commit forces to the Korean peninsula? How much of the author's steady criticism of General Douglas MacArthur's leadership and decision-making is really necessary?
   
   Being a military history buff, I would have liked to see more analysis of the battles.
   
   Halberstam excoriates MacArthur in this his final book before his untimely death in an auto accident in 2007. One might conclude from reading The Coldest Winter that Halberstam has an intense dislike and even disdain for the commander of U.N. forces. It comes across as 'personal' with the author. While MacArthur made significant errors (in spite of a brilliant decision to outflank the North Korean Army at Inchon), most notably relative to a miscalculation of Chinese intentions to enter the war, he deserves far better treatment for what on balance and over a lifetime was his incomparable and singularly dignified devotion to his country. More to the point, MacArthur's performance was arguably but one factor in a tragic and avoidable loss of some 3.5 million lives in a brutal conflict characterized as much for the unforgiving terrain and weather as for the vicious close fighting. Kim Il-sung's unprovoked assault into South Korea to 'reunify the fatherland' clearly surpasses MacArthur's decisions among the greatest military blunders of the 20th century.
   
   None of this is intended to discredit what is a good narrative of the key events of this period. A word of caution to readers: This is not a book that will keep you on the edge of your easy chair for hours on end - not a nail-biter to be sure. Instead, it is a slow, plodding and lengthy read.
   
   Not on a par with its Viet Nam era counterpart, The Best and The Brightest, but on the whole not bad.

5 comments about The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat.

1. A powerful, well researched account of a Marine company's battle in the Korean War. It details how 200 men, isolated and alone in 30-below cold, held a critically vital hill against seemingly overwhelming odds. That they ultimately prevailed is a testament to the professionalism and courage of the U.S. Marines at the Chosin Reservoir.



2. I'm actually circling back to read "The Last Stand" a second time. The first time was for pure enjoyment, and it certainly did not disappoint. The second time is because I am now working on my own non-fiction book on a battle and rescue from the Vietnam war and I wanted to study several really good books to "see how it is done." "Last Stand" is even better the 2nd time around and now that I am looking at it from the perspective of how to structure a really good book it makes me admire the writing even more. Tremendous job...



3. Terrific book about a pivotal battle of the Korean War (The Forgotten War). November, 1950, UN forces are victorious and rushing north to the Yalu River, at the border with China. MacArthur has promised the war will be over by Christmas. Yet MacArthur and his toadie (Gen Almond, leader of American forces in Korea) refused to believe that Chinese intervention on a massive scale was imminent.
   The Marines knew better and were more prepared when the inevitable Chinese assualt began. The men of Fox Company were ordered (November 27, 1950) to secure a ridge (Toktong-san or Fox Hill) in an area overlooking the Toktong Pass. As described in the book, many Marines of Fox Company grumbled about this "babysitting job" But it was probably the most mportant babysitting job in history. As American forces are being routed around the Chosin Resevoir, Fox Company will hold this ridge for four days and five nights, but it is being done in sub zero weather, against hordes of Chinese forces by a group of no more than 239 Marines and Navy Corpsman.
   By holding Toktong-san all this time, the men of Fox Company have allowed the embattled forces further north to fight their way out along the Toktong Pass. But what I can't emphasize enough about this book is the conditions they fought in. As I write this, the temperature outside is 20 with a wind chill of zero, barely tolerable to be outside for more than a few minutes fully dressed in winter clothing. The Marines fought in temperature and conditions WORSE then this, for four days and five nights, and all the while being continuosly attacked and harassed by Chinese forces. Three quarters of Fox Company's Marines are killed, wounded or captured and yet they held!
   Today at the National Museum of the Marines Corps, four sections are devoted to what are considered "signature actions" by the Marines Corps in the 20th Century. Iwo Jima, Khe Sahn, Belleau Woods....and Fox Hill. I had never heard of Fox Hill before reading this book, and now I will never forget the actions of a brave group men after reading this book. I highly recommend that you read it too!!



4. What is it about accounts of soldiers who fight face to face with their enemies that makes for such an amazing story? Not to take away anything from those who fight from ships, planes or artillery redoubts, but their is something primordially exciting about accounts where men are fighting to the death just feet away from one another. Drury and Clavin's writing style is perfect for this story as well. Like a soldier's after action report, the language is crisp, clear and to the point; but without being boring. The action speaks for itself and doesn't need to be adulterated with literary pyrotechnics. Why hasn't anyone made this book into a movie? It's an Oscar magnet.



5. An oustanding read that makes you feel like you're right there with the embattled Marines fighting the elements and the enemy.

5 comments about Lark and Termite (Vintage Contemporaries).

1. It's been almost 20 years, yikes, since I read some of Jayne Anne Phillips' short stories, and I remember being wowed and humbled. Her writing can be so sharp and palpable.
   
   I enjoyed Lark and Termite very much and recommend it highly...however, I can't help but think that Phillips constrained her immense talents in the bit-too-conventional storyline and some of the characters. Her eye for detail is so powerful that I kept expecting more from what a few too many times comes across as "just" a great spin on the ordinary.
   
   I liked Lark's character very much...but in keeping to the above, I thought so much more could have been done with Termite, where Phillips could have let loose and left the reader with a great many things to ponder.



2. Lark and Termite share the same mother, but have two different fathers. Lark is a willowy beauty who grows from child to adolescent in the course of the book. Her little brother is physically handicapped, unable to walk, control his movements or talk - at least in a conventional way most can understand. He's also the center of her world. She loves him ferociously.
   
   Dropping out of high school early, Lark attends typing school at night when their Aunt Nonie, who's raising them, can watch Termite. Lark hopes to find a secretarial job to help support the household. Aunt Nonie works in a local diner, run by her long-time love, Charlie. And Termite? His lifespan is uncertain; the details of his care once Lark goes to work haven't been ironed out yet.
   
   Every day Lark spends all her time with Termite, taking him on rides in his wagon. His favorite things are music, especially holding a radio up to his ear to make it loud as possible, and going to the train yard. Lark is everything to him, so attuned to his wants and needs there's no need for words between them.
   
   Lola, sister to Nonie and the mother of Lark and Termite, is a singer in a whore house who falls in love with Bobby, a soldier going off to war. The two impetuously decide to marry once Lola becomes pregnant. Shortly after, her husband is shipped out to fight in the Korean War. Knowing she's unfit to care for either child, she sends each to live with her sister.
   
   Finally, there's the story of Bobby in Korea, woven through the book. Caught in a nightmare, carrying a photo of the seven-months pregnant Lola with him - in an empty cigarette pack protected by cellophane, his only hope is to get home to Lola and their baby to be.
   
   The basic plot lines do no justice to the beauty and complexity of this book. Written from each major character's perspective, chapter by chapter, Phillips seemingly effortlessly keeps each voice distinct. The way the plot lines cross is impressive, yet impossible to reveal without giving away too much of this gorgeous book. It's also impossible to include the cast of slightly more minor characters, who play such huge roles.
   
   Poetic describes the prose, but the impact it has on the reader... How to elucidate that? Joy, sorrow, fear, worry... It's all there, all rendered in beautiful, beautiful prose. It drives me nearly mad I can't find words to tell you how lovely, how eloquent, how heart-achingly beautiful this book truly is.
   
   That it was a National Book Award finalist gives some idea of its quality, but if this one didn't win I can't imagine the book that did. I can't imagine writing better than this. At its most basic, the book is an updated The Sound and the Fury, with a few twists. Some may think that a rip off, using the basic framework of a classic to tell a story. In this case, I consider it more an homage. Because there is nothing new under the sun, and only so many plots.
   
   So many books try to imitate, but only a rare few come near duplicating. Jayne Anne Phillips' book is in the latter category, using Faulkner's masterpiece, but from a more female perspective. Keeping the drama, the wrenching sorrow and many of the same elements, her story is more than a mere shadow of Faulkner's. No one can touch the literary classic, and it's my theory Phillips wasn't even trying. But what she's created is an elegant stand-alone, a book great enough to stand beside TSATF on the shelf, one very few writers could come near pulling off.
   
   Impressive. That's all I can say.



3. Love and family as seen through the eyes of Lark, a teenage girl, who is the primary caretaker of her younger brother, Termite. Thought provoking and a sure pick for bookclubs in 2010.



4. I thought this was an absolutely stunning book. I felt the descriptions of how Lark cared for Termite and the sections where we were treated to his view of things were very moving.



5. To my mind, there is something of Virginia Woolf's play-poem "The Waves" in "Lark and Termite", by Jayne Anne Phillips. Each uses a similar multi-narrator technique to saturate the various moments of their narrative with the varying perceptions of the protagonists, using the retelling of unfolding events from several different perspectives, each coloured by their own particular experiences and knowledge of prior events, to produce a rich and tantalising tapestry from which the whole is woven. Just as Woolf does in "The Waves", with "Lark and Termite", Jayne Anne Phillips treats time not as a linear flow but as broken into more solid blocks, with events not only reiterated and replayed by each narrator in turn but also interspersed with differing memories of past events through their association with key signifiers within the on-going stream of events. Time is thus intricately folded, refolded, unfolded and inter-threaded, so that a full picture emerges but slowly, in ever widening circles of detail, fragmented piece by fragmented piece. Narrative time itself becomes something that ebbs and flows, each wave of narration filling in more detail and emphasising that all life is subjective and subject to change or re-evaluation with each new viewing. Ms Phillips goes a step beyond Woolf's modernist approach to story-telling, though, by binding in an extra layer of transcendental mysticism to her tale, thus adding a further dimension to the matrix of possibilities of meaning that her story illuminates.
   
   The book is written with a poetic lyricism, employing a different poetic cadence for each of the narrative voices. These varying flows of language serve to highlight the over-layering of perceptions as each recounts their view of affairs and imparts successive new layers of understanding to the reader. But it is in the little touches that Jayne Anne Phillips really excels, with an attention to the small details in life that we each use to make the world our own and to focus our own searches for meaning. I was particularly impressed with her handling of sound imagery and her appreciation of the role it plays in our subconscious evaluations of the world about us, something that many authors overlook.
   
   While her poetic treatment makes for extremely evocative and emotionally charged reading, it also makes for hard reading too from time to time, and I suspect that most readers will take some time to adjust to it. The opening pages in particular may cause some to struggle; Ms Phillips makes no concessions and does nothing to ease the reader into her world of literary erudition. It is worth persevering, however, for once the book gets going and we encounter the clear, practical voice of Lark, things become easier and the mastery with which the work is constructed begins to show itself; before long, we become completely absorbed and mesmerised. The ending is superb.
   
   Be warned however that this is a work to which each reader will come differently, it being in the nature of poetry to either move or else leave disappointingly untouched. Personally, I found the whole enterprise to border on the virtuosic, with the author demonstrating not only an ability to render exquisitely detailed pictures with an elegant economy of phrasing but also a skill for leading the reader into deeper levels of comprehension more through an absence of information, relying on the power of suggestion than through explicit statement. Ultimately, one's understanding of the story will be determined as much by one's own subjective interpretation of the world as by anything else.
   
   In short: this book is a masterpiece of artistic literary achievement, virtuosic in its scope and sweep and yet ultimately intensely intimate in its touch. Highly recommended for those with the ears to hear and the heart to understand its message.