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

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War | David Halberstam | AN EXCELLENT READ

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The Coldest Winter...

	The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War David Halberstam Hyperion, 2007 - 736 pages average customer review:based on 133 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A history for everyone, not just specialists

First off, let me say that I don't often read military histories, but was drawn to this one by an interest in Korea and by Halberstam's reputation as a writer. So it was with some surprise that I found myself completely absorbed by his account of the Korean War. When my father died a few years ago, I discovered among his things a document indicating that he had stayed in the Army, as a member of the reserves, after his service in World War II. In 1950, as the war got underway, an officer friend advised him to "get out" (my dad had a wife and a child by this time) and he did. As I read Halberstam's book, I could only think that my young father might easily have perished in those terrible years, too. There are several themes in this account of the war that I found interesting. The first is the towering arrogance of General MacArthur, not only towards Truman, his commander-in-chief, but towards his colleagues in the Army, as well. The second is the pervasive racism that caused MacArthur and his staff to often fatally underestimate their adversaries, the Chinese, as "laundrymen." I was also struck by Halberstam's devastating critique of Charles Willoughby and his doctoring of intelligence to fit the requirements of MacArthur's plans. Hmm, this sounds familiar. Finally, I learned a lot about how political pressures shape what happens on the battlefield. Read this book; it will make you think about things that are happening today, in Iraq. And don't be put off by readers who complain that the book is not a comprehensive history of the Korean War. It does not pretend to be that--as the title clearly indicates. One of the best things about this book is the interviews it contains with ordinary soldiers, whose war, along with their roles in it, has mostly been forgotten. Halberstam's recounting of these stories is peerless.

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AN EXCELLENT READ

David Halberstam did his research on this one. Very interesting reading about the politics of the 1950's Korean War and how things really haven't changed that much today. The book verified other sources I've read about McCarther and his Staff as being prima dona's.

Great synopsis of the beginning of Korean War

For a relative history neophyte, but with a keen interest in the Korean War, this book provides a great historical setting as well as many personal stories of the Korean War. The title mentions it, but to be clear, this book focuses on the first year of the war, with a small portion devoted to the aftermath of the first winter. Halberstam is able to weave in stories from platoon and company soldiers to the larger picture between major world powers, which to me is the greatest strength of this book.

The research into the book must have been enormous but it shows with interesting details each solider remembered from particular battles, especially the major ones that Halberstam focused on (Naktong, Inchon, etc). A highly enjoyable read for me.

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Excellent as Far as It Goes

For most of us, anything we know about the Korean War is based on MASH, even though the movie and TV series were actually protests against the Vietnam War, placed in Korea because the southeast Asian conflict was too close at the time. Perhaps the southern California hills looked more like the terrain of Korea than the jungles of Vietnam, but the attitudes in the film and series reflected the changing 70's, not the 50's.

In a book finished just days before he died in an automobile accident, David Halberstam delivers a blockbuster about a war most wanted to just forget. His strongest descriptions are his portrayals of the key personnel. Douglas MacArthur, who basically ruled Japan and South Korea for the United States after World War II, comes across as too egotistical to understand what was happening in a country where he didn't spend a single night during the conflict, and too quick to blame others for his own massive mistakes. First the American forces in South Korea were too poorly trained and armed to defend against the unexpected invasion from the North. Then, when American troops and weapons began to flow in, and MacArthur launched a brilliant counterattack behind the North Korean lines, he sent badly split forces in summer uniforms racing towards the Chinese border as winter arrived. He assured everyone the Chinese would not intervene. When they did, they almost threw the Americans out of Korea.

Either MacArthur did this because he was clueless or because he actually wanted a nuclear war against Red China and he believed provoking Mao into an invasion of Korea would give him the opportunity. He was wrong and eventually was removed from his command for openly criticizing the political masters he refused to acknowledge.

China is key to this book. MacArthur was part of the China Lobby, the right wing politicians who accused the Truman administration of "losing" China, as if the United States could impose its will on a nation three times its size on the other side of the planet. Halberstam writes how China was actually lost by Chiang Kai-shek, the corrupt warlord who paid too little attention to the needs of his people. Ironically the American experts on China, the China Hands, who had spend years pointing out that Chiang was losing and the weapons sent to him immediately fell into the hands of the Communists, were later blamed by the China Lobby for the very disaster they had warned against.

Because men like George Kennan were ignored, the China Lobby couldn't see a split coming within what they saw as the monolith of international Communism. Halberstam hints that what now seems like the inevitable progression of the Cold War might have turned out quite differently had the United States taken a different approach to China, both before and after the Communist triumph.

I have two small qualms with this book. One is that while Halberstam rightly describes the American side over and over again as the United Nations, there is very little actual explanation of the UN role, aside from an occasional reference to a British or French unit involved in one of the battles. The massive error by the Soviets at the Security Council that allowed the UN to enter the war is hardly touched on. There is nothing about the other countries within the UN coalition or the politics that allowed them to take part.

The other qualm is that most of the actual battles of the conflict are hardly mentioned. Aside from in-depth profiles of two or three key battles, which are very extensive, the rest of the confrontations are only referred to in broader strokes. The book is almost 700 pages long, and is filled with deep and incisive profiles of major personalities involved. But except for the most important battles, the actual campaigns are mostly glossed over.

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Very Thoughtful Book on First Year of Korean War

Halberstam is very good at many things; vectoring in on particular points in history, finding the right sources to illustrate key points, and I think most importantly, keeping the narrative moving and therefore the reader engaged in the progress of history. Because he wrote such large books I think sometimes reviewers expect to be treated to absolutely everything and that is impossible. In this book Halberstam is on sure ground with MacArthur and Truman and less so when discussing military tactics etc...Halberstam really takes Truman to task for the extreme penny pinching that so damaged the army after WWII. Also he gathers an enormous amount of evidence regarding MacArthur's insubordination and outright refusal to go along with US policy in Asia. Many of the quote from Stillwell and Truman on Chiang Kai Shek are priceless. This is another definitive book that isn't afraid to take on the reputations of people like MacArthur and CKS and provides a thorough, thoughtful presentation of the origins and the first year of the Korean War.

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