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

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War | David Halberstam | Great synopsis of the beginning of Korean War

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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 131 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Incompetence at every level

What makes this book a page turner for me, is the level of incompetence alledged at every command level from MacArthur on down. If the facts are true, many many generals should not only have been relieved of their commands, they should have been court martialed to boot.
Before reading this wonderful book, I knew little about this war and I had pre-conceived notions about MacArthur and Truman; I hate to admit that those notions may have been wrong.
If what Halberstam says is true, and I have no reason to doubt him, thousands of fine soldiers and marines died for no reason other than to feed the egos of some very stupid men.
A must read.

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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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Reaction of a Korean vet

For those of us who were part of the Korean war (it was never just a police action for us) reliving it by reading The Coldest Winter is a profoundly moving experience. We rarely. if ever, talk about it with anyone for reasons that are somehow too complex to explain easily, but for anyone fortunate not to have been part of it, the book should be must reading. Thoroughly researched and extremely well written, it is an invaluable contribution to our history.

The most unfortunate war

There is nothing new in this book on Korea, but Halberstam's presentation is excellent. Fortunately for the reader a good review of the American position in the immediate pre-war Korea and the behind-the-scenes political intrigue of the Chinese and North Korean military leaders is worth the price of this book. Mr. Halberstam always gets his digs in when he writes is books. The comment on President Bush's handling of the Iraq conflict is unfortunate but true to his political persuasion. His earlier book on the Vietnam War, The Best And Brightest, had similar digs, but for a Democratic administration, so at least he passes his digs around.

The book teaches us all a lesson in that we must ALWAYS be prepared for war. We have been attacked too many times by people who hate us. To allow the military to demilitarize like they did prior to Korea and after the mess in Vietnam where military leadership was at its lowest level only provides an opening for others to put a black eye on our country. And like Korea and Vietnam, the persons who pays the price for our political and military ineptitude are our American service personnel.

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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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