Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1680741 in Books
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.70 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 397 pages

From Amazon.com
Waged half a century ago, the three-year Korean War has been called "America's first Vietnam." It was also the first flash of fire in an otherwise cold war between the forces of capitalism and those of communism. Little was written about the war for many years, as if it were something best forgotten. Recently, books such as Martin Russ's controversial Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950 and Stanley Weintraub's MacArthur's War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero have brought renewed attention to the bloody ordeal.

Michael Hickey offers a valuable contribution to the literature with The Korean War, which examines the conflict from the point of view of America's United Nations allies, an international force comprising contingents from Turkey, England, India, Australia, Canada, Belgium, and Norway, among other countries. Hickey, who served as a lieutenant in the British forces (he modestly describes himself as an "insignificant packhorse"), examines the debates surrounding UN involvement and the British government's fear of parting ways with the Truman administration over the best approach to containing North Korean and Chinese ambitions. Hickey acknowledges events that are now much in the news, such as the South Korean military's murder of thousands of civilians thought to be sympathetic to the North. And he ventures the view that China was drawn somewhat unwillingly into the conflict after General Douglas MacArthur led a surprisingly effective counteroffensive deep into North Korean territory, uncomfortably close to the Chinese border. Yet Hickey is no apologist. He observes that the war was "well worth the effort," for with it world communism "was firmly confronted and rebuffed." Well written and carefully documented, his book offers a thoughtful history of a conflict that still haunts our time. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly
A former self-described "insignificant packhorse" in Britain's contribution to the Korean War, historian Hickey (Gallipoli, etc.) first set out to compile an account of the final joint military campaign of the old-line Commonwealth nations. But soon after beginning the project, Hickey "became aware of the sheer size of the American involvement and the sacrifice it entailed." Shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature when it was published in the U.K. last year, this Brit's-eye-view of Korea generally supports the American posture during the war. North Korea is presented as an aggressor who employs, among other things, cheap propaganda tactics, such as presenting phony evidence that the U.S. Air Force unleashed bubonic plague and other bio-warfare agents on North Korea and Manchuria. But the work also doles out considerable criticism of the Yanks and their leaders. Hickey takes a particularly strong bead on the "American Caesar," Gen. Douglas MacArthur, portraying MacArthur's famous "old soldiers never die" speech as little more than crafty propaganda from a master manipulator. Not one to hoard his venom, though, Hickey is also highly critical of the two Korean leaders of the day, the North's Kim Il Sung and the South's Syngman Rhee. Extensive photo sections portray rarely seen elements of the South Korean campaign, wherein police rounded up Communist sympathizers for execution. In one haunting image, political prisoners seem to plead to the camera as they await death. Buttressed with maps and fact-filled appendices, this fine, opinionated contribution to Korean War literature is not to be missed. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Hickey (Out of the Sky: A History of Airborne Warfare), an active-duty colonel in the British Army and former defense fellow at King's College, London, was also a veteran of the Korean War. Using firsthand accounts and his own experiences, he has compiled a massive study of that conflict. This is a scholarly analysis of both the military and political factors that caused the war and the conduct on all sides. Hickey concentrates on the involvement of Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries but also offers considerable coverage of the Unites States and other nations, including careful discussions of the North Korean, Chinese, and Russian sides of the war. The author does not mince words when criticizing General MacArthur and other UN commanders. Using declassified documents as well as regimental and personal diaries, he wades through political intrigue and military disasters and triumphs to give us a memorable account. Not easy reading, this is still an important contribution to the literature. Recommended for scholars and serious readers of military and political history at larger public and academic libraries and for special collections.DDavid Alperstein, Queens Borough P.L., Jamaica, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.