The Korean War

MASH It Isn't

Max Hastings is one of those extremely thorough writers that provides a comprehensive picture of the events in his books. I found the detail in his treatment of the war against Japan during World War 2 amazing. However, I was less enamoured with his work on the Falklands conflict as it read more akin to a government report and lacked more of the personal accounts that enrich the telling of such events. Still, Hastings is accomplished and so I felt his book on the Korean war would be a good start to gain an insight into that theoretically ongoing conflict.

This book didn't suffer nearly so much as his Falklands work did and so was a more interesting read. I care less for the politics behind the conflicts and more on the men that fought it but I do understand that one needs an overall frame of reference and thus a need to fully detail the politics behind the scenes.

It amused me to find out that in one meeting between the North Korean representatives and the American and South Koreans that both parties sat in silence across a table from one another for over 2 hours at a point in the conflict when tensions were running high. It's always amazing to see how egos play a part at the highest level seeing the American delegation having a separate entrance built to the negotiation hut in order not to use the same one as the North Koreans.

The book ably depicts just how brutal the climate was as well as the opposition and the harsh winters were killers to both sides. Having known very little about the conflict, I was shocked at the evident ineptness early on by the Americans and it shows how just a few years after World War II how the quality and readiness of the U.S army had sharply declined in that time. Also, the poor quality of the South Korean troops only added to this inadequate response to the North Korean incursion. The levels of cruelty by South Korean soldiers on their own troops and civilians was also an eye opener.

We also see the rise of the Kim family that went on to dominate North Korea to this day so yet another education in this war. Hastings is very diligent but I did note he omitted a small but relevant incident where a North Korean pilot defected with his MIG fighter after a leaflet drop by the U.S offering $100,000 to the pilot that did so. This intelligence coup would have shaped the response to these MIG fighters by the U.S pilots and so I was surprised Hastings missed this.

Dry politics aside, this book is an in depth treatment of the brutal conflict and well worth a read if you want to learn more about this event in world history.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

A missing piece of history

Would you consider the audio edition of The Korean War to be better than the print version?

Print would have provided a reference book that I could see maps

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The political tensions between the various countries and the potential use of nuclear weapons

Have you listened to any of Cameron Stewart’s other performances? How does this one compare?

not listened to any

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no emotional reaction other than wishing the veterans should gain far more recognition for their action in this forgotten and neglected conflict

Any additional comments?

A really worthy book to gain an insight into a war that has been ignored and forgotten.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Comprehensive, informative & genuinely interesting

Knowing only the broadest outlines of the Korean War, this title kept me company for a week out walking the dogs and more than once I found myself finding a bench or a gate to sit on a while and listen closely. I was expecting this to be a bit of a dutiful job, filling in a big gap in my personal knowledge but it turned out to be an extremely well-written, well-read piece of work which was from time to time as gripping as a novel for anyone not knowing what happened next. Not bad for a depiction of a war which was, I now understand, frequently a wretched, freezing stand-off.

Further reading reassures me that Hastings has not missed out anything worth fretting about so my admittedly inexpert opinion would be that I would heartily recommend this to anyone wanting to understand a major piece of recent history in one excellent volume.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Consistently Gripping

A wholly gripping account of a war which Hastings argues had to be fought because of what was at the time a real threat from communist totalitarian states. As with his other books he offers eye witness accounts of combatants which keeps the action urgent and exciting while detailing the strategic and political efforts of generals, presidents and foreign policy wonks. It's a very satisfying combination and in this particular book it's applied to the story of a country split between murderous communists and despotic nationalists, each backed by a superpower. The allies had good equipment but a shortage of battle hardened troops, the communists had relatively poor kit but were willing to win victory by sacrificing massive numbers of poorly trained infantry. Hastings argues that the terrain and the border with China meant that the war was always, in effect, unwinnable but the story plays out as a riveting dog-fight between two enormous armies lead by gifted but deranged generals across an extraordinarily difficult landscape. Hastings' reflections on what happens when the electorates of democratic nations become bored of intractable conflict and repelled by the foreign regimes that their governments have backed also has strong resonances with what's currently happening in the middle east.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Absolutely Fascinating

I knew very little about this war, even though my father served in it, he never expanded on his experience apart from a couple of sentences. So picking this up, first Max Hastings book for me, I was really interested. Fascinating!! And horrendous in the same breath as it showed the makings of Vietnam. I am interested of hearing about Iraq and Afghanistan to see if the US Army has learnt any lessons - I know the British Army hasn't, we seem to repeat the same ones. Really good book, following the ebb and flow of the conflict, politics, individuals, US backing a corrupt regime (again Vietnam) and, boy, do I feel for the Chinese soldier, their lives meant nothing to the commanders. If the US Army stood and fought more and the British didn't run out of ammunition, the outcome wouldn't have been such a stalemate. The difference between the US Army and the US Marines is startling. But they were forged in very different ways between Europe and the Pacific - brilliant book. I am moving onto others by Max Hastings.

Btilliant writer, fantastic performer.

A very western focused view of the Korean war with the inherent bias of that perspective but it doesn't pretend to be anything else. Hastings is an excellent writter, very easy to listen to and explores very human elements of the war, and with it the variety of moods and emotions.

Stewart's delivery and narration is, as always, simply fantastic.

Other great listen !

This was my second max Hastings book. It is full of great info of the Korea war.

A happy ending

Although an extremely brutal episode, the contrast between present-day North and south proved it worthwhile

Korean Conflict

Having had an uncle in the Gloucester’s who was involved in the war I was interested to gain a better understanding of the conflict.
The in depth research and personal accounts make this book a must all historians.

Long but very easy to get through. Recommend.

The narrator was great and the content is good in that it breaks it up and looks at the conflict from multiple angles. Would have liked more north korean perspective even if caveats applied.