Review by Choice Review
Sandler's excellent book is "a single-volume, concise history of the Korean War of modest length." The author includes an encyclopedic bibliography appropriate to the scope of the book. He describes the origins of the Korean conflict, and how and why both the US and its allies and the opposing communist forces came to war. He shows how in many ways the war defined the rules of engagement of the Cold War. Sandler analyzes the interaction between the war and domestic events in the US, such as McCarthyism. He provides an inclusive military history covering all operations by all the forces involved. Sandler reminds readers that it is no mystery why Korea is "the forgotten war": "A visitor to the United States in, say, late 1951 would have found it difficult to credit that this nation was in the midst of its fourth most bloody war." The prospering economy was "punctuated only occasionally by a brief notice in a hometown newspaper of a local boy's death in Korea." All levels. J. P. Hobbs North Carolina State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Sandler's provocative monograph throws new light on many aspects of the Korean War and casts doubt on much conventional wisdom. His chronology may be stronger on the diplomatic background, including the history of Korea from the sixteenth century onward, than on military events--he scants such episodes as the rout of the U.S. 2d Infantry Division in late 1950. But, by using Communist documents recently made available, he demonstrates that the North Koreans unquestionably attacked first, that Stalin had serious reservations about aiding the Chinese, that the initial red MIG-15 pilots were Russians, and that the handling of POWs on both sides was disgraceful. Add to those items judicious assessments of all the UN troops (the Americans learned faster and the South Koreans fought better than tradition has it) and a comprehensive scholarly apparatus, and Sandler unquestionably and notably augments the literature on a conflict that decisively affected the ultimate outcome of the cold war and the fate of Korea. --Roland Green
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
The Korean War broke out almost 50 years ago, an unpleasant surprise to the American people and the occasion of a good deal of criticism of the American military. Chinese and Russian documents recently made public have shed new light on battlefield decisions. Benefiting from this newly declassified material as well as established sources, Sandler offers a timely new look at the war. A historian for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the editor of The Korean War: An Encyclopedia (LJ 2/1/96) and Segregated Skies: The All-Black USAAF Units of World War II (LJ 6/1/92), Sandler concentrates on a chronological narrative of the flow of events but rather confusingly intersperses several chapters on special facets such as the air war and the home fronts. Still, with its up-to-date information and extensive bibliography, this book is highly recommended as a supplement to subject collections.ÄEdwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
