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The Coldest Winter
- America and the Korean War
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
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Publisher's summary
David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book for the Vietnam War. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivalled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another dark corner in our history: the Korean War. The Coldest Winter is a successor to The Best and the Brightest, even though, in historical terms, it precedes it. Halberstam considered The Coldest Winter the best book he ever wrote, the culmination of 45 years of writing about America's postwar foreign policy.
Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures: Eisenhower, Truman, Acheson, Kim, and Mao, and Generals MacArthur, Almond, and Ridgway. At the same time, Halberstam provides us with his trademark highly evocative narrative journalism, chronicling the crucial battles with reportage of the highest order.
At the heart of this audiobook are the individual stories of the soldiers on the front lines who were left to deal with the consequences of the dangerous misjudgments and competing agendas of powerful men. We meet them, follow them, and see some of the most dreadful battles in history through their eyes. As ever, Halberstam was concerned with the extraordinary courage and resolve of people asked to bear an extraordinary burden.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
"Stirring....In a grand gesture of reclamation and remembrance, Mr. Halberstam has brought the war back home." (The New York Times)
"Alive with the voices of the men who fought, Halberstam's telling is a virtuoso work of history." (Publishers Weekly)
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- General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
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Fiasco, Thomas E. Ricks's #1 New York Times bestseller, transformed the political dialogue on the war in Iraq - The Gamble is the next news-breaking installment. Thomas E. Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to document the inside story of the Iraq War since late 2005 as only he can, examining the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself.
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A Sure Bet
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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This Kind of War
- The Classic Korean War History
- By: T. R. Fehrenbach
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 24 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This Kind of War is a monumental study of the conflict that began in June 1950. Successive generations of U.S. military officers have considered this book an indispensable part of their education. T. R. Fehrenbach's narrative brings to life the harrowing and bloody battles that were fought up and down the Korean Peninsula.
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Great narrative, frustrating redundancy
- By Ted on 08-16-10
By: T. R. Fehrenbach
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The Education of Henry Adams
- By: Henry Adams
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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As a journalist, historian, and novelist born into a family that included two past presidents of the United States, Henry Adams was constantly focused on the American experiment. An immediate bestseller awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919, The Education of Henry Adams recounts his own and the country's education from 1838, the year of his birth, to 1905, incorporating the Civil War, capitalist expansion, and the growth of the United States as a world power.
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A Book EVERYONE should read once.
- By Darwin8u on 04-17-12
By: Henry Adams
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Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
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A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
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My Country, My Life
- Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace
- By: Ehud Barak
- Narrated by: Ehud Barak, Jonathan Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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In the summer of 2000, the most decorated soldier in Israel's history - Ehud Barak - set himself a challenge as daunting as any he had faced on the battlefield: to secure a final peace with the Palestinians. He would propose two states for two peoples, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. He knew the risks of failure. But he also knew the risks of not trying: letting slip perhaps the last chance for a generation to secure genuine peace. It was a moment of truth.
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Unbelievably Fantastic Book
- By Amazon Customer on 08-15-18
By: Ehud Barak
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The Fourth Star
- Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army
- By: David Cloud, Greg Jaffe
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked to save an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. They survived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon. They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible of Iraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over the last four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protect the nation over the next century.
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Learning from the Military
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: David Cloud, and others
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Enduring Vietnam
- An American Generation and Its War
- By: James Wright
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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The Vietnam War is largely recalled as a mistake, either in the decision to engage there or in the nature of the engagement. Or both. Veterans of the war remain largely anonymous figures, accomplices in the mistake. Critically recounting the steps that led to the war, this book does not excuse the mistakes, but it brings those who served out of the shadows. Enduring Vietnam recounts the experiences of the young Americans who fought in Vietnam and of families who grieved those who did not return.
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Great
- By Rebecca Delgado on 03-20-23
By: James Wright
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Brothers, Rivals, Victors
- Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe
- By: Jonathan W. Jordan
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 23 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, General George S. Patton, and General Omar N. Bradley engineered the Allied conquest that shattered Hitler’s hold over Europe. But they also shared an intricate web of relationships going back decades. In the cauldron of World War II, they found their prewar friendships complicated by shifting allegiances, jealousy, insecurity, patriotism, and ambition.
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Atrociously written
- By BB on 02-12-12
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American Caesar
- Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 31 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Virtually all Americans above a certain age hold strong opinions about Douglas MacArthur. They either worship him or despise him. Now, in this superb book, one of our most outstanding writers, after a meticulous three-year examination of the record, presents his startling insights about the man. The narrative is gripping, because the general's life was fascinating. It is moving, because he was a man of vision. It ends, finally, in tragedy, because his character, though majestic, was tragically flawed.
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A Great American
- By Charlotte A. Hu on 05-19-13
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Marshall and His Generals
- U.S. Army Commanders in World War II
- By: Stephen R. Taaffe
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
General George C. Marshall, chief of staff of the US Army during World War II, faced the daunting task not only of overseeing two theaters of a global conflict but also of selecting the best generals to carry out American grand strategy. Marshall and His Generals is the first and only book to focus entirely on that selection process and the performances, both stellar and disappointing, that followed from it. Stephen Taaffe explores how and why Marshall selected the Army's commanders.
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Marshall's Black Book
- By Jean on 12-18-17
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In sobering detail, The Korean War chronicles a US home front agitated by Joseph McCarthy, where absolutist conformity discouraged open inquiry and citizen dissent. Cumings incisively ties our current foreign policy back to Korea: an America with hundreds of permanent military bases abroad, a large standing army, and a permanent national security state at home, the ultimate result of a judicious and limited policy of containment evolving into an ongoing and seemingly endless global crusade.
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A real eye-opener
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In Mortal Combat
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In this brilliant narrative of America's first limited war, Toland lets both the events and the participants speak for themselves, employing scrupulous archival research and interviews as the bases for the drama and accuracy of his writing. In Mortal Combat reveals Mao's prediction of the date and place of MacArthur's Inchon landing, Russia's indifference to the war, Mao's secret leadership of the North Korean military, and the true nature of both sides' treatment and repatriation of POWs.
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Slightly disappointed
- By Patrick on 09-02-19
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This Kind of War
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Great narrative, frustrating redundancy
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On Desperate Ground
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Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash in the Korean War relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.
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typical armchair critic armed with hign site
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Preparation for Ken Burns
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A real eye-opener
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Slightly disappointed
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Great narrative, frustrating redundancy
- By Ted on 08-16-10
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On Desperate Ground
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typical armchair critic armed with hign site
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A story any baseball fan will love
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Esteemed historian Dr Carter Malkasian explains how this conflict in a small peninsula in East Asia had a tremendous impact on the entire international system and the balance of power between the two superpowers, America and Russia. In this history, he examines how the West demonstrated its resolve to thwart Communist aggression and the armed forces of China, the Soviet Union and the United States came into direct combat for the only time during the Cold War.
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Fantastic Primer for Understanding the KW
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Colder than Hell
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Short, but gripping
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The Frozen Chosen is an account of the breakout from the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea by the First Marine Division from November to December 1950, following the intervention of Red China in the Korean War. Fought during the worst blizzard in a century, it is considered by the US Marine Corps to be the Corps' finest hour. Fourteen Medals of Honor, a record for any American battle, and 85 Navy Crosses attest to the intensity of the battle.
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Fascinating story, very bad narration
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Give Me Tomorrow
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“If I were God, what would you want for Christmas?” With a thousand-yard stare, a haggard and bloodied marine looked incredulously at the war correspondent who asked him this question. In an answer that took “almost forever,” the marine responded, “Give me tomorrow." After nearly four months of continuous and bloody combat in Korea, such a wish seemed impossible.
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The boys of Summer Camp….Amazing!!
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When he discovers that he has terminal cancer, retired heart surgeon Ben Givens refuses to simply sit back and wait. Instead he takes his two beloved dogs and goes on a last hunt, determined to end his life on his own terms. But as the people he meets and the memories over which he lingers remind him of the mystery of life’s endurance, his trek into the American West becomes much more than a final journey.
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Well written and beautifully read.
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Ghost Flames
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The war that broke out in Korea on a Sunday morning 70 years ago has come to be recognized as a critical turning point in modern history - as the first great clash of arms of the Cold War, the last conflict between superpowers, and the root of a nuclear crisis that grips the world to this day. In this vivid, emotionally compelling, and highly original account, Charles J. Hanley tells the story of the Korean War through the eyes of 20 individuals who lived through it.
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Memories lost
- By Rick B on 09-03-20
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Enduring Courage
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At the turn of the twentieth century two new technologies—the car and airplane—took the nation's imagination by storm as they burst, like comets, into American life. The brave souls that leaped into these dangerous contraptions and pushed them to unexplored extremes became new American heroes: the race car driver and the flying ace. No individual did more to create and intensify these raw new roles than the tall, gangly Eddie Rickenbacker, who defied death over and over with such courage and pluck that a generation of Americans came to know his face better than the president's.
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A true ace, and an example for us all.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
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What listeners say about The Coldest Winter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Doug
- 10-02-07
Almost as good as The Best and the Brightest
Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest has been judged to be one of the best books on Vietnam ever written, and he comes close to that standard with his Korean War book. Alternating between gripping battle scenes (based on interviews with particpants done by Halberstam) and analysis of the politics of the White House, of Congress, and of the military figures, the book races along like a fiction thriller. Here is Gen. Macarthur in all his billiance and in all his egotistical mania....the combination of which led to his downfall. Here is practical, common sense, stalwart Harry Truman....threading his way among generals who were out of touch with the ground forces, a Congress suddenly beguiled by Joe McCarthy's witch hunt, Joe Stalin, who wanted to cause the US some discomfort in Asia and who did not mind if the US caused his Chinese Communist allies some discomfort too, Mao Tse Tung, ready to show the imperialist West that its time in Asia was finished, Kim Il Sung, an over-confident war monger determined to unite Korea under his power, and an American public who saw this sad war as being the wrong war, at the wrong time and in the wrong place.
The quality of the audio production is excellent. The narrator's voice is clear, his pacing is varied to suit the needs of the text, and his emphasis is well-placed.
Thanks to Halberstam, Korea may no longer be "the forgotten war."
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60 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Graybits
- 10-25-07
Great book, great reader
The Coldest Winter is one of the better war history books I've read or heard. The author, David Halberstam, certainly did his homework, and he tells a compelling story about the incredible bravery of the soldiers fighting the cold and the enemy, and dying because the stupidity of the senior command.
Edward Herrmann is a great reader and makes the listen all the more enjoyable.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lewis
- 01-01-08
More than Korean saga
"The Coldest Winter" shows how age can bring wisdom and perspective, and an excellent journalist can bring it out. The book may begin on June 25, 1950, but it winds its way back to the roots of the conflict and explains, finally, to me, how the Army could have been so stupid, so beguiled. MacAuthur is exposed -- again, if one saw Ken Burns' epic about WWII -- as an egocentric maniac surrounded by brainless "leaders" who cannot lead. Thank God for O.P. Smith, the Marine leader who refused to betray his men in a meglamaniac scheme to "race" to the Yalu. The book draws all the characters from each sector of the conflict -- Russian, Chinese, N. Korean, S. Korean, the U.S. and to some extent Japan -- into an intertwined story that shows the war from each perspective.
The inclusion of so many first person stories makes the book come alive. Being in combat is not the same as being in Japan or Wash. D.C., hearing about it. Getting a sense of the conditions on the ground fleshed the story out well.
The book is in no small part a "can't put it down" because the narration is incredible. The flawless pronunciation is accompanied by the emotion the moment demands, from the fawning, yawning acts of Almond to the overwhelming anger of Walker and Smith. The book just flows.
The book is going to be a classic and may attract some attention to a forgotten war and the men who fought it.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gary
- 03-29-08
The Coldest Winter
This is an excellent account of the Forgotten War, juxtaposing the valor and sacrifice of individuals in combat against the incompetence of their civilian and military leaders. Its themes remain sadly topical more than a half-century after the events.
I cannot recommend the audio version of the book, however. First, the abridgement is poorly done. Halberstam chose to begin the book with the first encounter between UN and Chinese troops, at Unsan in October, 1950; this important chapter is omitted in the abridgement, however. Later, when the narrative proceeds chronologically from the beginning of the War in June, 1950 but assumes the reader is familiar with Unsan, the audio listener is left at a loss.
The second problem with the audio presentation is the lack of maps, twenty-five of which are provided in the physical book. This makes it difficult to grasp fully the audio narrative.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- russell
- 12-07-07
The Coldest Winter
finally the men of this war got the nod that they deserve. The writer of this book did the men of this war the justice they deserve. I did not want this book to ever come to an end, because you can feel yourself inside these battles. The way the writer describes them. I found myself crying at times, and angry many other times at the way the generals in the beginning of the war was stupid and arrogant and more general MacArthur, that it was a disgrace that they let this man have all these poor men because of his arrogance and stupidity they are dead today. My father served in the Korean War, and never spoke of it. And now I understand why, after listening to this book. The narrator is excellent. I recommend this book highly to time flies listening to it
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8 people found this helpful
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- S. Van Lydegraf
- 01-11-08
Korea stalemate
The author spent ten years researching this book and it shows. The book sketches a broad overview of decisions being made in Tokyo and Washington and how they affected the war being fought in Korea. This is essential in order to understand the material, but where the author excels is in personalizing the experience through the eyes of several participants who were there. Through extensive interviews with Korea war veterans he is able to illustrate the stages of the war through narratives of US soldiers and commanders that were there.
There are some in this country that still defend MacArthur's conduct in the Korean war. They will not enjoy this books depiction of MacArthur. The author is unsparing in showing the folly of MacArthur's leadership.
The book is a fascinating study of a little understood part of our history and a small preview of what was to come in Vietnam a decade latter.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Eliana
- 05-06-10
Filled a Gap
I think my favorite thing about this book was how it filled in a huge gap in my knowledge of American history. I knew the broad strokes of the conflict, but this book really helped me understand some of the nuances and decisions, as well as the personalities.
A good solid use of the credits.
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4 people found this helpful
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- S.
- 08-29-12
Excellent -
Halberstam at his best - this is a fantastic book, on an important subject, performed by a great narrator, and worth every minute..
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3 people found this helpful
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- D Merrimon
- 02-21-08
Fascinating views!
This book offers an incredible look at the political reasons for the Korea War, and shows how misunderstandings by our leaders and those of Russia, China and North Korea caused it. It has fewer foxhole stories than some of Stephen Ambrose's WW2 books but gives very enlightening views of the games played by politicians and the military commanders. I'm also reading a book about New Guinea in WW2 and between these two books, General Douglas MacArthur is definitely not presented as a very good commander. "The Coldest Winter" shows that had a huge ego and made serious mistakes. An awesome book!
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- S. H. Moore
- 10-07-20
Good book, but seems somewhat general.
Okay, as far as Korean histories go this book checks all the boxes. It covers the political side of things very well. It breaks down and very clearly illustrates the struggle between the president and MacArthur. Also, in typical Halberstam fashion, he uses a lot of personal accounts in his coverage of combat. This makes for an engaging story and I enjoyed it very much. However, he really only covers 5 major battles. Even then his coverage of Chosin was somewhat sparse. No mention of the air war either. Still a great book for wetting your feet on the Korean War.
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2 people found this helpful