Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea
bySheila Miyoshi Jager
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
After visiting the heavily fortified DMZ separating North and South Korea, Bill Clinton called it the “scariest place on earth.” As the current crisis with North Korea illustrates, that description remains apt. Jager writes an ambitious, engrossing, and often disturbing history of the conflict, including its origins and its continuation since, technically, the war has never ended. As Jager indicates, Korea, which had a national identity as far back as the seventh century, was dominated by foreign powers for a century before WWII. The postwar division of the peninsula was inherently unstable, and there was considerable violence in the south even before the North Korean invasion in 1950. In analyzing the war, Jager provides multiple perspectives, including Korean, American, and Chinese. The war turned a civil conflict into a battleground of the Cold War. She now views the war as, however, a struggle for legitimacy between the two Koreas. This is a struggle that the North cannot win, and Jager sees that regime as dying but extremely dangerous. This is a superbly researched work that should be an essential tool in understanding the current crisis on the peninsula. --Jay Freeman
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Ms Jager has written the most balanced and comprehensive account of the Korean war. Perhaps by chronicling the brutal deeds of this “forgotten war”, this book will help lay them to rest.”
- The Economist
“Brothers at War does an exceptionally good job of bringing the conflict to life, and in ways not always comfortable for today’s reader.”
- Eliot A. Cohen, The Wall Street Journal
“[A] magisterial history of the Korean War.”
- Andrew Nathan, Foreign Affairs
“Superb… Elegant and balanced.”
- Mark Atwood Lawrence, New York Times Book Review
“This gripping narrative is a superb study of how the battle fought between two nations, and the world’s three major superpowers, over the 38th parallel―on the Korean Peninsula―molded the zeitgeist for global politics in the latter half of the 20th century.”
- J.P. O’Malley, Toronto Star
“Compelling [and] wonderfully researched.”
- New Internationalist
“An important contribution to Cold War scholarship.”
- Paul French, Literary Review
“A stark reminder that… the Korean War is far from over… This gripping book at last gives the big picture and the full story of a tragic and terrible conflict.”
- Aidan Foster-Carter, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK
“Essential reading for all students of recent North and South Korean history. Though scholarly and meticulously researched, the book is written in prose that is accessible to experts and novices alike.”
- Library Journal
“An important contribution to the literature on this conflict… highly recommended.”
- William Donnelly, Military History Quarterly
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Review
Insightful, in-depth, and much needed, this book is required reading for anyone who hopes to understand the situation in Korea Publishers Weekly Timely...an important contribution to Cold War scholarship -- Paul French Literary Review
An ambitious, engrossing, and often disturbing history of the conflict ... a superbly researched work that should be an essential tool in understanding the current crisis on the peninsula Booklist Professor Jager has written a fresh, insightful study of the Korean War that begins in 1945 and follows the war's impact into the twenty-first century. This book is the best one-volume study of the war in all its cultural, political, and military aspects.
-- Allan R. Millett, author of They Came From the North: The Korean War, 1950-1951
This is a magnificent book-deeply researched and written with real feeling and insight into the complex internal and external conditions that produced a brutal war and perpetuated Korea's division to the present day.
-- William Stueck, author of The Korean War: An International History
Jager ... skillfully covers international affairs, politics, and society in a first-rate comprehensive presentation of all the big issues facing North and South Korea.
-- Ezra F Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus, Harvard University co-editor, Deng and the Transformation of China.
The author's judicious use of new material in several languages as well as her balanced way of presentation make this book an authoritative and accessible history of the Korean peninsula since the Second World
-- Akira Iriye, Harvard University
Sheila Miyoshi Jager's Brothers at War is a timely reminder of the significance of arguably the most important unfinished business of the Cold War.
-- Major General Julian Thompson, KCL
A stark reminder that... the Korean War is far from over... This gripping book at last gives the big picture and the full story of a tragic and terrible conflict.
-- Aidan Foster-Carter, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK
Written in lucid narrative prose with an eye for the telling detail and compelling human story
-- Carter J. Eckhart, Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations Harvard University
Sheila Miyoshi Jager has managed an astounding feat-an extremely readable yet rigorously objective and brilliantly researched history of the Korean War from all sides. -- Rana Mitter, professor of the history and politics of modern china, Oxford University, and author of Forgotten Ally: China's World War Two
Heavyweight history of the best kind: an impressive and comprehensive account not only of the Korean War but also its many and far-reaching consequences. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our troubled relationship with North Korea today. -- Keith Lowe, author of Savage Continent: Europe in the aftermath of World War Two
A wonderful piece of work. A new history of the Korean War, informed by the latest archival materials, and written in an accessible and compelling way. -- Victor Cha
Best book on Korean war and aftermath I've ever read. -- Senator John McCain
Product Description
In this blockbusting trade debut, distinguished American professor Sheila Miyoshi Jager interweaves international events and previously unknown personal accounts to give a brilliant new history of the war, its aftermath and its global impact told from American, Korean, Soviet and Chinese sides. This is the first account to examine not only the military, but the social and political aspects of the war across the whole region - and it takes the story up to the present day: for the current wrangles are part of a conflict that has been ongoing for more than seventy years.
Drawing on newly accessible diplomatic archives and reports from South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Comission, Jager not only analyses top-level military strategy but also depicts on-the-ground atrocities committed by both side that have never been revealed. The most accessible, up-to-date and balanced account yet written, rich with maps and illustrations, Brothers at War is the thrilling and highly original debut of a historian comparable to Max Hastings or Antony Beevor. It will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle's origins, aftermath, and global impact for years to come.
As North Korea enters the headlines again on the 60th anniversary of the armistice, this book provides a vital and comprehensive account of a war between brothers that shaped the current crisis.
'I entered the prison and walked around and discovered the corpses; they were black and covered with flies. I couldn't believe how cruelly these civilians were killed. I thought that it didn't matter whether this was done by the Communists or by our own troops -- it represented the sorrow of a weak people, the tragedy of a civil war.'
Yi Chun-yong, a South Korean prison guard recalls a massacre scene at Taejon prison in 1950
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Top positive review
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3 people found this helpful
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat for understanding Korea's role in the Cold War
ByLawrence D. Inkon March 12, 2014
Sheila Miyoshi Jager does an excellent job of showing the role Korea played in the Cold War, both during the Korean war and in its aftermath. She suggests, in fact, that the Korean war began the Cold War although its roots really go back to the Soviet usurpation of eastern Europe.
But the book describes well the difficulties the United States faced in dealing with South Korea's leaders, and problems the Soviets and Chinese encountered in dealing with North Korea's leader. While the leaders of the two Koreas were intent on unifying the country on their terms, the Americans, Chinese, and Russians were trying to maintain stability in Korea, even if that meant keeping it divided.
Especially interesting is the chapter on Jimmy Carter's naive plan to remove American forces from South Korea--an idea opposed by everyone except Kim Il-sung. Even the Russians and Chinese opposed the removal of American troops from South Korea because they knew that would embolden Kim Il-sung to begin another war, which neither the Russians nor Chinese wanted.
This book is well worth reading for those who are interested in Asian history.
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Top critical review
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3 people found this helpful
3.0 out of 5 starsGood reading but doesn't shed enough light on today's character and extend of the conflict
ByMike Beunderon May 9, 2014
This is a good book for the historical recount of the Korean conflict starting at the end of the 2nd world war. It includes a much less detailed sketch (for obvious reasons of course) of todays North Korea and its regime and how it maintains its stranglehold on the population and the failures it made (with devastating consequences for its population). It also sheds some light on the way the North Korean regime plays its cards on the international diplomatic scene and tries to maintain the upper hand despite its dependency on aid from the outside.
Overall it is a nice recount of the Korean war and the continued political struggle between the two Koreas with the main focus on North Korea. Given the abundancy of books from authoritative (military) authors on the war itself, the value of this book is mostly in the overall coverage of the Korean conflict from the 1950ies until today.
In that respect I would have expected more coverage and details of the North's regime structure and economic power today and South Koreas military and economic policies to "manage" the North. There is little reference and detail to for instance North Koreas nuclear program and the role it plays in the overall conflict (and potentially ending it).
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4.0 out of 5 starsAbsorbing
ByGustavon April 2, 2017
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Somewhat patchy for the post-1953 period, but a great read for the war itself, one of the best books on the Korean War.
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5.0 out of 5 starsInsightful.
ByMichael Fon June 23, 2014
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This insightful perspective on the Korean War brings to life the global politics of the 1950s and the decades that follow. For the Koreans, the conflict is personal and deeply cultural leading to a state of paranoia, violence and acts of unconscionable atrocities. For the global powers, the USA, USSR and the PRC, the Korean Peninsula becomes a proving ground and a quagmire. Yet the lessons of Korea are barely learned and history inevitably repeats itself in Southeast Asia. This book reveals the Machiavellian talents of Stalin, the foolishness of Mao and the inner workings of US foreign policy. The question remains, however, how is the growing power of South Korea currently dealing with the starkly different suffering of the people of North Korea? What is the future of North Korea? Is it possible for the global powers to end the Kim dynasty and bring North Korea into the modern world?
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4.0 out of 5 starsExcellent overview of over 50 years of this ongoing conflict ... one glaring error
ByGary T. Mooreon August 12, 2013
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The author does an excellent job integrating political, military, and geopolitical interplay in this ongoing conflict.
She describes both North and South Korean politics and how they play off each other; as well as Soviet, Chinese, American and other interests. Her information on the large role Republic of Korea's military played ... and why ....in Viet Nam was new to me.
There was, however, one glaring error on the very first page of the text, following the Introduction. The author states: "In 1943, in the middle of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Premier Joseph Stalin, and Primer Minister Winston Churchill discussed the fate of Korea at the Cairo Conference..." Stalin pointedly did not attend this Conference. Stalin met with them shortly after this Conference, in Tehran, I'm surprised an editor didn't catch that.
Also, I was looking for a little more discussion of the Korean launching of mid and long range missles... seemed to get in a hurry there and skip over this. However, the Addendum did mention the irony of the Park and Kim family dynasties again facing off as leaders of North and South. That's pretty current.
Altogether .. a good synthesis of a lot of material, with perspectives I had not seen before.
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4.0 out of 5 starsComprehensive
ByMichael Craigon January 27, 2014
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This is a comprehensive look at the political circumstances surrounding the Korean war both before the war and the reverberations after the war. The book is more about the political decisions and machinations that are still felt today. I highly recommend it; just don't buy it if you're looking for a blow by blow description of Korean war battles.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA good mixture of introduction and detail
ByTyler B. Joyneron January 17, 2014
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As a sometime student of Korea, I bought this book specifically because I wanted to have one book that could give me a solid grounding in modern Korean history in a digestible format, and "Brothers at War" does that splendidly. Jager starts at the end of the second World War, but does reach further back to the colonial period a few times to add context.
The period between the Japanese surrender and the Korean War is given some attention; I would have preferred a bit more depth but she hits on most of the important points that the average American might not know, such as the level of violence that existed before the official start of the Korean War, how things fell out with People's Republic of Korea (the provisional government set up by Koreans after the Japanese surrender but before the Allies showed up), and so on.
Jager's treatment of the war itself is pretty good. I saw at least one reviewer comment that there was not enough detail of important battles - for me there was perhaps too much. Although I have no doubt that many battles and military actions were potential turning points for the war, it got to a point where I felt the author was just listing battles that happened and making less of an effort to fit them into the context of domestic US opinion on the war, and the politics and diplomacy taking place concurrently with the war. The sections on civilian casualties caused by each side and the POW situations, on the other hand, were very interesting and useful in trying to fit the Korean War into a larger picture of the Cold War and American public opinion.
The chapters following the end of the Korean War had a peculiar flow to some extent, but I thought it worked. In a introductory lecture on North-South relations, for example, I've heard speakers move from the Korean War and just touch on each of the various provocations, like the logging murders or the hijacking (which, by the way, I don't remember seeing at all in this book - I'll have to go back and look for it), and then move quickly to the subject of nuclear North Korea. I enjoyed that Jager took some time to cover the various changes of administration in South Korea and how that affected SK policy and consequently North-South relations. Similarly, Jager takes a fairly lengthy detour into Sino-Soviet relations at one point, but did a good job making it all relevant to the subject at hand.
The recent release of this book is fortunate in that the author is able to include some thoughts on the Kim Jong-Un rise to power. Likewise she is able to speak to recent developments in the China-DPRK relationship, and posits that China is maneuvering to make a historical claim for Koguryo as a Chinese nation, and by extension that North Korea is historically Chinese land. An interesting thought.
In conclusion, I don't think this book is a full military history, nor a full history of South or North Korean politics. I think it is what Jager said it was - a good look at the "unending" Korean War, which draws from all of the places necessary to have a deeper understanding of it.
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
ByRichard D. Patton,IIIon October 19, 2017
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This is well-written and well-researched book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat insights into this important conflict
Bypauchenon November 9, 2013
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I'm not an expert on the Korean War but I considered myself relatively well-informed about the conflict and the current situation in North Korea. However, none of what I picked up in news articles and books over the years provided the kind of insight available in this book. I especially enjoyed reading about the ways North Korea has successfully played China and the USSR/Russia off against each other before, during, and since the war. It's true that not every battle or troop movement is covered in detail, but I highly recommend "Brothers at War" to anyone interested in understanding how the war came about, how the war was conducted, and what it might take to finally bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.
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5.0 out of 5 starsLessons for today's world.
BySenator James W. Squireson March 10, 2014
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This book is well researched, beautifully written, and exceptionally informative. There are lessons to learn from studying the events and policies that led up to World War 1 that should help
Is understand today's world.
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4.0 out of 5 starsBrothers AT War
ByEllioton September 30, 2013
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Brothers At War is a well written historical recitation of the roots ,events of and after effects of the Korean "police action". It discusses the conflict from not only the Allied side, but also from that of the Communists. It is enlightening as to way that both China and Russia attempted to utilize the ambitions of the North Korean leaders to undermine US influence is eastern Asia. It also discusses how both Russia and China sought to rein in North Korean after the lengthy stalemated conflict- even to the point of trying to persuade former President Carter to abandon his plans to reduce the presence of U.S. and Allied troops stationed in South Korea.
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5.0 out of 5 starsKorea and its people
ByRaymond Hoche-Mongon September 21, 2013
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I found the book to be well writtien and quite detailed about the Korean war and the relationship between the parties involved; Russia, Korea,China, America, Australia, Turkey, Belgium, Britain, India, and several other nations under the UN flag who participated in the conflict. The Conflict is not over yet. No peace has been signed. North Korea is in lamentable condition under a centralized gocvernment, and South Korean is exploding as an industrial and knowledge power practicing democracy. A fine review of the history of modern Korea(s).
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5.0 out of 5 starsKnowledgeable and Thorough Book About an Almost Forgotten War
ByMitchVon June 28, 2017
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I bought this book as a gift for my husband. He likes to study WWII and its aftermath, especially the history of the war in the Pacific theater. H loves this book, and he said it fills a gap in his knowledge. It's well- written and thoroughly researched. I wouldn't be surprised if he reads it more than once so as not to miss the details.
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5.0 out of 5 starsOne terrific book!
ByChuck Banningon September 8, 2013
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Until I read Brothers at War by Dr. Jager, I considered David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter the best ever coverage of the Korean War. The extensive research Dr. Jager did on this book coupled with her perceptive analysis brings the conflict itself into perfect focus. What a fantastic contribution Dr. Jager has made to not only the conflict itself, but to both the events leading up to the war and to the far-reaching implications for the the future. Having seen the event first-hand, I especially appreciate the grasp this author and scholar reflects in Brolthers at War.
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3.0 out of 5 starsGood reading but doesn't shed enough light on today's character and extend of the conflict
ByMike Beunderon May 9, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
This is a good book for the historical recount of the Korean conflict starting at the end of the 2nd world war. It includes a much less detailed sketch (for obvious reasons of course) of todays North Korea and its regime and how it maintains its stranglehold on the population and the failures it made (with devastating consequences for its population). It also sheds some light on the way the North Korean regime plays its cards on the international diplomatic scene and tries to maintain the upper hand despite its dependency on aid from the outside.
Overall it is a nice recount of the Korean war and the continued political struggle between the two Koreas with the main focus on North Korea. Given the abundancy of books from authoritative (military) authors on the war itself, the value of this book is mostly in the overall coverage of the Korean conflict from the 1950ies until today. In that respect I would have expected more coverage and details of the North's regime structure and economic power today and South Koreas military and economic policies to "manage" the North. There is little reference and detail to for instance North Koreas nuclear program and the role it plays in the overall conflict (and potentially ending it).
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4.0 out of 5 starsKorea in the 40's
Bysteve lamberton September 7, 2013
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I was in the army and there n1946 and 47. I was out in the boondocks on special missions with a driver for the jeep, an interpreter who was Korean but trained by the Japenese and spoke English, and just me who was 18. No radio, no news of any kind unless I was back at base. Did not know what was going on at all except for the very special job I was doing. Interesting job, very physically demanding so I just did it.
The book explained what the hell was going on while I was there. I now understand some of the crazy things that happened. I heard rumors of things, things happened I did not comprehend but of course just did what I was expected to do by the command above me.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book
ByMatthew Kendrickon January 17, 2014
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Fantastic book from a fantastic scholar. A bit dense for the layman, but readers with considerable interest or considerable background will benefit enormously from the read.
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4.0 out of 5 starsVery Good broad history
ByJames P. Patutoon September 19, 2013
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This is not a military history of the Korean War, but it is an excellent overview of the cultural, diplomatic, military and strategic factors that shape the Korean conflict from World War 2 right thru today. If any still believe the myths that Stalin or Mao had complete control over their Communist brothers in North Korea, this book authoritatively will dispel them. For anyone who wants to understand the Korean War and contemporary Korea this book is a must. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is , in my opinion, it gives too short a summary to the actual war 49-53, while the summary is very good, from my point of view it could have been more detailed. That is my only criticism .
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
ByPaul J. Driscollon October 3, 2014
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Gave a lot of what went on in higher levels. I was in Korea when the fighting ended.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn enjoyable, stimulating read
ByMike Non August 29, 2013
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It was a well-written, interesting history of developments on the Korean peninsula. There were numerous insights that helped to bring these developments into focus.
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5.0 out of 5 starsVery well done!
ByCharles M. O'Brien, Jr.on September 3, 2013
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This was a very well written book. The author writes well and knows her subject matter. She has written extensively on asia and korea.
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
ByA Customeron July 11, 2014
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Excellent!
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4.0 out of 5 starsA VERY GOOD HISTORY
ByD A W ANDERSENon September 14, 2013
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IN CANADA THIS IS A ALMOST FORGOTTEN WAR, THIS BOOK HELPED ME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED AND THE EFFECT IT HAD ON THE UN SOLDIERS(ONE OF WHICH WAS MY UNCLE) WHO HAD TO ENDURE THIS WAR.
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5.0 out of 5 starsBrothers at War
ByBamaIrish1on September 8, 2013
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I found this to be an excellent historical read on the events that have divided Korea to this day. Well worth the time!
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5.0 out of 5 starsGood War Read
ByGary Raylon November 14, 2013
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Excellent writing, good story both entertaining and informative. This need for a certain amount of words is a bit silly for the us cent.
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5.0 out of 5 starsgreat read
ByE. Coughlinon July 29, 2013
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Very readable, needed a little better organization but this kind of book is needed. Shows our boys didn't fight in vain, South Korea is a paradise compared to the North. If you go to jail in North Korea, your wife and kids go with you as prisoners for life. Great read for the 60th anniversary of the cease fire.
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4.0 out of 5 starsIf ever you are inclined to start a war, just read this book and you will surely change your mind.
ByLaoshuon October 3, 2014
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Although as a kid I was vaguely aware of the Korean war, when I realised my country (New Zealand) was involved in pushing back the North Koreans and Chinese I started reading bits about the war. This book, however has shown what the cost of that war really was. What it has meant to our Global village. We can buy lots of Korean products, because of halting and pushing back more than once, the determined soldiers from the North. The difference now between the two countries North and South, is so extreme one would wonder why the North cannot see they have lost their proper heritage. Yet, even now, they would try to do it all again. They tunnel, fire missiles, progress their nuclear status, create incidents, etc all to let the West know that they still exist and want to be a force to be reckoned with. The clear culprit behind North Korea was Russia, and then Mao stepped in and flexed his warlike muscles as well. And millions of people died. Both sides created atrocities sometimes because of confusion, at other times because they were not certain where people's alliances lay and killed them just to save time. That way was certain they said. The problem did not come back.
It is historically a great read, but the human cost, in lives and suffering that was inflicted was simply awful. The South has largely recovered, but the North still lives in terrible oppression. It is hard to "like" a book that is recounting such past evils, but it should be a necessary political science read to understand the present and why we still have to line drawn separating both parts of Korea.
Both sides made mistakes in underestimating the other and General Douglas MacArthur was no exception.
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4.0 out of 5 stars60+ Years of the Korean War
ByC. Petersonon March 15, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book covers the history of North and South Korea from the end of World War Two to the present. She starts with the liberation of Korea as a Japanese colony in 1945 and its almost immediate partition into a Soviet dominated North and an American dominated South. The first half of the book takes the reader through the Armistice in 1953 that supposedly ended the hot war in Korea. As she points out however, the war never ended, and the North has never stopped seeking unification, although the South has come to worry about the economic and social impact of any reunification.
This first half covers the original partition, somewhat arbitrarily made at the 38th parallel, the creation of antagonistic political systems in the North and South, and the jockeying between North and South for supremacy during these early days. With support from both Stalin and Mao, Kim Il Sung decided in 1950 that North Korea was powerful enough to successfully invade the South, leading to intervention by U.N. forces led by the U.S, on behalf of the South Korean government. Ms. Jager covers the fighting in clear terms. She also covers the maneuvering between North Korea and its supporters as well as the disputes within the U.N. coalition about the scope of the fighting. She discusses atrocities committed by both sides against civilians, the treatment of POWs, and the issues involved in negotiating the Armistice.
The second half of the book is less linear, covering the periods of the Vietnam War, the late Cold War, and the post-Soviet era. She notes how successfully Kim Il Sung was able to play his Soviet and Chinese sponsors off against one another as their own interests diverged, and how he followed Stalin's and Mao's footsteps in creating a cult of personality, with the added achievement of turning it into a dynasty now in its third generation. She shows how the Korean conflict was used by both proponents and opponents of U.S. intervention in Vietnam to support their arguments, one side seeing it as a successful fight against Communist aggression and the other seeing it as unwinnable. She explains how North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship makes perverse sense as a way of convincing the North Korean people that their nation is successful despite all appearances to the contrary, and as a means of obtaining concessions.
The author is in command of her subject which she has researched in depth and at length. The book is clear to read and seems comprehensive. Other reviewers have suggested that she overemphasized South Korean atrocities, but I did not find that to be the case. She appeared to report abuses from both sides, without making excuses or whitewashing either side. I found this book to be helpful and informative as to the causes, course, and long term consequences of the Korean War.
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5.0 out of 5 starsInvaluable to Help in the Understanding of the Current North Korea Crisis
ByPhil Oakleyon August 25, 2017
Format: Paperback
The great background of the history of the conflict between North and South Korea shines a bright light on what lies behind America's nuclear crisis with North Korea. It is very readable and the research is above impressive. I came away with a completely new understanding of this unsolvable problem. For North Korea's current leader, the problem he is overwhelmed by is how to maintain power by completely isolating his subjects? Kim Jong-un is not the first member of his dynasty to live his life in the throes of this all consuming quandary. His grandfather and father both experienced the same life of unrelenting torment. Format: Audible. Purchaser.
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4.0 out of 5 starsGood, Not Great
ByBrian Brandauon August 30, 2017
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I liked the section regarding the actual Korean War a lot, but felt that after that section was over, it meandered a little too much in getting to the present. History doesn't always provide a "story arc" that's easily translated into narrative, but I've seen it done successfully in other histories. There is a large section in the middle of the book which - while super interesting - was more about China than Korea. Still, a recommended read.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing book - Must Read!
ByIntellectual Demonon July 28, 2013
Format: Hardcover
As a history enthusiast with a special interest in the Korean War, Sheila Miyoshi Jager's "Brothers At War" is one of the most important and forward thinking books published about this important yet misunderstood conflict. Her analysis of events beyond 1950-1953 and the focus on the concept of the battle of legitimacy between the two Korea's provides context to the ongoing situation in the Korean peninsula. Impeccably researched, Jager's prose and attention to detail makes this an easily understood and fascinating read. Anyone who wishes to understand Korea more thoroughly needs to read this book.
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4.0 out of 5 starsWell-written, well-researched
ByJYKon August 10, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Dr. Jager did a great job in weaving together the various elements and viewpoints to create a compelling insight into the Korean War and its continuing impact on Korea and the international community. She starts from the Korean War where she vividly portrays the palpable tension between President Truman and the mercurial General MacArthur, the ever-present danger of escalation with China, and, of course, the traumas suffered by soldiers and Korean civilians. Then she continues to trace the rise of the modern Korean from the ashes of war under the leadership of President Park Chung-Hee and his successors. Also daftly woven in are the domestic situations in China, Russia, and the U.S. that influence their relationships with the two Korean regimes. Very well-researched and eminently readable. For those interested in the Korean War, I also recommend David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.
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5.0 out of 5 starsBROTHERS AT WAR--KOREA
ByGULICK GRINGOon June 24, 2014
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Outstanding book. Outstanding author. I sent her an email with questions on two occasions and she responded both times. A good source book for anybody being posted to the Republic of Korea. All you military folks, TAKE NOTE of my last comment. I wish I had read this book before my 1957-58 tour in Korea. Could not do it as it had not yet been written.
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4.0 out of 5 starsLong term miscalculations on the Korean peninsula
ByAnson Cassel Millson January 4, 2014
Format: Hardcover
This is one of those books that could have been given a long, descriptive title of the sort popular in the eighteenth century, something like: “Unintended consequences and recurrent miscalculations of political powers great and small in the origination, conduct, and consequences of the Korean War.”
The book is not really about the Korean War per se, though the conflict’s multinational and Korean components are appropriately emphasized in the fine summary that comprises its first half. Nor does Jager flinch from recounting the misdeeds committed by Americans and South Koreans during that war.
Nevertheless, I believe the author's emphasis on realpolitik inclines her to underestimate the revolutionary power of capitalism in South Korea and the contemporary cultural and religious factors that play their own roles in today's divided peninsula. While South Korea is today home to the Unification Church and the million-member Yoido Full Gospel Church, North Korea has persecuted Christianity with a severity rivaled only by a few Islamic states. The North Korean “chuch’e principle” is as much a religious as a political philosophy, one that can brook no otherworldly rivals.
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
ByMichael C. Chisickon July 17, 2017
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
If you want to understand the Korean War and its aftermath, this is the book to read.
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2.0 out of 5 starsVery disappoiinting
ByAble Devildogon September 24, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Because this book had good reviews I read it. I was disappointed. I spent 26 months in the front lines in Korea starting with the Inchon invasion and a second tour during the last year of the war. So I have read about every book on the Korean War as well as many of the unit histories. Almost all books about the War are disappointing. There is a tendency to emphacize the first year of the War and say little about the rest of the War. This book says even less.
It is not that the book is not interesting. It is just incomplete. It covers Korea from the end of WWII until the rise of Kim Chong-Un, the current leader of North Korea. But there are large gaps in the coverage. One problem is that the book too often digresses from coverage of major events to chapters on events that were really side issues and had little to do with the flow of history, such as what happened in the prison camps and the atrocities committed during the war. While of interest, they were included at the expense of major events which were either omitted or were glossed over. It may be that part of her problem is that the author doesn't have any military background that would help her better understand what happened during the War and why. But that often is the problem with academics who try to write about the Korean War or write reviews of books written about the War.
The worst example is that she omits almost everything about the fighting that took place between the 1951 truce and the armistice in July 1953, yet some of the heaviest fighting occurred during that time. But it gets little coverage because there were no significant advances by either side. Nevertheless, the last three months of the War were as eventful as the first three months as the Chinese and the Americans jockeyed to establish the final battle line which would mark the demilitarized zone, particularly in the West north of the South Korean capitol Seoul. The Chinese wanted to push the lines south of the Imjim River, the last obstacle to capturing Seoul.
The prelude to the battles was the withdrawal of the First Marine Division, which had held the line for almost two years, from the front lines, and its replacement with the 25th Army Division, which the Chinese saw as weak. They were right because they quickly pushed the Army back by taking the Vegas-Reno-Carson City outpost line which the Marines had fiercely defended. The reason that the Marines had been withdrawn was because the strategists wanted the Chinese to believe that the Marines would engage in an amphibious operation. At the same time the 3rd Marine Division was aboard ships on its way to Korea which enhanced this deception. However, there was no plan for an amphibious assault. It was only a ploy to get the Chinese to sign a truce.
However, when South Korean President Sygman Rhee gummed up the Armistice in June by releasing all the prisoners, the First Marine Division was rushed back into the lines because intelligence indicated that the Chinese were going to launch a major assault, which they did. First, they drove the Marines off outposts Berlin and East Berlin which had been between the Vegas outpost complex and the main battle line. When the Marine commanders wanted to counterattack, their normal tactic, President Eisenower said "No" and that left the Marines open to a major attack which came during the last eight days of the war in what is known the Battle of Boulder City. In that battle both the 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, and the 3d Battalion, First Marine Regiment, were virtually knocked out of action and the Marines were barely holding on when the truce was announced. It was estimated that the Chinese lost 25,000 men in the battle. I could see dead bodies littering the landscape for a long way and I remember seeing the Chinese stacking bodies in a six foot high row that was at least a quarter mile long. Life Magazine published photos of the hill that I defended showing it covered with Chinese bodies. This was the worse battle for the Marines during the entire Korean War.
The author did not see the significance of this for if the Marines had been pushed back, the UN troops would have had to withdraw their entire front and the Chinese would have been at the front door of Seoul. As it was, Chinese casualties were so high they opted to sign the Armistice.
The author does catch some little known insights into the War such as General Walker missing a golden opportunity to staunch the Chinese advance by failing to establish a defensive line north of Pyongyang during the December 1950 Chinese offensive. But she misses too many others such as MacArthur's glory seeking decision to take Seoul after the Inchon invasion rather than send the Marines to cut off the retreat of the North Korean Army. The Marines suffered heavy casualties in taking the city which would never have happened if the NKA had been cut off because the NKA would have abandoned Seoul.
The author also fails to write about the major counter-insurgency operations launched in January 1951 to quell NKA guerrillas in South Korea.
While the book has a number of good points, the numerous omissions make it not worth the price.
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5.0 out of 5 starsHe loved the book
ByCurbeeon September 24, 2014
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Bought it for my Uncle, a Korean war vet. He loved the book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGood Reading
ByLeeon September 7, 2013
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
As a person who is interested in Southeast Asia, having spent ten years in that area, I enjoy reading detailed history of the area. This book is well written and enjoyable to read. Not over-encumbered with flowery words, but educating the reader as you move through it.
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1.0 out of 5 starsDisappointing
ByDon Caseyon September 4, 2013
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Lots of politics, no follow thru on promise of where Korea went after the war and how they got there.
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3.0 out of 5 starsoral history on the Forgotten War
ByHung-Tak Leeon September 16, 2013
Format: Hardcover
When I opened Brothers at War, I expected to confront a rebuttal to Bruce Cummings' much-debated thesis on the origin of the Korean War. Dr. Jager has succeeded in providing meticulously manicured anthropological "oral history" of the war, but her book includes virtually every thing that relates to the fratricidal conflagration on the Korean peninsula, viz. bits and pieces on minor skirmishes along the 38th parallel before the outbreak of the war, on Pueblo incident, on Vietnam War, up to the Kwangju uprising. In her next work, one may expect the author to narrow down the scope to a particular incident relating to the war, e.g. the Bodo League or the biological weaponry as suggested by a telegram from Lt. Gen. V. N. Razuvaev to L. P. Beria of April 18, 1953, or a manageable non-fiction a la Ha Jin's War Trash (2005).
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1.0 out of 5 starsThe book dragged on almost as long as the war
ByKen Son July 26, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Boring presentation that seemed more subjective than objective in many areas. The title should have been The modern political history of the Koreas
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