Max Hastings’s “The Korean War” (Review)

There are no “forgotten wars.”  We may choose to talk about them, to write about them, or to learn from them.  Or we may not.  It is a question of what value we place on the lessons.  Some eras, forged in strife and hardship, embrace history’s lessons, and consume narratives of past conflict with an eager inquisitiveness; other epochs, softened by luxury and lassitude, are largely immune to the lessons of the past.  In the end, it is always a matter of choice.

Continue reading

Breakout From The Chosin Reservoir

The armies of North Korea burst into South Korea in June 1950 and quickly overwhelmed its forces, confining them to a perimeter around the city of Pusan.  Douglas MacArthur, in what can only be called a brilliant counterstroke, hit back with an amphibious landing at the city of Inchon.

Continue reading