The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War

by David Halberstam

Book Overview

"In a grand gesture of reclamation and remembrance, Mr. Halberstam has brought the war back home."---The New York Times

David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book about the Vietnam conflict. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivaled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another pivotal moment in our history: the Korean War. Halberstam...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786888628
• ISBN13: 9780786888627
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 736 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 5.8" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Halberstam masterpiece

As of all David Halberstam books I've read, The Coldest Winter delves far beyond the headlines of the period and provides insight, humour, and most importantly, clarity, to his subject....one gains essential depth of subject matter to support a remarkably vivid moment-to-moment narration of the wide-ranging events involved....bringing context and detail that offers the reader a full picture of all the various forces at work in what many consider that 'forgotten war'..also outlining elements setting in motion the path forward in following years..an essential link in the 20th century's chain of events...a must-read

Forgotten No More

A look at the U.S.' forgotten war, even more despised than Vietnam. Mr. Halberstam brings together elements within Communist and Nationalist China, Stalin's USSR, North and South Korea, and our own political maelstrom to show how the war started. He details how the military's de-masculation after WWII leads to the nation being totally unprepared to fight a land war in a remote nation few were familiar with. He paints a less than complimentary picture of U.S. military leadership, leading to the complete failure of U.S. troops in the early phases of the war, the totally disastrous decision to advance to the Chinese border, and the bloody battles which are fought to an ultimate stalemate the remainder of the war.

A Must Read on the Korean Conflict

This is a thoroughly researched and overall well written book on the first winter of the Korean War by the late author Halberstam. He worked on this book for well over a decade, and it shows. The focus of the book is on the winter of 1950-1951, with a considerable part about the fall of 1950, as the author notes, it is the most interesting part of the war (the remainder was so stagnant it reminds historians of WWI), the book gives a complete explanation of WHY this war dragged on. Fans of McArthur might want to skip this book, along with those who think Truman was the worst president ever. Some officers shine, while others are considerably less lustrous. Halberstam does a nice job looking at the war from all the ranks, from private first class up to the commanders.

An Endlessly Interesting and Insightful History of the Forgotten War!

David Halberstam's "The Coldest War" is a brilliantly written, compelling, and well balanced history of the United States and China in the Korean War. The book is a scathing condemnation of U.S. and U.N. Commander General Douglas MacArthur and key members of his staff, including Generals Edward (Ned) Almond and Charles Willoughby. Almond, MacArthur's Chief of Staff and Commander of the U.S. X Corps, was a racist who continuously underestimated the military capabilities of the Chinese. Willoughby, MacArthur's chief of intelligence, skewed or ignored key intelligence reports indicating the Chinese would enter the war on a large scale. That intervention thus achieved strategic and tactical surprise and resulted in the deaths of thousands of young Americans. Like many historians before him, Halberstam has high praise for General Matthew Ridgway, who replaced Walton Walker (killed in a motor vehicle accident) as Eighth Army Commander. Ridgway later replaced, Douglas MacArthur as the Far Eastern Commander when the latter was (finally) fired by President Harry Truman. One of the Army's most brilliant officers, Ridgway was hyper-aggressive and had much greater respect for his Chinese opponents than MacArthur. He also paid much greater attention than his predecessor to collecting good inteligence and focused on identifying the Chinese Army's key weaknesses, which he exploited. As a result, the Americans managed to inflict tremendous losses on the Chinese Communist Forces at the battles of Chipyongni and Wonju, thus turning the tide of the war. Much to his credit, Halberstam pays a great deal of attention to the strength and weaknesses of both the North Korean and the Chinese leaderships and military. The result is an endlessly interesting and insightful history of what is commonly known as "The Forgotten War".

David Halberstam's final opus. A trimph of men!

"The Coldest Winter," David Halberstam's final journalistic tribute to heroes, is a fitting tribute to the men of the oft forgotten war. Halberstam's lengthy career in journalism and as an author shows in his brilliant writing style that keeps you engrossed in every word. It is not surprising that someone who has written so much about Vietnam, would have a huge resource to draw upon in a work about the Korean War. The Coldest Winter is a story that needed telling, much the way Herodotus told of the men of Thermopylae or, more recently how Stephen Ambrose told of the men of Easy Company in "Band of Brothers." Halberstam understood well how most Americans ignore the events and outcome of the Korean Conflict; often, that part of history seems better left untold. The Coldest Winter tells this story and it's back stories and even it's substantial post-script. We mustn't forget that South Korea's success today owes a debt to the American and U.N. forces who fought there over half a century ago. What Halberstam also does in this book is point out the miserable failings of Generals like MacArthur, long-time sacred cows of the World Wars, whose hubris in later life jeopardized the legacy of any truly heroic deeds of their early careers. General Ned Almond is also lambasted for his stubbornness and poor leadership style, which Halberstam shows led to unnecessary losses of American and U.N. forces. While "Coldest Winter" is by no means concise as far as a historiography goes, Halberstam has revealed the machinations that led to the war and the egos that sustained it. This is not a blow-by-blow, battlefield-to-battlefield account of the Korean War, much of the latter part of the war is overlooked. But, it covers the broader picture and the political implications and ramifications of American civilian policy versus military instinct in the early 1950s, however poor it may have served us. The Coldest Winter is a hefty book, at over 650 pages, broken into eleven sections with over 50 chapters, but it reads as fast as it reads brilliant. This is the first Halberstam book I have read, I regret that it comes only after his passing. There were certainly more great works to come had he not met his untimely death. REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, OTHER READERS, PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS TOO.

A sturdy and interesting book.

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam will stand the test to time just as all of his other works have. It is sad that Mr. Halberstam died last April in an automobile accident while working on his next book. This fact makes reading his last book doubly important, and a little difficult. This is the last trip to the water fountain. The Coldest Winter is well written. While lengthy, there is no fat. Cut a few facts here or there and you've changed the value of the work and not for the better. With books like this I sometimes jump around from chapter to chapter taking the topics in an order that is important to me. I wasn't able to do that with the Coldest Winter. There are a few surprises in the book. I thought that MacArthur was treated pretty fairly by Halberstam. MacArthur is not the perfect leader that he has been portrayed as in much of the media. In fact, at this stage of his career he is beginning to exhibit signs of feebleness brought on by the shaking hands and loss of hearing. That MacArthur underestimated the Communist Koreans is a fact of history but not often discussed. I was also taken by the amount of confusion in the Truman administration during the first few days after the North crossed the border. Very eye opening. I also highly valued the discussions of both Korean leaders, Syngman Rhee in the south and Kim Il Sung in the north. Halberstams treatment of these two leaders along with his wonderfully concise but accurate history of both the Koreas not only adds to the value of this book, but puts into perspective much of the recent difficulty with North Korea and their obsession with nuclear weapons. Halberstam has always written masterfully constructed books. The reader can tell that Halberstam loved research because he did it so well and it shows in his books. The Coldest Winter, in my opinion, is a must read for those that love current events but love history as well. The Coldest Winter will be a terrific addition to your personal library.