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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 the book 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.
The Coldest Winter is contemporary history in its most literary and luminescent form, and provides crucial perspective on the Vietnam War and the events of today. It was a book that Halberstam first decided to write more than thirty years ago and that took him nearly ten years to write. It stands as a lasting testament to one of the greatest journalists and historians of our time, and to the fighting men whose heroism it chronicles.
Includes an Afterword by Russell Baker
Tributes to David Halberstam
David Halberstam died at the age of 73 in a car accident in California on April 23, 2007, just after completing The Coldest Winter. Legendary for his work ethic, his kindness to young writers, and his unbending moral spine, Halberstam had friends and admirers throughout journalism, many of whom spoke at his memorial service and at readings across the country for the release of The Coldest Winter. We have included testimonials given at his memorial service by two writers who made their reputations at the same newspaper where he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War reporting, The New York Times:
Anna Quindlen
...David occupied a lot of space on the planet. Perhaps he felt the price he must pay for that big voice, that big reach, that big reputation, was that his generosity had to be just as large. Most of us, when we take to the road and meet admiring strangers, vow afterward to answer the note pressed into our hands or to pass along the speech we promised to the person whose daughter couldn't be there to hear it. But with the best will in the world we arrive home to deadlines, bills, kids, friends, all the demands of a busy life. We mean to be our best selves, but often we forget.
David did it. He always did it. The note, the call, the book, the advice. When I mentioned this once he dug his hands deep into the pockets of his grey flannels, set his mouth at the corners, looked down and rumbled, "Well, but it's so easy." That's nonsense. It's not easy. But it is important, and why he has been remembered with enormous affection by ordinary readers all over this country, and why each of us who live some sort of public life would do well, with all due respect to Jesus, to ask ourselves about those small encounters: what would David do? ... Read her full tribute
Dexter Filkins
...If I could use a sports metaphor--and I think David would have appreciated that--David was the pulling guard, as in a football game. The pulling guard who sweeps wide and clears the hole for the running back who runs through behind him. We reporters in Iraq were the running backs. David went first--a long time ago--and cleared the way.
In Iraq, when the official version didn't match what we were seeing on the streets of Baghdad, all we had to do--and we did it a lot--was ask ourselves: what would Halberstam have done? And then the way was clear.... Read his full tribute
A Timeline of the Korean War
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. First Paperback Edition. This is an Korean War Military History Soft cover book in NEW condition. c2007, 1st Paperback edition, 1st Printing. This THICK book is NEW and unread. (Great Book For The Collector). It is in great condition both inside and out. The cover is very bright & very clean with hardly any shelf wear. The Edges and spine ends are all very nice. Smooth spine. The Pages are tight & unmarked. no names. NOT a remainder. Illustrations. Heavy, Media mail onlly. 719 pages. #21775-823. Seller Inventory # 021775
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. New with remainder mark. Buy multiples from our store to save on shipping. Seller Inventory # 1608180002
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. No Jacket. On June 25, 1950, nearly 7 divisions of elite North Korean troops, many of whom had fought for the Communist side in the Chinese Civil War, crossed the border into South Korea, with the intention of conquering the entire South in 3 weeks. Some 6 months earlier, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, in a colossal gaffe, had neglected to include South Korea in Americs's Asian defense perimeter, and the only American forces then in the country, part of a tiny advisory mission, were almost completely unprepared for the attack. In the early weeks of the invasion, the Communist offensive was a stunning success. Every bit of news from the battlefield was negative. The Korean War would last 3 years, not 3 weeks, and it would be the most bitter kind of war, in which relatively small American and United Nations forces worked to neutralize the superior numbers of their adversaries by the use of vastly superior hardware and technology. It was a War fought on strikingly harsh terrain and often in ghastly weather, most particularly a numbing winter cold that often seemed to American troops an even greater enemy than the North Koreans and Chinese. The Americans who fought in Korea often felt cut off from their countrymen, their sacrifices unappreciated, their faraway War of little importance in the eyes of contemporaries. This vast disconnect between those who fought and the people at home, the sense that no matter the bravery they showed, or the validity of their cause, the soldiers of Korea had been granted a kind of second-class status compared to that of the men who had fought in previous wars, led to a great deal of quiet--and enduring--bitterness. Contains a Glossary of Military Terms and a List of Maps. Seller Inventory # 806
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780786888627
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Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War 1.92. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780786888627
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Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0786888628xvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0786888628-new