Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea - Hardcover

Jager, Sheila Miyoshi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393068498 ISBN 13: 9780393068498

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013

Synopsis

A major historical account of the Korean War, its origins, and its evolving impact on the world.

Sixty years after North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the Korean War has not yet ended. Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents the first comprehensive history of this misunderstood war, one that risks involving the world’s superpowers―again. Her sweeping narrative ranges from the middle of the Second World War―when Korean independence was fiercely debated between Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill―to the present day, as North Korea, with China’s aid, stockpiles nuclear weapons while starving its people. At the center of this conflict is an ongoing struggle between North and South Korea for the mantle of Korean legitimacy, a “brother’s war,” which continues to fuel tensions on the Korean peninsula and the region.

Drawing from newly available diplomatic archives in China, South Korea, and the former Soviet Union, Jager analyzes top-level military strategy. She brings to life the bitter struggles of the postwar period and shows how the conflict between the two Koreas has continued to evolve to the present, with important and tragic consequences for the region and the world. Her portraits of the many fascinating characters that populate this history―Truman, MacArthur, Kim Il Sung, Mao, Stalin, and Park Chung Hee―reveal the complexities of the Korean War and the repercussions this conflict has had on lives of many individuals, statesmen, soldiers, and ordinary people, including the millions of hungry North Koreans for whom daily existence continues to be a nightmarish struggle.

The most accessible, up-to date, and balanced account yet written, illustrated with dozens of astonishing photographs and maps, Brothers at War will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle’s origins and aftermath and its global impact for years to come.

95 illustrations; 16 maps

About this title

About the Author:

Sheila Miyoshi Jager earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago. She has written extensively on modern and contemporary Korean politics and history and is the author and coeditor of two previous books on Korea and East Asia. She is an associate professor and director of the East Asian program at Oberlin College in Ohio, where she lives with her husband and children.

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

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0393068498
• ISBN 13: 9780393068498
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608