[.ca] This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History - ... (ISBN 1574882597)

One of the best military history books I have ever read:
This book is a must for understanding the Cold War and perhaps the best military history book I have ever read. I am now embarking on a journey to read everything Mr. Fehrenbach has ever written.

Informative, but leaves A LOT to be desired....:
As an American-born Korean, I obviously have some personal interest in the subject matter, and while I already was possessed of some basic knowledge about the events of 1950-53, I felt I needed a more thorough grounding in the actual battles and the characters of the Korean War. While Mr. Fehrenbach's volume did much to keep me informed about the major clashes, the involved units, and the prominent people, I often found myself bogged down in his often very confusingly organized prose. Never mind writing style -- I often found myself baffled as to just what he was trying to say, or about whom he was trying to say it. Not to mention abominable copywriting, which wouldn't normally bother me so much, except that the frequent punctuation errors and misspellings often just hampered the text's comprehensibility even more. And as one reviewer here previously stated, Mr. Fehrenbach does indeed have a personal axe to grind, which in and of itself wouldn't be so remarkable (few historians can avoid inserting a healthy dose of their own personal biases into their works), except that it oftentimes leads him to keep reaching for the same tired metaphors that might've been meaningful used once, but just seem like laziness the second or third time around. (Yes, we know "there are tigers," Mr. Fehrenbach, but you don't have to keep saying so every other page....) Another big problem I had with this history was the total lack of maps illustrating what he was trying to describe in his often clumsy prose. Even as a Korean, I often had trouble following the litany of names of towns, rivers, and mountains, without a single point of reference to get a better idea of what he was referring to. He obviously had a great passion for the topic, and many of his points about the changing nature of warfare were (and are) cogent, but its many shortcomings made for an oftentimes all-too-frustrating read.

From one who was there, its factual.:
Unprepared, Yes. But it was the people who ordered the Army divisions to the Yalu, knowing from the G-2 in Japan that the Chinese were inside Korea in October. Willoughby, the G-2 was specifically asked and the answer he gave, was at best evasive. "They are just volunteers". If you've viewed the picture of two Army personnel, with a light 30 cal. machine gun, with an overview of Manchuria and the Yalu, then you will understand. It was grandstanding by Tokyo to release same but you wont see pictures of the 2nd and 7th Divisions going south to keep from being annihiliated, all for the ego of MacArthur. Feherenbach, tells you what he went thru, and the most remaining MIA's of that era are still in the northern part of Korea. Ask CILHI???