Brothers at War
The Unending Conflict in Korea
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
"The most balanced and comprehensive account of the Korean War." —The Economist
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This timely primer on the past, present, and possible future of the Korean Peninsula, by Jager, an associate professor of East Asian studies at Oberlin College, opens at the close of World War II. At the time, the United States was scrambling to draft a proposal that would secure itself a share in the beleaguered and communism-susceptible region, rather than allowing Stalin and the Soviets sole occupation. Hence, the 38th parallel, whose path was traced late at night on a National Geographic map to divide North and South Korea into separate occupied zones. When the North Koreans, under Soviet supervision, crossed the parallel in 1950, war erupted; less than six days later, the U.S. had committed troops. Initially dismissed as a mere "police action," the war has now spanned six decades and is buffered only by a fragile armistice (which North Korea voided in early March 2013). Jager carefully examines how the war has evolved over time, and how this struggle for "Korean legitimacy" has influenced the global power order, from the U.S.'s turbulent diplomatic efforts (Bill Clinton once called the DMZ "the scariest place on earth") to the rise of China. Insightful, in-depth, and much needed, this book is required reading for anyone who hopes to understand the situation in Korea.
