Bruce Cumings

This is not a survey of said conflict and is such an unusual choice for the Modern Library Nonfiction catalogue. Cumings asserts that for myriad reasons the Korean War drifted out of collective consciousness. The American stewards of the War (Acheson MacArthur) never understood the origins and prosecuted it in a heavy handed way which only exacerbated antipathy between North and South. The author asserts that the war can only be understood in the context that Japan made Korea a colony in the early 20C and that the ruling elite of the South collaborated with the Nipponese until the end of WWII. The propaganda of the time (racist Orientalism) used the grievance of Koreans invading Korea as it is moral compass. This was followed by the subsequent US/UN invasion of the North -- which isn't viewed as egregious. Then the Chinese came roaring across the Yalu and it became rather cold outside. Unfortunately this book launches asides at other books on the conflict, books I have lined up to read over the next couple days.… (plus d'informations)

“The same kind of inquiry is needed into American massacres such as Nogun-ri, the unrelenting firebombing of the North, and one of the most astonishing cover-ups in postwar U.S. history, the black-and-white reversal of the truth of what happened in Taejon.”(Cumings page 174)

Cumings details many aspects of the Korean War, including:
Nations involved (Korea, China, Japan, Russia, US, Britain)
Firebombings and massacres
US napalm use
Peasant uprisings
Infrastructure bombings
Political motivations
Perspectives of many differing points of view, and how they interacted
Firsthand testimonies

I learned how the Korean War marked the beginning of the building of permanent US bases in foreign nations. These foreign occupations are what US is, and deserves all the attention Cumings gave.… (plus d'informations)

Como no tenía idea de la guerra de Korea la verdad me sorprendió y al principio me interesó mucho, pero luego me da la impresión de que cae en una confusióin de desarrollo de la idea y de reiteracion de los argumentos. Nosotros desde el tercer mundo siempre supimimos que en estos conflibros todos eran S.O.B. y que EE.UU siempre protegía a los suyos como si fueran los buenos, pero me parece que el autor cae en ese mismo defecto, no al maltratar a EE UU y korea del sur, sino al quitarle importancia a las barbaridades de Korea del Norte… (plus d'informations)