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mrpants's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
maozetinna's review against another edition
5.0
Not so much about the “Korean War” but rather jumps around to different points of 20th century Korean history as a whole. Exposing the many ties between the U.S, South Korea, and the Japanese occupation was eye opening, as well as covering some of the massacres committed in South Korea from 1945 to 1950 which gives a new perspective on the mainstream story pushed by Americans, that being of an unprovoked attack by North Korea in 1950. It mostly serves to contextualize the 1950-1953 conflict and provide an introduction to the circumstances beyond “Americans are helping South Korea fight against communists” and if that’s your understanding of this period in history than this book is highly recommended.
munjoyu's review against another edition
5.0
I grew up during the military dictatorship in South Korea.
This book showed me how the lies and propagandas engraved into my brain are still affecting me
even after all my conscious efforts ever since they started to crack during my college years.
I can hardly believe anyone can miss the following clear picture emerging from the book.
1. Korean liberators fought hard against Japanese imperialism especially in Manchuria
2. After Japan defeated, Korea was going to establish a truly independent people's government with the liberators at its core purging all the major collaborators.
3. US came in the souther part of Korea as occupation forces and nullified all these by keeping collaborators as "their" collaborators.
4. This triggered tremendous resistance in Koreans, which US (through its collaborators) suppressed by killing more than 100 thousand before the Kroean war
5. The liberators formed North Korea, and the collaborators formed South Korea
6. The liberators in the North decided to liberate South Korea as well, so the Korean War began
7. The entire liberation was going to be completed
8. US not only killed it, but also attempted to eliminate the entire North Korea by bombing
a total of 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, which was more than those dropped in the Pacific war
9. Total Korean deaths were more than 3 million and majority of them were civilians
10. The modern US super power was established thru the Korean War by perpetuating its huge military budges
11. Japan came back as an industrial power through the war
12. North Korea survived and rebounded quickly, but has been suffering from US sanctions and hostilitiy
13. South Korea continued to be governed by the collaborators and thuds with a lot of suffering. However more and more of its citizens enlightened and learned democracy, and flourished against all the odds.
My heart goes to the two Koreas with tears and pride
This book showed me how the lies and propagandas engraved into my brain are still affecting me
even after all my conscious efforts ever since they started to crack during my college years.
I can hardly believe anyone can miss the following clear picture emerging from the book.
1. Korean liberators fought hard against Japanese imperialism especially in Manchuria
2. After Japan defeated, Korea was going to establish a truly independent people's government with the liberators at its core purging all the major collaborators.
3. US came in the souther part of Korea as occupation forces and nullified all these by keeping collaborators as "their" collaborators.
4. This triggered tremendous resistance in Koreans, which US (through its collaborators) suppressed by killing more than 100 thousand before the Kroean war
5. The liberators formed North Korea, and the collaborators formed South Korea
6. The liberators in the North decided to liberate South Korea as well, so the Korean War began
7. The entire liberation was going to be completed
8. US not only killed it, but also attempted to eliminate the entire North Korea by bombing
a total of 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, which was more than those dropped in the Pacific war
9. Total Korean deaths were more than 3 million and majority of them were civilians
10. The modern US super power was established thru the Korean War by perpetuating its huge military budges
11. Japan came back as an industrial power through the war
12. North Korea survived and rebounded quickly, but has been suffering from US sanctions and hostilitiy
13. South Korea continued to be governed by the collaborators and thuds with a lot of suffering. However more and more of its citizens enlightened and learned democracy, and flourished against all the odds.
My heart goes to the two Koreas with tears and pride
jazziemango's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
pink_distro's review against another edition
3.0
read this for my modern korean history class, and it was super great at unraveling the american propaganda that we are taught as the "korean war." he makes it clear that the korean war was not really one defined by 'international' aggression by NK, since that border was created by the united states only 5 years prior ! instead it is much better understood as a civil war, not just between communism and some particularly authoritarian capitalists, but between NK leaders who had a history of guerrilla resistance to japanese colonization of korea and SK leaders who had largely collaborated with japanese colonialism and gotten rich doing so. he also goes into the brutal american repression of south korean leftists and locally autonomous 'people's committees' (and their families ... and their loose acquaintances) during USA's 3-year occupation of korea after WW2. all of this + more helps one understand the modern conflict between north and south korea much better, especially the lingering effects of japanese colonialism.
all of this was super enlightening bUT there are some drawbacks to cumings' individual style. the book is a little bit scattered, as he draws historical parallels or goes on about the nature of 'truth' or 'memory,' which are sometimes interesting, but often didnt feel particularly insightful to me, and i would have rather heard a korean writer discuss the things about social memory etc. he also writes in kind of a masculine way sometimes lmfao? he individualizes some things in kind of a 'great-man history' way sometimes which i think distracts from the larger social forces. and while im not against editorializing, the way he writes was just a little weird to me for some reason. also this isnt his fault but some of the segments where he is describing the atrocities of the USA military government in 1945-48 and the south korean army in the actual war are seriously just difficult / distressing to read.
so this book definitely a great & important corrective to the american narrative and it does hold some insights! but his broader understanding of history is not totally wise in my opinion
all of this was super enlightening bUT there are some drawbacks to cumings' individual style. the book is a little bit scattered, as he draws historical parallels or goes on about the nature of 'truth' or 'memory,' which are sometimes interesting, but often didnt feel particularly insightful to me, and i would have rather heard a korean writer discuss the things about social memory etc. he also writes in kind of a masculine way sometimes lmfao? he individualizes some things in kind of a 'great-man history' way sometimes which i think distracts from the larger social forces. and while im not against editorializing, the way he writes was just a little weird to me for some reason. also this isnt his fault but some of the segments where he is describing the atrocities of the USA military government in 1945-48 and the south korean army in the actual war are seriously just difficult / distressing to read.
so this book definitely a great & important corrective to the american narrative and it does hold some insights! but his broader understanding of history is not totally wise in my opinion
volson12's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good, concise overview of the Korean War. I removed a star because the author was strangely pro-North Korea despite their long history of human rights atrocities.
If you’re interested in getting a basic understanding of the why and how of the Korean War, this could be a good option, BUT take this author’s opinions on NK with a grain of salt.
If you’re interested in getting a basic understanding of the why and how of the Korean War, this could be a good option, BUT take this author’s opinions on NK with a grain of salt.
jaseychris's review against another edition
3.0
Wouldn’t recommend as an audiobook. He jumps around a lot and i had a difficult time keeping everything straight as I was listening. Had some good tidbits of information though! I’ll probably reread as a physical book so I can make notes and underline things