<![CDATA[The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War]]>

false <![CDATA[The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War]]> 448135 10 David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book for the Vietnam War. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivalled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another dark corner in our history: the Korean War. The Coldest Winter is a successor to The Best and the Brightest, even though in historical terms it precedes it. Halberstam considered The Coldest Winter the best book he ever wrote, the culmination of forty-five years of writing about America's postwar foreign policy. Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures -- Eisenhower, Truman, Acheson, Kim, and Mao, and Generals MacArthur, Almond, and Ridgway. At the same time, Halberstam provides us with his trademark highly evocative narrative journalism, chronicling the crucial battles with reportage of the highest order. At the heart of the book are the individual stories of the soldiers on the front lines who were left to deal with the consequences of the dangerous misjudgments and competing agendas of powerful men. We meet them, follow them, and see some of the most dreadful battles in history through their eyes. As ever, Halberstam was concerned with the extraordinary courage and resolve of people asked to bear an extraordinary burden. The Coldest Winter is contemporary history in its most literary and luminescent form, and provides crucial perspective on the Vietnam War and the events of today. It was a book that Halberstam first decided to write more than thirty years ago and that took him nearly ten years to write. It stands as a lasting testament to one of the greatest journalists and historians of our time, and to the fighting men whose heroism it chronicles. Includes an Afterword by Russell Baker. Tributes to David Halberstam David Halberstam died at the age of 73 in a car accident in California on April 23, 2007, just after completing The Coldest Winter. Legendary for his work ethic, his kindness to young writers, and his unbending moral spine, Halberstam had friends and admirers throughout journalism, many of whom spoke at his memorial service and at readings across the country for the release of The Coldest Winter. We have included testimonials given at his memorial service by two writers who made their reputations at the same newspaper where he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War reporting, The New York Times: Anna Quindlen ...David occupied a lot of space on the planet. Perhaps he felt the price he must pay for that big voice, that big reach, that big reputation, was that his generosity had to be just as large. Most of us, when we take to the road and meet admiring strangers, vow afterward to answer the note pressed into our hands or to pass along the speech we promised to the person whose daughter couldn't be there to hear it. But with the best will in the world we arrive home to deadlines, bills, kids, friends, all the demands of a busy life. We mean to be our best selves, but often we forget. David did it. He always did it. The note, the call, the book, the advice. When I mentioned this once he dug his hands deep into the pockets of his grey flannels, set his mouth at the corners, looked down and rumbled, "Well, but it's so easy." That's nonsense. It's not easy. But it is important, and why he has been remembered with enormous affection by ordinary readers all over this country, and why each of us who live some sort of public life would do well, with all due respect to Jesus, to ask ourselves about those small encounters: what would David do? Dexter Filkins ...If I could use a sports metaphor--and I think David would have appreciated that--David was the pulling guard, as in a football game. The pulling guard who sweeps wide and clears the hole for the running back who runs through behind him. We reporters in Iraq were the running backs. David went first--a long time ago--and cleared the way. In Iraq, when the official version didn't match what we were seeing on the streets of Baghdad, all we had to do--and we did it a lot--was ask ourselves: what would Halberstam have done? And then the way was clear... 2171159 25 9 2007 The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War total:436|5:177|4:183|3:58|2:17|1:1| 436 1826 838 170 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 14:13:36 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 15:05:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 4 false false Wed Dec 12 08:17:10 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 17 17:13:21 -0800 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:52:27 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:52:27 -0800 2009 Publicized as a bookend to The Best and the Brightest, The Coldest Winter is a fitting, if premature, conclusion to David Halberstam's illustrious career. (He died in a car accident last spring, shortly after completing the book.) Magisterial in scope, eminently readable, well researched, and even g...

more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 19 04:35:09 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 04:50:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 01 16:46:25 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 16:46:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 02 06:17:45 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 06:33:28 -0700 2009 I recall going to a class member...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 18 10:51:12 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 11:35:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 22:30:54 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 22:31:28 -0700 2009 The Coldest Winter

“The Coldest Winter” is a summary of the Korean war – the politics and people that took center stage in this conflict.

We see Douglas MacArthur at his most brilliant and his most hubris-filled moments.

We see China’s...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun May 24 23:21:52 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 17:38:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri May 29 17:35:57 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 17:48:02 -0700 2009
The Korean War is looked at ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Feb 01 11:10:33 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 11:15:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed May 13 07:09:13 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 07:16:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 03 13:35:50 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 09:54:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 05 12:19:47 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 12:42:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 15:47:59 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 15:57:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 10:20:49 -0700 2009 Fri Nov 13 03:11:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Aug 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 07:56:53 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 09:25:51 -0700 2009
The book als...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 21 11:07:33 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 19 05:38:44 -0800 2009 I may have overrated this, but it's because I picked it up knowing I had very little knowledge of the Korean War, and wanted to fix that - this book accomplished a lot in that regard.

Very good big-picture discussion of the war - how we got there, the voices and politics that drove ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 11:21:14 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 09:32:00 -0800 2009
The book gives an insider's look at the machinations in Tokyo and Washington as well as the tacti...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 09:26:41 -0700 2008 Wed May 21 16:27:11 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=448135