In Mortal Combat

Toland's reputation as a first class historian is kept alive with this epic about the forgotten war. You will never forget some of the heroes he tells us about and it will encourage you to learn more about them and Korea.

This is a lengthy book on the fascinating but vexed topic of the Korean War. Toland strives for what he calls a non-partisan, non-ideological approach, and generally succeeds. Unfortunately he, along with other historians, is able to shed little light on crucial events leading up to North Korea's invasion of the south. This remains one of the many murky but fascinating puzzles surrounding this "forgotten" war. A couple of points from the book are worth remarking on.Like most orthodox historians, Toland lays principal blame on General Mac Arthur's notoriously imperious personality for the strategic entry of China into the war. In short, Mac Arthur's egotism led UN forces into the military debacle at the Yalu. Toland, like many others, however, neglects the importance of our domestic "China Lobby" in providing the General with the political support he needed to mount his aggressive advance on Chinese Manchuria. The fact that the war was widened as a result was more a matter of domestic American politics than the theater commander's unbounded ego.The book's most distinctive parts are those that attempt to balance the historical account. Several rather startling admissions surface like sudden jolts of alarm during the closing chapters. First is the degree of military censorship and evasion surrounding the two years of peace negotiations. Surprisingly, Toland reports American journalists as getting more accurate information from left-wing and communist sources than from our own official sources. (Even so, there is no insurrection among overseas reporters; that would come later in Vietnam.) Nowhere, however, are his credentials as a non-partisan historian under greater pressure than on the explosive issue of biological weapons, perhaps the war's most controversial subject. Generally dismissed out of hand in orthodox accounts, Toland makes the startling pronouncement that evidence does indeed support communist claims of biological weapons used against them. Paradoxically, however, he almost immediately reverses himself by citing support for UN denials. The net result is that both sides are held as being correct! Clearly the author is not prepared psychologically to tackle the war's knotty ideological issues. In that sense, Toland remains a strictly military historian and jounalist, but one who has produced a highly readable account of a murky long-ago war.

If you have any illusions about the glory of war, read this book. John Toland, through detailed interviews, shows the reader the horrors of battle. It is riveting and a must-read for anyone interested in the Orient.

due to the fact that it has a strong and interesting beginning, a somewhat "vanilla" middle , and a rather "limp" ending.I am not a military historian, but am an analyst. I am not a veteran, but do understand the difference between the various types of "histories",i.e. academic military history, journalistic military history, popular military history ("coffee table" books, etc.), "official histories", oral history, etc.This book definately falls into the journalistic history category, with all it pitfalls and advantages. One pitfall is that Mr. Toland is FAR too easy on the press in general and he doesn't spend much time at all on faults of the forementioned press. On the other hand, one of the advantages is that this book is a wonderful "read", i.e. the book has a definite flow to it (along with being easy to read).In my opinion, the book, like some of his other books, starts off very strong and detailed and then proceeds to a somewhat bland middle and finishes with a rather "limp" ending. [The book of his that epitimizes this is: The Rising Sun!] His discussion of Generals Walker and MacArthur are very good indeed and better than most other books (considering that he does it better in FAR less space/wording). Another strong suit of this book is the insight and discussion of POWS and their treatment. He also, does give a view of the "other side of the hill", which other so-called "histories of the Korean War" fail to do. However, in the middle of the book I would have liked to see more detailed discussion on some of the "nitty-gritty" tactical battles once the Chinese entered the war (as by this pt. in the book he just covers entire campaigns at the division and Corps level, with just "snippets" of tactical action). Finally, the last group of chapters in the book, "WAR & PEACE", could have been much better. He only covers the political bickering between the two sides and almost completely ignores ANY of the many interesting tactical struggles going on all along the "static" front line (MLR). IF he would have covered more than just the one he did, it would have GREATLY enhanced the book for me.Thus, my real rating for this book is as follows:1st 1/3 of book ***** (5 stars) Middle 1/3 of book ***1/2 (3.5 stars) Final 1/3 of book ** (2 stars)Overall rating = 5 + 3.5 + 2 = 10.5/3 = 3.5 Stars or rounding to 4 Stars.

Toland depicts the Korean War with such detail and accuracy that it becomes impossible to romantisize war. The soldiers were against overwhelming odds in extreme conditions, and constantly in a struggle to stay alive. By retelling the war from the perspective of all the key generals in the war, or from a close observer of a general, Toland gave us their insight to why they made the decisions that they did. He also captured many of these key decisions in the epilogue detailing the weaknesses and mistakes of the key leaders. His historical accuracy of the carnage produced on both sides made it a chilling reminder of the horrors of war. The lengthy cat and mouse game played between the governments of the United States, North Korea, and China to sign the peace agreement lasted over a year while American soldiers suffered in POW camps. I wasn't born at the time, but reading it now made me angry as the battles continued to produce casualties as did the POW camps. Very good book!