Review of "America in the Korean War," by Edward F. Dolan

Review of

America in the Korean War, by Edward F. Dolan ISBN 0761303618


Five out of five stars

Since it was recent enough and so controversial, the Vietnam War is still in the consciousness of today’s young people. Even though they might not know who the adversaries of the Allies were in World War I and World War II, modern day young people know that they happened. This is not the case with the war in Korea. Even people that have some knowledge of it are surprised when they learn how many casualties there were in that conflict. Accurate figures are not known, but the number of deaths is approximately 5 million, half of which were civilians.

 This book is a brief, yet reasonably thorough description of what has often been referred to as “America’s Forgotten War.” It was the first war where stalemate became the goal of both sides, a situation that remains to this day. The two Koreas remain in a state of war and it a shooting war were to break out, the number of deaths in the first day would be catastrophic.

 The level is roughly that of the late middle and early high school student. It is an excellent primer on the war that led to a situation that remains one of the greatest potential flash points in the world today. Therefore, the more that modern students learns about the Korean War the better.