Ghost flames : life and death in a hidden war, Korea 1950-1953 / Charles J. Hanley.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A powerful, character-driven narrative of the Korean War from the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who helped uncover some of its longest-held and darkest secrets.
The war that broke out in Korea on a Sunday morning seventy years ago has come to be recognized as a critical turning point in modern history -- as the first great clash of arms of the Cold War, the last conflict between superpowers, the root of a nuclear crisis that grips the world to this day.
In this vivid, emotionally compelling, and highly original account, Charles J. Hanley tells the story of the Korean War through the eyes of twenty individuals who lived through it--from a North Korean refugee girl to an American nun, a Chinese general to a black American prisoner of war, a British journalist to a U.S. Marine hero.
This is an intimate, deeper kind of history, whose meticulous research and rich detail, drawing on recently unearthed materials and eyewitness accounts, bring the true face of the Korean War, and the vastness of its human tragedy, into a sharper focus than ever before. The "forgotten war" becomes unforgettable.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• To the Reader (p. ix)
• A Note on Language (p. xii)
• Korea and Seoul Maps (p. xiii)
• Korean War Chronology (p. xv)
• The Characters (p. xviii)
• Part 1 1950 (p. 1)
• Part 2 1951 (p. 209)
• Part 3 1952 (p. 339)
• Part 4 1953 (p. 403)
• After the War (p. 449)
• Epilogue (p. 453)
• Envoi (p. 455)
• Acknowledgments (p. 456)
• A Note on Sources (p. 458)
• Notes (p. 463)
• Character Photo Credits (p. 489)
• Index (p. 490)
• Illustration section appears after page 240.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hanley (The Bridge at No Gun Ri) was on the team that in 1999 broke the story of a U.S. military massacre of fleeing Korean civilians 50 years earlier. Hanley is back with an equally compelling and groundbreaking narrative history of the Korean War, told via the experiences of 20 men and women who lived through the bloodshed. Commanding generals Matt Ridgway (U.S.) and Peng Teh-huai (China) direct strategy and play politics. British Marxist reporter Alan Winnington reports from the Communist side of the battlefield, while Bill Shinn publishes scoops from behind U.S.-South Korean lines. African American soldier Clarence Adams survives prisoner-of-war camp and ultimately defects to China, inspired by the Communist message of racial equality. Chi Chao-chu resigns his studies at Harvard University, hastening home to Communist China to translate at armistice negotiations, while student Ahn Kyong-hee evades sexual assault and other dangers, helped by a South Korean double agent. Ri In-mo goes from bespectacled Communist Party functionary to mountain guerilla to political prisoner. Meanwhile, this fruitless war of attrition forever alters the course of both Koreas and leads to the death of millions. VERDICT An extraordinary kaleidoscope of human experiences in a catastrophic forgotten war.--Michael Rodriguez, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs

Publishers Weekly Review

In this sweeping and well-sourced history, Associated Press reporter Hanley (coauthor, The Bridge at No Gun Ri), who won a Pulitzer Prize for helping to unearth the 1950 massacre of South Korean civilians by panicked U.S. troops, captures the devastating human toll of the Korean War. The epic scale of the war's disruption comes into focus through the stories of a survivor of the 1950 slaughter, who lost both her children to American bullets; a Maryknoll nun and physician who tended to refugees in the beleaguered southern port of Pusan, where Allied troops were nearly forced into the sea in the first weeks of the war; and a North Korean pilot who survived dogfights in "MiG Alley." Hanley also profiles the U.S., Chinese, and North Korean military leaders who directed wild swings of momentum in the war's early months, and, later, the grinding trench warfare that cost tens of thousands of lives as truce talks dragged on. Drawing on memoirs, personal letters, declassified documents, and interviews with veterans and civilian survivors, as well as newspaper accounts from AP reporter Bill Shinn and his counterpart on the communist side, Daily Worker journalist Alan Winnington, Hanley paints an extraordinary portrait of the war's complexity and devastation. This is an essential account of America's "forgotten war." (Aug.)

CHOICE Review

Hanley's history of the Korean War is a highly original, bottom-up account of that brutal conflict told through the stories of 20 different people who lived through it. Hanley, an award-winning journalist, wisely chose his subjects from across a wide spectrum that included men and women, northerners and southerners, and soldiers and civilians. His four decades as an Associated Press reporter are evident in the lively staging of the accounts in a chronologically ordered, diary-like style written in the present tense. This approach enabled Hanley to uncover the voices of that hidden war's restless dead, the "ghost flames" who died unremembered and unmarked across Korea. Readers will be glad that Hanley carefully documented all of the primary sources he draws on, which include personal interviews as well as diaries and other writings. The "Photos" section provides an important visual foundation for the stories, though more maps would have been helpful (there are only two). This book is unique because of the range of voices presented, but readers seeking comparative works might consult Richard Peters and Xiaobing Li's Voices from the Korean War (CH, Oct'04, 42-1093). Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty. --Michael Carl Brose, Indiana University

Kirkus Book Review

A Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist forges a masterly new history of the Korean War through character studies of the participants caught in the conflict. During his 40-year career at the Associated Press, Hanley reported from nearly 100 countries around the world, and his journalistic talents are on full display in his latest book. He also demonstrates a novelist's touch and a wonderful ear for dialogue and detail. He builds his history via observers' testimonies about the war, from the initial invasion of South Korea by North Korean troops on June 25, 1950, to the stunning "morning of silent guns" on July 28, 1953. The characters Hanley chooses to highlight aptly represent the diversity of people involved, from refugees and soldiers on both sides to U.S. military leaders like Matthew Ridgway, appointed Far East commander by Harry Truman after certain miscalculations by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. In countless poignant snapshots, the author describes harrowing, often horrific experiences, including those of Sister Mary Mercy at a clinic in Pusan, where "sanitation is abysmal and disease endemic," and "existing facilities fall far short of what's needed to deal with the typhoid, typhus, smallpox, and tuberculosis spreading through the refugee population"; and South Korean AP journalist Bill Shinn, who tried to cover the conflict while protecting his family. Elsewhere, Hanley discusses numerous witnesses to the horrendous retaliation by both North and South Korean troops in terms of executions and mass burials as well as American troops' "depravity" in torturing and raping the local population. The author also details the conditions at the POW camps, including Pyoktong, where a black American soldier endured not only an existence of "simple misery," but also racist taunts from fellow American soldiers in the camp. In addition to excellent maps and a chronology, Hanley provides photos of the characters and an "After the War" section about each of them. The accretion of astounding detail makes for a vivid, multilayered look at a deeply complicated war in which few emerged as heroic. A top-notch addition to the literature on the Korean War. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.