The Korean War: The West Confronts Communism

By Michael Hickey

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Oct 24, 2001
• ISBN: 9781468305579

Michael Hickey

Michael Hickey retired from his position as Colonel GS Ministry of Defence in 1981, after serving in Korea, East Africa, Suez and Aden. In 2000 he was awarded the Westminster medal for Military Literature.

Reviews for The Korean War

[dsha67 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So I finished The Korean War: The West Confronts Communism by Michael Hickey. A really good book that missed being great. A history on The Korean War by a soldier who fought for the United Kingdom and was going to bring the perspective of the non U.S. soldiers who fought under the auspices of the United Nations. I expected a integrated history of The Korean War and in some respects it was wildly successful bringing the face of the war and the contributions of the U.K. and other members of the Commonwealth Contigent. The book to a lesser degree touched on contributions of India, Pakistan, Greece, Turkey and Columbia as well as aspects of the war from the North Koreans, China and The Soviet Union. So far wildly successful. The big at a high level desks with the origins of the war, the failure of the Truman administration and Dean Acheson to leave Korea out of the strategic concerns of the United States in the Far East and the consequences of this oversight. Their is a fair degree of attention given to the early days of the war and the lack of resources and professionalism and preparation of the available soldiers by the U.S. The leadership both good and bad by General Douglas MacArthur including his finest moments in risking the integrity of the Pusan Perimeter for the amphibious landing at Inchon. The book takes the reader through learning and relearning of small unit tactics as well and leadership from the lowest to highest levels. The insubordination and sacking of MacArthur for Matthew Ridgeway.The book also reviews at a high level the peace talks as well as the problems and the prisoners camps on both sides.Where the book fails in my opinion is in having a well defined integrated history of the war by U.N. forces it is instead a book heavily dedicated to the history of the Commonwealth Forces. If the book had achieved a fully integrated history of United Nation forces and the Communist forces it would have been a even better history of the war.Well worth the reading but so close to a great history, but alas falls short a 3.3 to 4 star review of the book.