The Korean War: Uncertain Victory: An Oral History [Paperback]

Donald Knox (Author), Alfred Coppel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 1991

In this nearly forgotten conflict, the death toll for U.S. servicemen in Korea over three years was virtually the same as in Vietnam over ten. This second and final volume of an acclaimed oral history describes the final years of brutal assaults, culminating in an uneasy armistice. Index; map.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second and concluding volume of the late Knox's oral history of the 1950-53 war, this covers the last two and a half years with quotes from letters, diaries and interviews interspersed with brief summaries of unfolding events. Generals and colonels are heard from occasionally, but mostly these are the recollections of enlisted men and junior officers who grappled directly with North Korean and Chinese troops. The Korean War is now largely forgotten, and the cumulative effect of these reminiscences and contemporary documents (unit radio logs, for instance) distills the conflict vividly and memorably. There is a section devoted to the veterans' homecoming that poignantly dramatizes the difference between the welcome accorded the Korean vet and those who fought in Vietnam.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The first volume of this excellent oral history, Pusan to Chosin ( LJ 11/1/85), covers the conflict in 1950; the second part continues through the armistice in 1953. There are excerpts from books and battle diaries, and occasional discussions of events in wider context, but it is the front-line soldiers who tell the story. In this account, which closely parallels the American experience in Vietnam, Knox writes about the endless cycles of attacks and retreats, positional warfare during the truce talks, POWs, and coming home to a society little concerned with the war. The brief concluding essay is particularly effective in simply stating lessons of the war. Highly recommended.Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (June 28, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156472015
• ISBN-13: 978-0156472012
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,712,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellence from Vol.I continued, June 28, 2000

By 

R. Dilworth (Galisteo, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Korean War: Uncertain Victory: An Oral History (Paperback)

Even though Donald Knox died before completion of this volume, Alfred Coppel did an excellent job in ever way of finishing it. In spite of the fact that the war became fairly static by the spring of 1951, it remains as compelling as the first 6 months of the conflict. If you read Vol.I you will want to read Vol.II.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Once More, with feeling..., June 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Korean War: Uncertain Victory: An Oral History (Paperback)

This book, as its name implies, continues the groundpounding saga of the Korean War that started a year earlier. Many of the original cast of characters are back...Norman Allen's caustic letters to his mom, old soldiers from the Inchon landings and Pusan Perimeter in new terrain and with new regiments or companies...and the story line remains the same, too: climb hills, get killed, get pushed off, get killed, get hills back.
Unique Features of this book include:

.... the chapter on Korean War flying aces, and the air war in general. One can still feel the chill that must have gone down the spines of officials in Washington when Soviet MiGs first appeared in the skies over Korea; but it doesn't seem to have bothered John Bolt, the War's only Marine Ace, very much.

.... the chapter on Korean War vets who returned home to their hometowns; some to a hero's welcome, others to a country that had begun to change. I once heard a Korean War vet tell me he left to ragtime and came home to rock and roll. In any case, sometimes the publicity was a mixed blessing for the men, who just wanted to get back to their private and family lives.