Engrossing wartime memoirs from South Korea's first four-star general. Paik was a 29-year-old colonel in command of the 1st ROK Division when Communist forces rolled across the provisional boundary partitioning Korea in mid-1950. Though outgunned, Paik's ill-equipped, poorly trained men performed valiantly, halting the enemy's sneak assault on the South for a precious three days. Having helped create a defensive perimeter north of Pusan around the Naktong River, the author's South Korean troops then went on the attack. In the murderous period following Chinese intervention, Paik's prowess on battlegrounds up and down the peninsula earned him promotion to chief of staff of the ROK Army. In addition to overseeing its expansion and deployment under fire, he represented his country's interests in armistice negotiations, first at Kaesong and later at Panmunjom. Beyond its harrowing accounts of front-line engagement—in which quarter was neither asked nor given—the author's narrative goes a long way toward setting the record straight on such issues as the cruel myth that ROK units did not pull their weight in combat. While no match for their foe at the outset, his soldiers, Paik documents, fought in subsequent campaigns even though they were the preferred targets of Communist offensives (owing mainly to their relative lack of firepower). The author also conveys the immense difficulties involved in building, equipping, and training an army during a vicious conflict and while almost wholly dependent upon the resources of allies with variant agendas. Much has been written of the Korean War's geopolitical and military significance. While scanting neither, Paik reminds an often forgetful world of the country that, in a struggle for its very survival, provided the most manpower and sustained the greatest casualties. Impressive and instructive. The vivid, perceptive text has maps (not seen).
Pub Date: June 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-02-881002-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1992
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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