Korean War/Bibliography

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Historiography and reference

• Brune, Lester H. ed. The Korean War: Handbook of the Literature and Research Greenwood Press, (1996), 464pp online edition
• Matray, James I. Historical Dictionary of the Korean War (1991), best reference
• Millett, Allan R “A Reader's Guide To The Korean War” Journal of Military History (1997) Vol. 61 No. 3; p. 583+
• Millett, Allan R, “A Reader's Guide To The Korean War” Journal of Military History (1997) Vol. 61 No. 3; p. 583+ full text in JSTOR; free online revised version
• Millett, Allan R. "The Korean War: A 50 Year Critical Historiography," Journal of Strategic Studies 24 (March 2001), pp. 188-224. full text in Ingenta and Ebsco; discusses major works by British, American, Korean, Chinese, and Russian authors
• Summers, Harry G. Korean War Almanac (1990), unreliable
• Tucker, Spencer C. et al. Encyclopedia of the Korean War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2002), 851pp, very good reference
• West, Philip. "Interpreting the Korean War" The American Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 1 (Feb., 1989), pp. 80-96 in JSTOR

Origins, politics and diplomacy

• Beisner, Robert L. Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (2006), 800pp
• Condit, Doris M. The Test of War, 1950-1953. (1988) on the Pentagon leadership.
• Cumings, Bruce. The Origins of the Korean War (2 vol 1981, 1990), sympathetic to North Korea; stresses civil war aspects; long but unreliable sections on "rollback" option
• Dingman, Roger. "Atomic Diplomacy During the Korean War." International Security 13 (1988-89), how Eisenhowwer threatened to use nuclear weapons
• Foot, Rosemary. The Wrong War: American Policy and the Dimensions of the Korean Conflict, 1950-1953 (1985)
• Goncharov, Sergei N., John W. Lewis; and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War, Stanford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-8047-2521-7, diplomatic
• Hamby, Alonzo. Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman (1998) excerpt and text search
• Jervis, Robert. "The Impact of the Korean War on the Cold War" The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 563-592 in JSTOR
• Jian, Chen. China's Road to the Korean War: The Making of the Sino-American Confrontation (1994) excerpt and text search; online edition
• Kaufman, Burton I. The Korean War: Challenges in Crisis, Credibility, and Command. (1999), politics of war;online edition
• Matray, James I. "Truman's Plan for Victory: National Self-Determination and the Thirty-Eighth Parallel Decision in Korea," The Journal of American History, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Sep. 1979), pp. 314-333 in JSTOR
• Ohanian, Lee E. "The Macroeconomic Effects of War Finance in the United States: World War II and the Korean War" American Economic Review. 87#1 (1997) pp 23-40 in JSTOR
• Spanier, John W. The Truman-MacArthur Controversy and the Korean War (1959).
• Stairs, Denis. The Diplomacy of Constraint: Canada, the Korean War, and the United States (1974), esp ch 4 on containing America's militarism
• Stueck, William. Rethinking the Korean War: A New Diplomatic and Strategic History (2004) excerpt and text search; online edition
• Stueck, William, ed. The Korean War in World History. (2004). 216 pages. diplomatic history; includes:
  • Allan R. Millett, "Korean People: Missing in Action in the Misunderstood War."
  • Kathryn Weathersby, "Soviet Role in the Korean War."
  • Chen Jian, "China's Road to the Korean War Revisited"
• Stueck, Jr., William J. The Korean War: An International History (1995), diplomacy
• Thornton, Richard C. Odd Man Out: Truman, Stalin, Mao and the Origins of Korean War (2001) excerpt and text search
• Zhang Shu-gang, Mao's Military Romanticism: China and the Korean War, 1950-1953 (1995)

Soldiers and support

• Bardbury, William C. et al. Mass Behavior in Battle and Captivity: The Communist Soldier in the Korean War (1968)
• Biderman, Albert D. March to Calumny (1963), best on US POWs; rebuts charges (made by Eugene Kinkead) that 1/3 collaborated
• Cowdrey, Albert E. The Medics' War (GPO, 1987)
• Donnelly, William M. "'The Best Army that Can Be Put in the Field in the Circumstances': The U.S. Army, July 1951–July 1953," The Journal of Military History 71#3 July 2007, pp. 809-847 in Project Muse
• Huston, James A. Guns and Butter, Powder and Rice: U.S. Army Logistics in the Korean War (1989)
• Kindsvatter, Peter S. American Soldiers: Ground Combat in the World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam. (2003). 472 pp.
• Westover, John G. Combat Support in Korea (1987), oral history interviews from soldiers in of corps of engineers, transportation, chemical. signal, medical, ordnance, quartermaster and MP's; 212pp; online edition
• Wubben, H. H. "American Prisoners of War in Korea." American Quarterly 22#1 (1970) pp 3-19 online at JSTOR

Combat operations

• Appleman, Roy E. South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (GPO, 1961); good official US Army history of fighting in 1950 online edition
• Appleman, Roy E. Disaster in Korea: The Chinese Confront MacArthur (1989) online edition
• Appleman, Roy E.. East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea (1987)
• Appleman, Roy E.. Escaping the Trap: The U.S. Army in Northeast Korea, 1950 (1987)
• Appleman, Roy E.. Ridgway Duels for Korea (1990).
• Blair, Clay. The Forgotten War (1988), elaborate detail based on interviews
• Crane, Conrad C. American Airpower Strategy in Korea, 1950-1953. (2000).
• Field Jr., James A. History of United States Naval Operations: Korea, (2001), official U.S. Navy history
• Domes, Juergen. Peng Teh-huai (1985), Chinese commander
• Flint, Roy K. "Task Force Smith and the 24th Division." in Charles E. Heller and William A. Stofft eds. America's First Battles: 1776-1965 (1986), 266-99. A wide-ranging look at the Army and its weaknesses at the very beginning of the war
• Futrell, Robert Frank et al. The United States Air Force in Korea, 1950-1953 (GPO, 1961), the best military analysis
• Halberstam, David. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (2007), interviews with veterans
• Halliday, Jon and Bruce Cumings. Korea: The Unknown War (1988); hostile to US & ROK; well illustrated
• Hallion, Richard. The Naval Air War in Korea (1986)
• Hastings, Max. The Korean War (2000), British perspective excerpt and text search
• Hermes, Walter G. Truce Tent and Fighting Front (1992), covers 1951-53 online edition
• James, D. Clayton. Years of MacArthur vol 3, 1945-64 (1985), the standard scholarly biography
• Knox, Donald. The Korean War, An Oral History (1985)
• Montross, Lynn et al., History of U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950–1953, 5 vols. (Washington: Historical Branch, G-3, Headquarters, Marine Corps, 1954–72),
• Mossman, Billy C. Ebb and Flow: November 1950 - July 1951 (1990), good official history online edition
• Russ, Martin. Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950, , Penguin, 2000, 464 pages, ISBN 0-14-029259-4
• Schnabel, James W. U.S. Army in the Korean War: Policy and Directions: The First Year (GPO, 1972), good official history online edition
• Toland, John. In Mortal Combat: Korea, 1950-1953 (1991), combat narratives
• Varhola, Michael J. Fire and Ice : The Korean War, 1950-1953 (2000) excerpt and text search
• Wainstock, Dennis D. Truman, Macarthur, and the Korean War (1999) online edition
• Schnabel, James F. United States Army in the Korean War: Policy and Direction: The First Year (1972). official US Army history; full text online

Allies

• Farrar-Hockley, General Sir Anthony. The British Part in the Korean War, HMSO, 1995, hardcover 528 pages, ISBN 0-11-630962-8
• Grey, Jeffrey. The Commonwealth Armies and the Korean War: An Alliance Study. (1988).
• Johnston, William. A War of Patrols: Canadian Army Operations in Korea. U. of British Columbia Press, 2003. 426 pp.
• Korea Institute of Military History. The Korean War (U of Nebraska press: 3 vol 2001), 2400pp, official history by South Korean army
• Millett, Allan R. Their War for Korea: American, Asian, and European Combatants and Civilians, 1945–1953. Brassey's, 2003. 310 pp.
• O’Neill, Robert. Australia in the Korean War, 1950-1953. 2 vols. (1981, 1985)
• Watson, Brent Byron. Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry in Korea, 1950–1953. 2002. 256 pp.

Primary sources

• Bassett, Richard M. And the Wind Blew Cold: The Story of an American POW in North Korea. (2002). 117 pp.
• Heller, Francis H. ed. The Korean War (1977), 251pp recollections of leaders and coments by scholars
• Marshall, S. L. A. The River and the Gauntlet (1953) on combat
• Ridgway, Matthew B. "The Korean War: How We Met the Challenge: How All-Out Asian War Was Averted: Why MacArthur Was Dismissed: Why Today’s War Objectives Must Be Limited" (1967).
• Westover, John G. Combat Support in Korea (1987), oral history interviews from members of corps of engineers, transportation, chemical, signal, medical, ordnance, quartermaster and MPs; 212pp; online edition
• Yu, Bin, and Xiaobing Li, eds Mao's Generals Remember Korea, (2001), 328 pages