In Mortal Combat

Korea, 1950-1953

De: John Toland

Narrado por: Grover Gardner

In this brilliant narrative of America's first limited war, John Toland shows yet again why, for over two decades, he has been one of this country's most respected and popular military historians. Toland lets both the events and the participants speak for themselves, employing scrupulous archival research and interviews as the bases for the drama and accuracy of his writing. In Mortal Combat reveals Mao's prediction of the date and place of MacArthur's Inchon landing, Russia's indifference to the war, Mao's secret leadership of the North Korean military, and the true nature of both sides' treatment and repatriation of POWs.

In addition to being the first Westerner to gain access to Chinese records and combatants, Toland interviewed numerous North and South Korean veterans and over two hundred members of the American military, many of whom had never been approached before. The result is a signal work of compelling listenability and lasting importance.

©1991 John Toland (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Another club banger from Toland

This guy just won't quit, what a great read!! As usual, this is a military history book that reads like fiction, it is so engaging! He includes stories of various people in Korea over the course of the war, getting you invested in each small obstacle they have to overcome. At the same time, all that is interwoven with the big-picture narrative. TOLAND = BEST BOY!

Toland and Gardner - a great combination

Powerful narrative coming from a classic audiobook narrator. A thoroughly engaging history providing a myriad of views to illustrate the complexity and controversy of a long, ugly, “limited war” between East and West.

great reader and great information about Korean Wa

loved it and I feel like any history buff will as well. get it. thanks.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

Great detail not only of the battles, but the political aspects behind the war from both sides.

Very Good Book on the Korea War

This book was a really good book using first person descriptions from all sides. The POW stories were really good. I found the descriptions of the battles after the disaster in North Korea to be to brief for my liking but overall I would recommend this book.

well written

as a g**k myself i listened to this book to get a better idea about the Korean conflict. the book is well written but many a times it feels like a yt dude highlight reel. overall i enjoyed the listen, the author's ending credits are worth committing to memory. I'll check out other of Tolland's work in the future.

crucial to an understanding of the post ww2 world

almost no one remembers the forgotten war
but 4 million lives were lost and there are lessons that need remembered today
if your not interested in the history, politics, or anything else, we owe it to those 4 million to remember them.

Rather Complicated But Good

It’s a really good collection of all the facts around the Korean War, but you lose sight of the story of the men in the trenches. Toland focuses much of the story on the higher levels of leadership and you lose the stories of the ground fighting that continued for months while peace was negotiated.

Relevant today for all interested in North Korea.

The different perspective of combatants should be studied by current policy makers. This historical event is highly relevant in the current standoff.

Selectively incomplete.

I like Toland, he can write a great narrative, but he falls short in dwelling on the successes but skimming over the failures. And some incidents he accepts uncritically without even a cursory fact check. On the otherhand he does a good job laying out the political considerations.