This first truly international history of the Korean War argues that by its timing; its course; and its outcome it functioned as a substitute for World War III. Stueck draws on recently available materials from seven countries; plus the archives of the United Nations; presenting a detailed narrative of the diplomacy of the conflict and a broad assessment of its critical role in the Cold War. He emphasizes the contribution of the United Nations; which at several key points in the conflict provided an important institutional framework within which less powerful nations were able to restrain the aggressive tendencies of the United States. In Stueck's view; contributors to the U.N. cause in Korea provided support not out of any abstract commitment to a universal system of collective security but because they saw an opportunity to influence U.S. policy. Chinese intervention in Korea in the fall of 1950 brought with it the threat of world war; but at that time and in other instances prior to the armistice in July 1953; America's NATO allies and Third World neutrals succeeded in curbing American adventurism. While conceding the tragic and brutal nature of the war; Stueck suggests that it helped to prevent the occurrence of an even more destructive conflict in Europe.
#3007629 in Books 1997-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.75 x 6.50 x 1.50l; #File Name: 0688140998400 pages
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Considered a classic but . . .By PigsFlyThis is considered a classic civil rights book. Dent quite literally gets into a car and starts driving; hitting many of the more famous signposts that mark the highway of American civil rights. He tracks down original players; walks the walk; talks the talk. For novices and younger people (who did not live during those times); this is a good introduction. I found his style to be a bit dry; so much so that it made it hard to keep up with the book. Some of the interviews just aren't that interesting and read more as reflections than first-person histories. A shame; really. I prefer -- and recommend -- "Eyes on the Prize;" other works.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. An extraordinary and intensly personal narrativeBy W. WelburnThe late poet and journalist Tom Dent is; above everything else; a product of the American South. The son of a distinguished educator and president of Dillard University; Tom Dent received his education at Morehouse College and Syracuse University before pursuing a career as a writer with the NAACP and Freedomways before he became one of the founding members of the legendary Umbra movement in Lower Manhattan. As the group of writers disbursed; Dent returned to the South and his home in New Orleans; where he helped to create a model that fused the Civil Rights Movement and the arts in the form of the Free Southern Theater. Dent's firsthand experience as a writer and educator engaged him in many communities across the South; and Southern Journey is his opportunity to revisit many of the communities that figured prominently in the freedom movement in an attempt to answer a simple question; what has changed?Throughout the volume; the reader finds histories; journalistic accounts; oral histories and remembrances woven together with skillful articulation and knowledge that could only come from someone with the temperament to recognize subtle change. This is observed especially "in the tiny villages of the Deep South; the very blood cells of the South as we knew it;" where on his return Dent observed the then newness of black elected officials in communities once deeply segregated.The volume also contributes to the spate of travel books; not only for Dent's observations of well-known place names in the lexicon of the Civil Rights Movement but in the juxtaposition in travel itself. Early in his book; Dent recalled the difficulties of negotiating segregation while living and traveling with his family as a child in post-World War II Southern states. "My father was not one who enjoyed being asked `why' when it came to race matters;" Dent recalled. "You were supposed to become aware of the more subtle and unpleasant vagaries of race via osmosis. I eventually took to calling such undiscussed racial patterns `blues truths.'" Therein lies the essence of Southern Journey. Far from a narrative extolling dramatic change across the South; Dent tells the story of complexities found in race relations in its cities and towns. Much like what readers find in his collections of poetry; Dent was an important chronicler of the joys and contradictions in African American life and culture and his writings reflect his deepest love for the South.
