The Remembered War?

The Remembered War? Not quite yet.

I read an interesting note recently, in which the author stated that because of the publication of David Halberstam’s The Coldest Winter, the Korean War is no longer forgotten.

I am very happy that this fine author took the time and had the interest to write about a phase of this awesome war, but I doubt if it is going to make a lot of difference to America’s memory of those events. True, the last decade has seen some excellent works on the war, but the literature is still criminally small.

If you want to understand what I mean, the next time you are in a bookstore go to the history section.  See if you can find a Korean War section.  If there is one it is most likely located somewhere between World War II and the Vietnam War, and usually displays books from those two events rather than the Korean War.  Even the Spanish American war has more material available.

I think it will be some time before the events of the Korean War are no longer forgotten.

Senior Fellow Paul M. Edwards