The Coldest War A Memoir of Korea [Paperback]

America's forgotten war lasted just thirty-seven months, yet 54,246 Americans died in that time -- nearly as many as died in ten years in Vietnam. On the fiftieth anniversary of this devastating conflict, James Brady tells the story of his life as a young marine lieutenant in Korea.

In 1947, seeking to avoid the draft, nineteen-year-old Jim Brady volunteered for a Marine Corps program that made him a lieutenant in the reserves on the day he graduated college. He didn't plan to find himself in command of a rifle platoon three years later facing a real enemy, but that is exactly what happened after the Chinese turned a so-called police action into a war.

The Coldest Warvividly describes Brady's rapid education in the realities of war and the pressures of command. Opportunities for bold offensives sink in the miasma of trench warfare; death comes in fits and starts as too-accurate artillery on both sides seeks out men in their bunkers; constant alertness is crucial for survival, while brutal cold and a seductive silence conspire to lull soldiers into an often fatal stupor.

The Korean War affected the lives of all Americans, yet is little known beyond the antics of M*A*S*H. Here is the inside story that deserves to be told, and James Brady is a powerful witness to a vital chapter of our history.

James Bradyis the author ofFurther Lane, Gin Lane, The House That Ate The Hamptons,andThe Marines of Autumn.His weekly columns forAdvertising AgeandParademagazines were considered must-reads by millions. He lived in Manhattan and in East Hampton, New York.

War reporting at its best - a graphic depiction, in all its horror, of the war we've almost forgotten... Jim Brady has used his finely honed reportorial skills to record his own front-line experiences in the Korean War. His story reads like a novel. Walter Cronkite

A marvelous memoir. A sensitive and superbly written narrative tl£*