Origins of the Korean War, Vol. 1

In continuing his argument that the Korean War was civil and revolutionary in character, Bruce Cumings examines the internal political-economic development of the two Korean states and the consequences, for Korea, of Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. He investigates the intense border fighting and internal political instability that preceded the Northern invasion and challenges the notion of sudden Soviet-sponsored intervention. "A decade ago, Bruce Cumings opened a new chapter in Korean War studies by arguing that this horrible conflict was above all a civil war. The Roaring of the Cataract is on a grander scale and narrated in a freer, more indignant voice than the first volume....there is no better camera obscura for those daring to revisit the bloodbaths that convulsed Korea at mid-century."--Far Eastern Economic Review