The Bridge at No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War [BARGAIN PRICE]

From Publishers Weekly
The AP investigation of a 1950 shooting of South Korean civilians by U.S. soldiers won Hanley, Choe and Mendoza the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 and ignited a series of controversies that as yet remain unresolved. In the early days of the Korean War, as defeat began sliding into disaster, inexperienced, poorly commanded U.S. troops received higher orders to stop, by force if necessary, civilian movement through their lines. They responded, the journalists found, by massacring a number of South Korean civilians near the village of No Gun Ri over a period of three days. This book delves further into the "larger human story" of the events, well establishing the terror and confusion of the South Korean refugees, caught up in a war they did not understand. The reconstruction is less effective from the American side. Relative to the number of alleged participants, U.S. interviewees are few. (A high proportion, the authors find, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.) The authors take pains to establish the men of No Gun Ri as dropouts and throwaways teenage rejects of a postwar society obsessed with prosperity and anti-communism. That in turn makes it easier to show them, as well as the Korean civilians, as victims of a government that sent them to Korea to fight a civil war on the side of squalid local tyranny. That perspective is defensible but, experts might argue, scarcely definitive. This volume, with its focus on personal experience, is correspondingly best understood as advocacy reportage, eschewing critical analysis by concentrating on the victims on both sides of the rifles. (Sept. 6) Forecast: Readers shocked by reports of the incident will pick up this follow-up, while an eight-city author tour should bring the story to further corners. But with U.S.-North Korean relations apparently under control, the book probably won't benefit from current political notice. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In 2001, Associated Press reporters Hanley, Sang-Hun Choe, and Martha Mendoza broke the story of how U.S. troops opened fire on a group of South Koreans during the Korean War; later, they won a Pulitzer Prize for their investigative work. The book begins with U.S. troops stationed in Japan on occupation duty. These troops, who had no combat experience and were used to the easy and sometimes "wild" life in Japan, soon found themselves in Korea facing the invasion of the North Koreans. Most units had no adequate antitank weapons and were led by inexperienced officers. The U.S. Army retreated until it reached the Pusan defense line (located at the base of the Korean peninsula), and it was during this period that the massacre of civilians occurred. Recalling Facing My Lai (LJ 12/97) in scope and content, this book tells a grim but true story. The authors have done their research and tell an excellent tale one that the U.S. Army tried to forget. Recommended for both public and academic libraries. Mark Ellis, Albany State Univ., GA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* The recent revelations concerning the actions of former senator and Medal of Honor winner Robert Kerry in Vietnam again compel us to confront a painful dilemma: How does one judge the behavior of soldiers who operate in a fluid military situation among a civilian population whose loyalty and intentions are uncertain? In the early weeks of the Korean War, green American troops were in headlong retreat from the onslaught of North Korean forces. Streams of refugees hindered their movement, and some Communist sympathizers may have deliberately mingled with the refugees. Near the hamlet of No Gun Ri in July 1950, American soldiers opened fire on a large group of refugees huddled near a railroad bridge; perhaps as many as 400 died. The authors, all investigative journalists, were awarded the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for breaking the story of the massacre. In this book, they provide extensive detail, utilizing firsthand accounts by refugees and soldiers as well as considerable documentary evidence. The result is a fascinating but gut-wrenching account of a tragedy. Of course, the questions this account poses--Who is to "blame"? How could the slaughter have been avoided? Was this a "war crime"?--cannot be satisfactorily answered; to do so, one would need a map of the human heart. Jay Freeman
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