by Allen Dale Olson
Those of us who faced the military draft during the years of the Korean War will readily identify with Paul Zolbrod’s examination and interpretation of all the emotions we felt at that time. Those who actually went into that war will appreciate his analytical and personal review of the battles, the missions, the soldiers, the officers, and the non-commissioned officers under the stress of combat and the anxiety about when combat will next take place.
Even the brief Prelude is compelling in the way it eases the Korean War into the classic and historic wars of all time and leads you into a narrative that brings out the best in those who serve in our military as well as the worst who serve.
Zolbrod’s book ties this “Forgotten War” in Korea directly to the farms and factories, schools and communities back home. Scholarly but worldly, factually and realistically, his story of the war and the people most directly impacted by it reflects much about the history and geography of our times as well as the author’s own knowledge of the past and his depth of research. His words prove that he was there, a witness to his writings, a participant in this unresolved conflict.
By weaving it around the lives of four young men caught up in the war, Zolbrod gives us a gripping and emotional tale of life and death, hopes and dreams, courage and cowardice, politics and statesmanship … in short, an engaging in-depth look at an American war that “people even then wanted to pretend did not exist and that people now have either forgotten or never knew of.”
Battlesongs by Paul Zolbrod
Available from Amazon.com
From the Frontlines to the Homefront 