Inchon Landing, Korea, 1950: An Annotated Bibliography, The

Edwards, Paul M., comp. The Inchon Landing, Korea, 1950: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. 111 pp.

After nearly half a century, the Korean War remains highly controversial and hn.LS spawned a vast literature. Bibliographies on its various facets are thus very much needed. Paul Edwards' The Inchon Landing partially fills this void. Edwards is a Korean War specialist and supervises the Center For The Study of die Korean War in Independence, Missouri. His bibliography consists of books, articles, government documents, films, dissertations and theses that deal with the Inchon Campaign and are organized by subject. Edwards has also compiled bibliographies on the Pusan Perimeter and General Matthew Ridgway.

Edwards focuses on works specifically dealing with the Inchon campaign and omits books which he considers peripheral or those which are classified as coffee table books. Some sort of yardstick is necessary in compiling such a bibliography, otherwise it would become a project which has no end. While no two compiler's priorities would be identical, I feel there are a few deficiencies in Edwards' work which will be discussed below.

Even the most cursory reading of The Inchon Landing indicates Edwards' main strength is in military matters. Unfortunately, his mastery of politics and diplomacy is less solid. Ilis listings show little indication he has familiarized himself with the literature on I larry Truman or Cold War diplomacy of the time. David McCullough's Truman is depicted as the best Truman biography. Although it sold well when it came out, McCullough's work has been criticized by scholars. Also books and articles by Truman scholars such as Alonzo Hamby, Donald McCoy, Barton Bernstein and Robert Ferrell are absent in the bibliography.

The entries on Douglas MacArthur contain weaknesses. Admittedly, the literature on MacArthur is hugh but the fact remains there are some works which must appear in any Inchon bibliography. The section lacks D. Clayton James' three volume Years of MacArthur, which is the General's standard biography. Robert Smith's MacArthur in Korea: The Naked Emperor is described as a tribute to MacArthur. Smith's book, in reality, is so hostile it borders on a personal attack on General MacArthur. Edwards finds MacArthur's memoir Reminiscences disappointing. The book was written shortly before the General's death in 1964. l`here has been controversy as to whether MacArthur or one of his aides wrote it. 1 am of the opinion MacArthur wrote it, in part because his Victorian flourishes of prose are difficult to duplicate.

The military portions of the bibliography, on the other hand, are as thorough as one might expect. Organized by subject, they are a quick and valuable reference to the campaign. We can see how varied and scattered the literature on the Korean War is merely from these entries. Although the author provided an introductory essay for this book, perhaps a more detailed bibliographic essay on Inchon and the Korean War might have been more useful.

Despite these criticisms, The Inchon Landing remains a valuable reference work for the military aspects of the Inchon landings. Perhaps a second edition will eliminate the above-mentioned deficiencies. For some veterans, the Korean War remains a forgotten conflict. Hopefully, reference works such as this distributed to schools and libraries will help combat that a bit.

James Biedzynski

Ocean County College

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