This is an absorbing account of one of the world’s most important trouble spots, Korea – its ancient past, troubled history and the current tragedy.

The Korean war became the first of America’s failed modern wars. It marked the true beginning of the American century – opening the door to ever-increasing military expenditure; launching the long era of American global force expansion; and creating the festering and unresolved geopolitical sore of North Korea.

As Alistair Horne once observed so wisely, ‘How different world history would have been if MacArthur had had the good sense to stop on the 38th parallel’.