I was surprised how very much I enjoyed Daniel Y. Kim's cultural study of the Korean War - "The Intimacies of Conflict." It introduced me to cultural works (from magazines to photographs to films) that I had heard of, but had not examined in the context of this conflict. It had fascinating things to say about the humanitarian side of the war (from the treatment of combatants to the treatment of orphans) and about race (how Japanese and African American soldiers were viewed). While I am now interested in engaging with other works cited here, readers should note that this is not a traditional military history with discussions of battlefield placements and the like. The work does bear the heavy feel of having been a dissertation and would have benefited from being liberated from some academic constraints. However, for serious readers, it will provide edification as well as entertainment.

Though the first war of the Cold War era and the first clash between the two opposing ideologies, the Korean War and its importance in world history has for a very long time been largely ignored and forgotten. In his latest monograph, Daniel Kim shows that this forgotten conflict on the other and of the world has had a lasting influence on the development of cultural and ethnic relations both in South Korea and the United States. He does this by doing an in-depth study of mostly American popular media (mostly books and films) created during the Korean War, making this study on the topic one of the first to my knowledge that uses such media. Finally, what sets Intimacies of Conflict apart from most other works on popular culture and war is the fact that Kim shows not only the negative aspects of the war and its representation, but also the good that came out of this terrible conflict.

A highly recommended read!

Overall, the author provides an in depth analysis of the (good and bad) consequences from the Korean War.

I was impressed by the research and analysis provided based on films/novels. It would have been helpful if background information was provided for the films/novels mentioned in the book.

--> I did not watch the movies (included in the book); as a result, it took a moment to get familiarized with the key characters.