He was also a veteran of the Korean War, and though he does not share his first-hand experiences of the war in his book, his experiences assuredly informed the prose.įehrenbach’s intense narrative is told from the perspective of the soldier. A talented wunderkind, he entered Princeton University at 16 and was on schedule to complete his degree in three years but left to serve in World War II. For 30 years, he published a weekly column in the San Antonio Express-News, as well as contributed to a score of magazines and periodicals. was a native Texan whose most popular work was the bestseller Lone Star: A History of Texas and Texans. We know this because Fehrenbach called his own work “more hearsay than history” and characterized his writing as “political science fiction.” The reissued version contains a new forward by General Gordon Sullivan, extensive battlefield maps, and a multitude of photographs, but it does not include any citations, notes, or bibliographical information prevalent in historical texts. Though the book could rightfully be called “classic,” it is not a historical text in the traditional sense, written more as a personal narrative than a scholarly study. Originally issued with the subtitle “A Study in Unpreparedness,” the reissued version is now subtitled, “The Classic Korean War History.” This subtle change affords the first opportunity for a critique. Fortunately, the enduring quality of its prose and prescient lessons on war and society are as applicable today as they were at the time of its initial publication.

Fehrenbach’s This Kind of War, originally published in 1963 and most recently reissued in 2008. How does one review a book first published almost 60 years ago and whose author has been deceased for almost 10? Such is the quandary posed by T. This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History by T.

This Kind of War by T.R. Fehrenbach