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A new season, a new story: The Korean War.

A pocket-sized history of the Korean peninsula, the upstart US and Japanese empires, and World War II.

After a flash of hope post-WWII Korea is divided into North and South.

The war before the war on a self-reliant island off South Korea.

With a rightwing, US-backed klepto-case to his South, Kim Il-Sung bets the house.

The US Army is almost pushed off the peninsula. Gen. MacArthur executes his revenge.

The US threatens to cross the Yalu. The Chinese leadership debates its options in Korea.

President Truman and his “Big General in the Far East” enter their final standoff over the war.

Stalemate on the battlefield does not stop the United States from obliterating North Korea.

The armistice in Korea is supposed to be temporary. But a peace treaty never comes. As decades roll on, the war becomes permanent.