Ghost Flames
Life and Death in a Hidden War, Korea 1950-1953

Quotes

"A masterly new history...the accretion of astounding detail makes for a vivid, multilayered look at a deeply complicated war in which few emerged as heroic. A top-notch addition to the literature on the Korean War."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"An extraordinary kaleidoscope of human experiences in a catastrophic forgotten war."—Library Journal Starred Review

"Hanley paints an extraordinary portrait of the war's complexity and devastation. This is an essential account of America's "forgotten war."—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"In unforgettable fashion, Hanley, a Pulitzer Prize winner, tells the story of the Korean War, one of the most savage conflicts in history."—The New York Times Book Review

"Mr. Hanley's granular approach, which makes such compelling reading."—The Wall Street Journal

"Ghost Flames is a masterful, often brutal representation of the Korean War. Readers with a limited knowledge of the conflict will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities cast upon ordinary people, from the soldiers who fought to the civilians trying to escape. This historical account revitalizes old memories and provides an outlet for healing from the traumatic events suffered by the victims. It leaves the reader with the unmistakable realization that this unpopular war should not be forgotten."—Coffee or Die

"Hanley's genius is to tell this remarkable story from the perspective of twenty very different participants--ranging from a general to a grunt, from a refugee to a p.o.w. By deep reportorial digging and gripping in-the-moment narration, he has woven together the saga--sometimes heroic, often disturbing--of an enigmatic war as it really was."—Evan Thomas, author of Sea of Thunder and Ike's Bluff

"The stories of twenty people who lived through the Korean War are told with such skill that I grew to care about every one of them. Ghost Flames is an unforgettable depiction of the effect of war on ordinary people, and a stunning achievement."—Linda Sue Park, NYTimes bestselling author and Newbery Medalist

"Charles Hanley has written a people's history of the Korean War, a fascinating, illuminating and highly readable work that opens a new window on the experiences of ordinary people in a critically important, but mostly unknown, war. His narrative is unflinching in recounting the war's horrors, the crimes by all sides. Readers will learn much that is entirely new."—Bruce Cumings, Swift Distinguished Service Professor of History, University of Chicago, author of The Korean War: A History

"Through the prism of twenty different lives - from a child, a solider, a journalist - Hanley gives us an immensely moving portrait of a war that has still not yet ended. With its unblinking and evocative storytelling of the experiences of those who often go nameless in American accounts of the war, Ghost Flames is unlike any other book on the Korean War. It is, in essence, a close and intimate story of the first US war of intervention in the Cold War era, one that forces us to examine the violent wake of wars the United States has generated since. Building from his previous award-winning journalism on civilian massacres committed by the US military, Hanley raises the urgent question of why the Korean War is forgotten in the United States and reveals the enormous costs that have come with this constant forgetting."—Monica Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of History New York University