Sixty Years Later, the Lesson of Korea Still Goes Unheeded

This Kind of War by T. R. Fehrenbach is the most comprehensive single-volume history of the Korean-American conflict that began in 1950 and is still affecting United States' foreign policy,. This ill conceived action tells us as much about how not to conduct a war as how to conduct one. The action was gritty and often brutal, with hand-to-hand combat in the middle of moonless nights to defend naked patches of hillside. Fehrenbach easily shifts from killing ground to the highest precincts of Washington power, chronicling the decisions that led to military and political blunders resulting in a profligate loss of American lives.

The author, an officer in the conflict, provides us with accounts of combat that could only have been written by an eyewitness in the thick of the action. But what truly sets this book apart from other military memoirs is the piercing analysis of the global political maneuvering behind the vicious ground warfare. Tragically, the Korean War has been all but forgotten in public memory. But not in the minds of military leaders, who reverently study Fehrenbach's book at West Point and in the Pentagon as a model of historical narration.

Hailed as "a must for all soldiers and former soldiers" by an Amazon.com reviewer, This Kind of War restores the Korean War to its rightful place in American history - as a touchstone for United States foreign engagement and a lesson for politicians ready to shed American blood on faraway soil. Judging by Vietnam and Iraq, the lesson has not been learned at all.,

"This Kind of War has been studied by two generations of soldiers. Fehrenbach describes good decisions and bad ones with insight and expertise. But what he does best of all, and what is so memorable, is his eloquent, sometimes painful description of the GIs who must bear the burden of those decisions. That is the awful beauty of this book - it cuts straight to the heart of all the political and military errors and reveals the brave souls who have to bleed and die for mistakes made. A timely reissue of a military classic."
--General Colin L. Powell, Former Secretary of State

During World War II, the author served with the U.S. Infantry and Engineers as Platoon Sergeant with an engineer battalion. He continued his military career in the Korean War, rising from Platoon Leader to Company Commander and then to Battalion Staff Officer of the 72nd Tank battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. His most enduring work is Lone Star, a one-volume history of Texas that E-Reads is also honored to publish. He now devotes his time to writing a political column for a San Antonio newspaper.

- Richard Curtis

Slashing the Axis Underbelly

It is nearly impossible for a visitor to Italy to believe that this nation was an official enemy of the Allied forces in World War II. Of the three legs of the Germany-Japan-Italy Axis stool, Italy was the least belligerent. Its blustery dictator Mussolini was a tool of Adolf Hitler and when the war came to Italy, it was the German army that did the tough fighting.

The war came to Italy because it was clear to the Allied command that the most vulnerable place to launch an offensive against Germany was through Italy - the "soft underbelly" of the Axis in Winston Churchill's famous phrase. A key thrust was the landing on the beaches of Anzio, some 33 miles south of Rome, and the fighting was vicious.

War historian T. R. Fehrenbach's account of the assault, Anzio, brings the four month action to life with searing power. We had to take Anzio and we did, but at a terrible price.

The beautiful port town of Anzio has been awarded a "blue flag" for the quality of its beaches. But in 1943 the sand ran crimson.

- Richard Curtis

T. R. Fehrenbach Interview

E-Reads: From what Richard Curtis wrote and what he has told me, I gather that you started your career being represented by the Scott Meredith Literary Agency some 50 years ago and that your first sale was a story called "Remember the Alamo," an alternate history tale that went to John W. Campbell at Analog/Astounding and that it's the only SF story you ever published. Why did you start with SF and why have you not written any since this piece was sold?

T.R. Fehrenbach: My professional writing career began as follows: After some false starts, I decided to try seriously to write and sell ca. 1959, when I had a bit of leisure time in my office. Being a longtime SF aficionado, I tried SF, from stories to an epic novel, none sold. However, John Campbell, the legendary editor of Astounding, while buying nothing wrote me 10-page letters of rejection, and, I believe, gave my name to Scott Meredith. Meredith agency contacted me (I had never heard of it) but meanwhile, I think I had taught myself to write a salable story suitable for slick, not pulp, magazines. I had sent one such to the Saturday Evening Post and I told Meredith to check it out. Well, it came back with a request to change the grade-B movie ending. (I became a pro by simply refusing, but stopped the story a page earlier, with no ending.) So, my first sale was to the Post (pub. Aug '61) and I was happy to have Meredith get the commission, because they agreed on representation. About this same time, Astounding bought a short story through Meredith, and this is the sale Curtis refers to. It was published in Dec. '61 and anthologized several times.

However, SF paid three cents per word (I got four because Campbell liked it, for a total of $129 less commission) and Saturday Evening Post paid $1,000 for a first story. Naturally, it was slicks from then on, selling several stories to Argosy.

E-Reads: The first of your books that he mentioned to me is This Kind of War, a book about the Korean War and one which he described as unique. It was, I gather, based on your personal experiences serving in that war. You've continued to write on military subjects and I wonder if you have any comments to offer on America's wars since then--Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq. Richard told me that, at some point, you told him that we learned a lesson from the ancient Greeks never to get involved in an Asian war. Why did we forget that lesson?

Fehrenbach: Meredith was aware that the big general mag market for fiction was dying, which it did, and Meredith tried to switch me over to non-fiction original paperbacks, which were just coming on. Meredith (maybe Curtis?) got me three contracts in a row, which books are available through E-Reads now. Then, through an odd sequence of events--Macmillan wanted a history of the Korean War but was turned down by a couple of top generals who were doing their own, or otherwise engaged, and Meredith suggested this obscure writer-veteran in Texas who'd done some Korean War stories and two nonfiction war paprbacks--I received a contract and advance of $2,000 upon submission of an outline. The outline was pure fiction since I had no idea of how to proceed (the first chapter was done 14 times before I hit the right rhythm and saw the pathway), but my early chapters impressed the editors and they made a big production of the book, This Kind of War. It was a NY Times bestseller and got me on the Today Show, among others, and became a military classic, used widely to this day in officer training by Army and Marines.

This book was prophetic in predicting "limited" local wars of policy as the new norm, but the message didn't really take hold until Vietnam.

As for comments about later wars, I wasn't there, but my major concern was and is that the US tends to ignore lessons learned. These wars are going to happen whether we like it or not, and it's tragic when they are handled ineptly. The main objection to Asian land war is, based on historical experience, nobody conquers China, and in both Korea and Vietnam, policy tried to avoid a major war against China. Korea was a big war, but it was by proxy, limited to designated terrain. This has no bearing on war against radical Muslim nations in the Middle East--but clearly, from experience, if one invades a country one should be prepared to pacify it. (Under the rules of engagement today, this is virtually impossible, I suspect.)

E-Reads: Among your most successful books is Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, now widely-regarded as the greatest single-volume history of Texas. Can you comment on what you feel is the most interesting and important element of the book that would have engendered such a perception?

Fehrenbach: My Lone Star (1968) emerged as the classic history of Texas, still going strong. I think there are several reasons: 1) style. It is narrative history, very readable. Most academic historians can't or won't write narrative history. 2) the land is the "hero" of the book, as established in the first and last pages. This resonates with "born" Texan. 3) Finally, many current historians do not love their subject, warts and all. I try to write history as it was, not as it should have been.

In all I have published 18 books on historical subjects. The most important are This Kind of War (1963), Lone Star (1968), Fire and Blood (1973) and Comanches (1974), with Greatness to Spare (1968). The first four have remained in regular print.

E-Reads: Richard Curtis mentioned that you have an award named after you that has been in existence for several years now. Could you tell us something about what the award is for and how it came about?

Fehrenbach: I have received various awards, and had two plus a scholarship named for me. The latest is the "T. R. Fehrenbach Award" which is given annually to the person(s), family or entity that has greatly contributed to the preservation of the history and/or culture of Texas as judged by the award committee. It consists of a trophy and $10,000 in cash and is awarded at an annual luncheon. The 2007 Award was sponsored by Sterling Bankshares, the luncheon (120 by invitation) by a prominent law firm in Houston. Future events will be in Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, with sponsors such as Dell, AT&T, etc.

E-Reads: You currently write a column in a San Antonio newspaper. Do you comment on military/political matters and the current world situation?

Fehrenbach: I still write a weekly Sunday editorial commentary column for the San Antonio Express News. This has been surprisingly successful, although it is purely eclectic, on any subject I choose; there is no pattern except that I avoid the current news and subjects every other scribe is writing about but try to put events into perspective, drawing upon everything from the Iliad to the Hebrew Bible to classical as well as modern history. There is indeed nothing human new under the sun; young people just think there is because they lack awareness of the past.

E-Reads: Do you have anything to add, perhaps a perfect answer to a question that I failed to ask?
Fehrenbach: To close this "interview," let me say that I do not know how or why I write the way I do; it's more gift than calculated effort or design. By nature, whatever the enterprise, war, writing, business, I have always tried to do the best I could, with no particular goal or agenda in mind--just finish the job. In any case, it's the pursuit that counts in the end, not whether you find whatever you're looking for.

T. R. Fehrenbach

It’s always dangerous for agents to become too friendly with their clients, for friendship compromises objectivity, and though I much prefer twisting publishers’ arms to those of authors, every once in a while we find ourselves in a position of leaning on a client. In any case, if you’re going to be friends with an author, it’s better for the author to become a friend than vice-versa. Both the friendship and the business relationship last longer.

At least that is demonstrably true of my relationship with T. R. Fehrenbach, whose first story I sold in the dawn of history (I can’t stop you from googling dates but you’ll get no cooperation from me) and who today represents the longest author friendship I have ever enjoyed. And “enjoyed” is the right word. In my apprenticeship at Scott Meredith Literary Agency I handled for Fehrenbach – “Ted” – a number of books that have turned out timeless classics such as Lone Star, justly hailed as the greatest one-volume history of Texas ever written, and This Kind of War, an account of the Korean War that has never been surpassed. Fehrenbach is a Texan and was an officer in the Korean action and he certainly knew whereof he spoke when he wrote those books. But he also wrote a history of Mexico and a book about Swiss banks among others, excellent works combining scholarly research and a lively, entertaining style. E-Reads is happy to carry a number of these works and we invite you to read them.

During my tenure at Scott Meredith, Ted and I exchanged letters that ventured far afield from business correspondence. Our subjects ranged from philosophical to personal but we never stepped over a line that might make it difficult for me to be businesslike with him and for him when the going got rough. As someone who had never served in the armed forces I looked up to him reverently. He assured me that it took as much courage to go up against a publisher as it did to go up against armed troops. It was flattering to be thought brave by a soldier and I have always been grateful that he never made fun of me for buying into this truly preposterous notion.

When I started my own agency, Ted became a client, but our friendship has endured. And some of his supporters are honoring him with an award named in his honor, details of which will be included in an interview with Mr. Fehrenbach which will be posted shortly.

-- Richard Curtis