The Korean War in Britain: Citizenship, selfhood and forgetting

The Korean War in Britain explores the social and cultural impact of the Korean War (1950-53) on Britain. Coming just five years after the ravages of the Second World War, Korea was a deeply unsettling moment in post-war British history. From allegations about American use of ‘germ’ warfare to anxiety over Communist use of ‘brainwashing’ and treachery at home, the Korean War precipitated a series of short-lived panics in 1950s Britain. But by the time of its uneasy ceasefire in 1953, the war was becoming increasingly forgotten. Using Mass Observation surveys, letters, diaries and a wide range of under-explored contemporary material, this book charts the war’s changing position in British popular imagination and asks how it became known as the ‘Forgotten War’. It explores the war in a variety of viewpoints – conscript, POW, protester and veteran – and is essential reading for anyone interested in Britain’s Cold War past.

Source: publisher’s website

Contents

Introduction: The Korean War in Britain
1. No woman wants any more war: popular responses to the outbreak of war
2. You’re in Korea my son: experiencing battle
3. Citizen soldiers: national servicemen in the Korean War
4. Brainwashing in Britain: Korean War prisoners of war
5. How to bring the boys home: popular opposition to the Korean War
6. Forgetting Korea: the Korean War in popular memory, 1953-2014
Conclusion
Index