With an Introduction by Richard Keeble
/ SYNOPSIS
Reginald Thompson reported from Korea for the Daily Telegraph during the four months in which the Korean war was ‘won’ and ‘lost’. After the assault on Inchon, in September 1950, he followed UN forces up to the Manchurian border and back, witnessing scenes of appalling brutality.
Reporting the war in Korea was not easy. General MacArthur was quick to expel those who wrote things he did not wish to see in print. Thompson commented: 'There were few who dared to write the truth of things as they saw them.' In Cry Korea he tried to set that record straight.
No newcomer to war Thompson found himself sickened by the carnage of America’s military might used against 'an almost unarmed enemy, unable to challenge the aircraft in the skies'. Every enemy shot, he wrote, 'released a deluge of destruction. Every village and township in the path of war was blotted out.' In such warfare 'the slayer needs merely touch a button, and death is on the wing, blindly blotting out the remote, the unknown people, holocausts of death, veritable mass productions of death, spreading an abysmal desolation over whole communities.' Cry Korea is a classic piece of war reporting that has resonance today. As Thompson observes, you should never intervene in another country without a serious plan to reconstruct it after the war is over.
Cry Korea is introduced by Prof Richard Keeble of Lincoln University School of Journalism.
Reporting the war in Korea was not easy. General MacArthur was quick to expel those who wrote things he did not wish to see in print. Thompson commented: 'There were few who dared to write the truth of things as they saw them.' In Cry Korea he tried to set that record straight.
No newcomer to war Thompson found himself sickened by the carnage of America’s military might used against 'an almost unarmed enemy, unable to challenge the aircraft in the skies'. Every enemy shot, he wrote, 'released a deluge of destruction. Every village and township in the path of war was blotted out.' In such warfare 'the slayer needs merely touch a button, and death is on the wing, blindly blotting out the remote, the unknown people, holocausts of death, veritable mass productions of death, spreading an abysmal desolation over whole communities.' Cry Korea is a classic piece of war reporting that has resonance today. As Thompson observes, you should never intervene in another country without a serious plan to reconstruct it after the war is over.
Cry Korea is introduced by Prof Richard Keeble of Lincoln University School of Journalism.
/ CHARITY
A percentage of the proceeds from the sales of Cry Korea go to the charity KHANDEL LIGHT in memory of Thompson's granddaughter Charlie who lost her life in a train accident at the age of 13. KHANDEL LIGHT raises money for desperately deprived children in Rajasthan, one of India's poorest provinces. Through their daughter, the Thompson family forged closed links with KHANDEL LIGHT and they use their website, www.writecharliesname.com to reach people all around the world, both to spread the word about KHANDEL LIGHT and as a lasting and unique tribute to their daughter.
Both Write Charlie’s Name and KHANDEL LIGHT embody the spirit of adventure and the fierce determination to prevail against the odds which best describe Thompson's unflinching attitude towards life and death.
/ PRESS REVIEWS
“Mr Thompson, in his competent, clear and responsible way, tells a tale that is required reading at the United Nations and in the chancelleries of the West.” The Economist December 1951
“If we rely on Mr Reginald Thompson, we shall find our worst anxieties realised. As an eye-witness he is brilliant.” The Times, January 1952
“No one who cares about the good name of the United Nations can read this book without shame.” Barbara Castle in Tribune Dec 1951
Cry Korea reviewed in Tribune Magazine
Catalogue Details
Publication date 29 January 2009
Paperback £8.99
ISBN 978-0-9558302-0-4
Extent 250pp
Category: History
Rights World
“If we rely on Mr Reginald Thompson, we shall find our worst anxieties realised. As an eye-witness he is brilliant.” The Times, January 1952
“No one who cares about the good name of the United Nations can read this book without shame.” Barbara Castle in Tribune Dec 1951
Cry Korea reviewed in Tribune Magazine
Catalogue Details
Publication date 29 January 2009
Paperback £8.99
ISBN 978-0-9558302-0-4
Extent 250pp
Category: History
Rights World
Reportage Press is a new publishing house specialising in books on foreign affairs or set in foreign countries; non-fiction, fiction, essays, travel books, old travel memoirs, or just books written from a stranger’s view.
Daniela Norris and Shireen Anabtawi in discussion - October 12th, London Jewish Cultural Centre
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