The Korean War of the early 1950s has been overshadowed by its even nastier successor, the Vietnam War, but it was a major conflict nevertheless which at one stage seemed likely to escalate into the third World War. General MacArthur's notorious crossing of the 38th Parallel led to President Truman courageously dismissing him - a decision which divided America, but in retrospect seems thoroughly justified. The vainglorious general, however, had previously made the last great move in his military career by his remarkable amphibious attack on Inchon, which cut off invading communist forces and virtually liberated the South. When the Chinese took a hand in the fighting with over a million trained troops, the war rose to a new dimension and it needed long, weary months of diplomacy to phase it out. A timely history, after half a century.