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Once termed a police action, the Korean War was fought by massed
armies on a constricted field of operations. Its battles were as
intense as those of any other war this century. The Medics' War
views this conflict from an uncommon angle. It documents the
efforts of American Army doctors, nurses, and enlisted medics to
save life and repair the damages wrought by wounds and disease.
Though the charges of biological warfare made at the time are shown
to have no foundation, the disease-ridden environment of wartime
Korea aided the side with the best medical care. The real MASH
clearly emerges in this study, along with the variety of technical
innovations produced by the conflict that have advanced medical
science. The perspective of The Medics' War is an enlightening one,
showing that the compassionate treatment of both United Nations and
enemy wounded preserved human values in the midst of bitter,
unforgiving strife. Civilian and military readers alike will gain
from it a deeper understanding of the processes, destructive and
reconstructive, that together made up the human experience of the
Korean War. William A. Stofft Brigadier General, USA Chief of
Military History
Fought on almost every continent, World War II confronted American
GIs with the unprecedented threats to life and health posed by
combat on Arctic ice floes and African deserts, in steamy jungles
and remote mountain villages, in the stratosphere and the depths of
the sea.
Here is the story of the long interaction between humans, land,
and climate in the American South. It is a tale of exploitation and
erosion, of destruction, disease, and defeat, but also of the
persistent search for knowledge and wisdom. It is a story whose
villains were also its victims and sometimes its heroes. Ancient
forces created the southern landscape, but, as Albert E. Cowdrey
shows, humankind from the time of earliest habitation has been at
work reshaping it. The southern Indians, far from being the
"natural ecologists" of myth, radically transformed their
environment by hunting and burning. Such patterns were greatly
accelerated by the arrival of Europeans, who viewed the land as a
commodity to be exploited for immediate economic benefit. Their
greed and ignorance took a heavy toll on the land and all those it
supported. Climate, interacting with history, also played its part.
The diseases brought to the New World from Europe and later from
Africa found in the South a warm and hospitable abode, with
devastating consequences for its human inhabitants. Until well into
the twentieth century, endemic illnesses continually eroded human
resources. Cowdrey documents not only the long decline but the
painfully slow struggle to repair the damage of human folly. The
eighteenth century saw widespread though ineffectual efforts to
protect game and conserve the soil. In the nineteenth century the
first hesitant steps were taken toward scientific flood control,
forestry, wildlife protection, and improved medicine. In this
century, the New Deal, the explosion in scientific knowledge, and
the national environmental movement have spurred more rapid
improvements. But the efforts to harness the South's great rivers,
to save its wild species, and to avert serious environmental
pollution have often had equivocal results. This Land, This South,
first published in 1983, was the first book to explore the impact
of humans on the southern landscape and its effect on them. In
graceful and at times lyrical prose, Albert Cowdrey brings together
a vast array of information. This important book, now revised and
updated, should be read by every person concerned with the past,
present, and future of the South.
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