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The Scariest Place in the World: A Marine Returns to North Korea | 
 enlarge | Author: James Brady
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $0.23
You Save: $24.72 (99%)
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Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 815709
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312332424
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.190443
EAN: 9780312332426
ASIN: 0312332424
Publication Date: April 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Product Description
Half a century after he fought there as a young lieutenant of Marines, James Brady returns to the brooding Korean ridgelines and mountains to sound Taps for a generation. It's been 15 years since Brady first wrote of Korea in The Coldest War, drawing raves from Walter Cronkite and The New York Times, which called it "a superb personal memoir of the way it was."
In the spring of 2003 Brady and Pulitzer-winning combat photographer Eddie Adams, a couple of old Marines, "gentlemen rankers off on a spree," flew in Black Hawk choppers and trekked the Demilitarized Zone where it meanders into North Korea, interviewing four-star generals and bunking in with tough U.S. Recon troops, in Brady's words, "raw meat on the point of a sharpened stick." The two Marine veterans bond with this handful of youthful GIs confronting the loopy and nuclear saber-rattling North, in a contemporary Korea which just might become the war we have to fight next. Brady recalls that first time on bloody Hill 749, the men who died there, what happened to the Marines who lived to make it home, and experiences yet again the emotional pull of a lifelong love affair with the Corps in which they all served.
With consummate skill James Brady summons up the past and illuminates the present, be it the Korea of "the forgotten war", the Yanks who fought there long ago or today's soldiers standing wary sentinel over "the scariest place in the world". The result is uplifting, inspiring, often heart-breaking, and this new Brady memoir proves as powerful as his first.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 From what I hear, its a good book! January 19, 2007
I bought this book as a xmas present for my grammpa, he was a marine who fought in Korea the same time the author did....He is half was through it, and he is really enjoying it. Can't say enough good things about it!
Great read November 4, 2006
I loved this book. I served in Korea with USMC during the exact same time frame. It brought back many memories
A sell for "The Coldest War" September 23, 2006
As a previous reviewer I thought that Brady's book would be more of a focus on the DMZ and perhaps show some insight into "the scariest place." I did enjoy his war time reminiscences but that wasn't why I purchased his book. I didn't particularly care for his 'how he belatedly was awarded the Bronze Star,' and chumming around with colonels and generals at galas and such as it sounded like 'how great I am after all.' Oh, and by the way, Senator Chafee was my CO. I got tired of Mr. Brady selling his earlier pub,"The Marines of Autumn" (which is a fine read) but in particular I did not like him pimping (perhaps a bit too strong) his "The Coldest War." There are sections of the book where he cites this book seemingly every other page. After awhile I started to feel a bit sorry for Mr. Brady which is too bad as I'm sure that he was a fine officer for his Marines of Dog Company. It's an ok book for what it is but it really isn't about "the scariest place."
 Reunion with Combat April 6, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Scariest Place in the World by James Brady. Published by St. Martin's Press 11 April 2006. Paperback. ISBN 0312332432.
$14.95US.
The Scariest Place in the World is the latest missile by James Brady to remind the world that the Korean "Police-Action" should not be limited to a paragraph or two as in the recent history books.
It was a "real" war, fought by "real" men, who "really" died leaving empty chaits at many a table around the world.
The book is written speaking of the realities of war in a "tough-love", macho, politically incorrect style that will jar the reader awake causing them to remember those three years (1950-53) of warfare in which 37,000 American service men and women paid the ultimate price to stop the onslaught of communist aggression.
Captain Brady tells of his indoctrination in the United States Marine Corps which contributed in forming the basis of his love of the Corps but more so the love of the men he served with, partied with and fought with.
The book is a journey back in time, (remindful of "The Viet Journal" by James Jones), through the rigors of basic training providing backbround for stories for one's children and grandchildren that deserve to be told.
There are biographical sketches of Senator John Chafee, Maurice "Mack" Allen, John Fitzgerald, Nathaniel "Taffy" Sceva, et.al., which are written lovingly as a tribute to the lives of these men and the women who loved and supported them. The memory of the funeral of Senator Chafee must have been most difficult to attend as it was a memory.
The book is not devoid of humor as at times Brady's telling of an incident brought on a chuckle or two. But it would have had to been exerienced to understand the reason for the chuckle. In the same vein, a tear was shed at times by the memory stirred.
The unabshed emotion(s) of the author are as open as any I have read. Brady doesn't mask his love for his compatriots-in-arms, expressing his love not for dramatic flare, but to tell them and the world "This is how I feel and it is also the Raison d' etre for the book".
James Brady dedicated the book to all who fought in Korea and provided to those who will not make the journey back a return from the comfort of an easy chair.
It is an easy read and thoughful. Try it!
 A warm look back at a cold and scary place March 17, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Man... Talk about crabby... Everyone else who's reviewed this book so far here don't seem to be impressed. But I always enjoy James Brady's writing and this book was no exception. It's a memoir, of course. The underlying theme of the book is the march of time and how one looks back at -- or in this case, returns to -- a specific geographic place where youthful impressions were made, ideals died or changed... Where a young, unsure Marine officer discovered he did, in fact, have what it took to lead Marines in combat.
Those looking for edge-of-your seat combat with Marines gunning down on-rushing human waves of Chinese infantry will be disappointed. This book is more like a love letter to youth and to the Marine Corps. And taken in that context, it's a fine book and a satisfying read.
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