Donald Nichols is America’s man in Korea after World War II. As an “advisor” to America’s handpicked South Korean president, he builds his own army and operates virtually independent of oversight from either Seoul or Washington. What follows is not quite a Shakespearean tragedy, but it is gripping. The former junior-high-school dropout presides over torture and murder and ops both black and grey. His ultimate downfall is perhaps predictable, but the story is illuminating. In telling it, Harden provides a compact, riveting history of the two Koreas that brings the geopolitical furies of the 1950s into sharp focus. This is a great book for 20th century history buffs. Reviewed on Nov. 11, 2021