On the 75th anniversary of the legendary Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Steve Vogel tells the little-known story of the Army Soldiers who gave all during the Korean War’s most consequential battles and then were denigrated for their sacrifice. “A Task Force Called Faith” delivers a fresh perspective on Chosin, where 150,000 Chinese soldiers trapped 20,000 U.S. Marines and Soldiers in the frozen mountains of North Korea in November and December of 1950.
Steve Vogel is a historian and former military correspondent for the Washington Post. His coverage of the U.S. war in Afghanistan was part of a package of Washington Post stories selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. He reported on the U.S. war with Iraq in 2003 as an embedded journalist with an Army airborne brigade. Based in Germany from 1989 through 1994 and reporting for the Washington Post and Army Times, he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War, as well
as military operations in Somalia, Rwanda, and the Balkans. He is the author of two other acclaimed histories, “Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War’s Most Audacious Espionage Operation” and “Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation.”
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How did Gettysburg become the most famous battle of the American Civil War and one of the most consequential in world history? Why is it the most visited American battlefield, the place where veterans came in the greatest numbers, where Presidents pay homage, and millions of families have vacationed? What was it about this three-day struggle in July 1863 that made it seem like the “turning point of the war,” or the “high-water mark” of the Confederate rebellion? Join Dr. Adam I.P. Smith for a look at the famous battle and its importance.
Adam I. P. Smith read History at the University of Oxford before going on to do postgraduate work at Sheffield, Cambridge, and Harvard Universities. He taught at University College London before being appointed Edward Orsborn Professor of U.S. Politics and Political History at Oxford. His previous books have included “The Stormy Present: Conservatism and the Problem of Slavery in Northern Politics” (2017).
Register for the January 15, 2026 Book Talk