Sixty years after North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the Korean War has not yet ended. But how did this family feud escalate into a struggle with worldwide implications? Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents a comprehensive history of the war, ranging from World War II—when Korean independence was fiercely debated between Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill—to the present day, as North Korea stockpiles nuclear weapons while starving its people. Drawing from a wealth of international diplomatic archives, Jager's narrative suggests that North and South are contending for the mantle of Korean legitimacy, a standoff which continues to fuel tensions on the peninsula and throughout the region.