Nov. 8, 2018 – This week's guest on REPORT FROM SANTA FE is award-winning author Hampton Sides, discussing his new book "On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle." Sides is the author the acclaimed best-selling narrative histories "Blood and Thunder," "In The Kingdom of Ice," “Hellhound on His Trail,” and "Ghost Soldiers."

“On Desperate Ground” tells the story of one of the most harrowing clashes in American history, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, during which Mao’s numerically superior armies surrounded and tried to destroy the First Marine Division in the frozen mountain wilds of North Korea. In this deeply researched work of literary non-fiction, Sides offers a gripping chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism performed by the beleaguered Marines, who were called upon to do the impossible in some of the most unforgiving terrains on earth.

As we honor America's veterans this weekend, Sides notes “I just felt like the Korean War is a forgotten war...it has been called “the forgotten war.” And this is my parent’s generation... This is the generation that we're kind of saying goodbye to now, sadly. And I felt part of it was an impetus to honor these guys who are exiting the stage, but who fought in a war that it is somehow is given short shrift in the history books and in the general culture with the exception, of course, endless reruns of MASH.”

Sides' book “Blood and Thunder, An Epic of the American West” is arguably the best book ever written about Kit Carson. “Hellhound on His Trail, the Stalking of Martin Luther King and the International Hunt for His Assassin,” tells an international detective story of James Earl Ray as he strives to elude the FBI and Scotland Yard. Sides early book, “Ghost Soldiers, the Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission,” became the movie “The Great Raid.” Sides is also an editor at "Outside" Magazine and is a frequent contributor to "National Geographic" Magazine.