Book01
The Coldest Winter
David Halberstam
A broad, deeply reported history of America and the Korean War—and a strong place to begin.
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Go deeper than the headline.
Selected books, films, and series across the newsroom's core subjects: national security, intelligence, public records, investigations, Korea, military history, and forensic science.
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Context first. Commerce second.
Every selection has a clear reason for being here. Availability and formats can change, so each link opens the current Amazon results for that title.
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01
Field guide lane
DMZ & Korea
Book02
The Two Koreas
Don Oberdorfer and Robert Carlin
Diplomacy, rivalry, and the political history behind the peninsula’s long division.
Find on Amazon ↗Book03
On Desperate Ground
Hampton Sides
A narrative account of the Marines, Chosin Reservoir, and one of the war’s defining battles.
Find on Amazon ↗02
Field guide lane
National security & intelligence
Book01
The Looming Tower
Lawrence Wright
A deeply reported account of al-Qaeda's rise and the institutional failures that preceded 9/11.
Find on Amazon ↗Book02
Ghost Wars
Steve Coll
The covert history of Afghanistan, the CIA, and the forces that shaped the pre-9/11 security landscape.
Find on Amazon ↗Book03
Legacy of Ashes
Tim Weiner
A critical history of the CIA built from records, interviews, and the agency's recurring institutional battles.
Find on Amazon ↗Book04
The Fifth Risk
Michael Lewis
An accessible look at the quiet federal capabilities that manage large, consequential public risks.
Find on Amazon ↗03
Field guide lane
FBI, FOIA & investigations
Book01
The Burglary
Betty Medsger
How citizens exposed secret FBI surveillance and gave investigative journalism a historic trove of records.
Find on Amazon ↗Book02
The Art of Access
David Cuillier and Charles N. Davis
A practical guide to public-records strategy, useful for reporters and anyone following a paper trail.
Find on Amazon ↗Book03
Killers of the Flower Moon
David Grann
A landmark investigation of murder, corruption, and the early FBI, reconstructed from archival evidence.
Find on Amazon ↗Book04
The Poisoner's Handbook
Deborah Blum
Forensic science, toxicology, and crime reporting converge in Prohibition-era New York.
Find on Amazon ↗04
Field guide lane
Military history
Book01
This Kind of War
T. R. Fehrenbach
A soldier-centered classic that remains central to debates about readiness and limited war.
Find on Amazon ↗Book02
Homeland Security
Mark Sauter and James Carafano
A practical guide to terrorism, preparedness, critical infrastructure, and public responsibility.
Find on Amazon ↗Book03
The Outpost
Jake Tapper
Reported military history centered on Combat Outpost Keating, command decisions, and the people who fought there.
Find on Amazon ↗05
Field guide lane
On screen
Film01
Joint Security Area
Directed by Park Chan-wook
A taut mystery set at the DMZ that turns a border incident into a human and political tragedy.
Find on Amazon ↗Film02
Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War
Directed by Kang Je-gyu
An intense Korean War epic told through two brothers pulled into the conflict.
Find on Amazon ↗Series03
Band of Brothers
HBO miniseries
The landmark account of Easy Company from training through the end of World War II.
Find on Amazon ↗Series04
Generation Kill
HBO miniseries
Embedded reporting becomes a sharp, unsentimental portrait of Marines in the Iraq War.
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Use the archive to move from background reading to Need to Share News reporting on North Korea, national security, POW/MIA records, and declassified material.
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