Book excerpt: After more than two years of bitter negotiations during which combatants and civilians continued to suffer casualties, the Korean armistice was concluded in July 1953. Focusing on the Americans' formulation of negotiating positions and on their attempts to coordinate political goals with military tactics, Rosemary Foot here charts the tortuous path to peace and offers a new explanation for the agonizing length of the talks. She also takes into account the role of the Western allies and the Indian, South Korean, North Korean, and Chinese governments as she examines the complex international setting in which the armistice took place.