Hi guys,
I'm a high school teacher in the UK and I've got to teach a unit called 'Conflict and Tension in Asia 1950-1975' which focuses on the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations because, at this moment in time the exam board hasn't published a text book and the section in the generic book covers the whole period in 20 pages...
Gaddis is known as one of the world's foremost cold war historians, and has written very a good book which seeks to understand both the Korean and Vietnam wars in the context of the wider east-west conflict. It was written to be an easily accessible resource for undergrad students. I can heartily recommend it. His prologue on George Orwell is also some of the most elegant writing I have ever read.
https://books.google.se/books/about/The_Cold_War.html?id=-B7HQgAACAAJ&
If you're looking for accessibility and a relatively interesting narrative that goes in depth, try This Kind of War for Korea (dated, but classic) and America's Longest War for Vietnam (dated title, standard text). You might also try the relevant chapters of Ambrose's Rise to Globalism.
section in the generic book covers the whole period in 20 pages...
Well, what does it cover? I think 20 pages is more than enough to give the broad strokes of the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Since you're in the UK, Scorched Earth Black Snow is a good read on UK/Australian troops in the Korean War. The Coldest Winter is a great book on US troops in the Korean War. If you read the two of them back to back, you can cross reference a lot of stuff since the US/UK/Australian forces were working together on the first drive up the peninsula in the fall of 1950.
I could recommend 3 or 4 other books about the Korean War, but they're going to be pretty specific. A Mig 15 to Freedom is about a North Korean who defected with a MiG at the end of the war and how the US was trying to get one to inspect it. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader is about the Kim family in North Korea, but it gives some good insight into how North Korea came to be and Kim's goals and strategy in the Korean War. The Bridge at No Gun Ri is a good read into the US military killing South Korean civilians early in the war. It's a lesser known thing - it only came to light in the late 90's and the book itself came out on September 6, 2001, so it kinda got lost in the shuffle...
Really, though, what do those 20 pages in your book cover? Are there any specific things you'd like to know more about? I can give you lots of stuff on the Korean War, but where would you like to begin?