Americans didn't know much about Korea before our troops went in there. Then we learned fast. Today few of us know much about Formosa, but we are ready to learn. For it is becoming increasingly obvious that to understand the news from the Far East we must have a clearer picture of this little island which is looming so big in the headlines.

That is why Formosa and its people (see color photographs) are the subject of this week's Background for War.

This new TIME department has already brought you special roundups on Korea, Antitank Weapons, Air Power, Atomic ABCs, Indo-China, Lieut. General LeMay and his Strategic Air Command.

As you can judge from this, the department has a general charter; it ranges over politics, science, business, sociology --wherever we feel this background information is most important to help you understand the news. Most Background for War pieces will probably fall, however, under:

1) People & places. There will be more "take-outs" like those on Korea and Formosa. Our correspondents and editors are now collecting information on other Western Pacific islands, Yugoslavia, Iran, Turkey--for the time when they may be in the focus of the news.

2) The instruments of modern warfare. Our reports on anti-tank weapons and new warplanes will almost surely be followed by more text-and-picture studies of 1930's military tools and techniques as they come into the news.

3) Special reports. To date these have told you what the A-bomb does and the best defense against its effects, and how politics are heading into trouble in Indo-China, one of the five world areas most vulnerable to Communist attack. Future reports might fill you in on anything from where your tax money goes to how Russia's Fifth Column is going in Western Europe.

Background for War is assigned to various departments, depending on the accent of the report that week. Frequently this department ties in directly with stories we are reporting in TIME'S regular sections. Thus, in this issue, our cover story on Admiral Radford, Commander of the Pacific Fleet, naturally has a great deal to say about U.S. strategy and Formosa. At other times, Background for War may not be immediate news, but the information it contains, we hope, will help you understand today's news better.

Our figures show that the average TIME subscriber has been reading TIME for nine years--so many of you will probably remember the original Background for War, 1939. This was a series TIME published on the eve of World War II, reviewing history from World War I to the invasion of Poland. Shortly after the blitzkrieg, we collected these articles into a booklet which you can still find in the homes of thousands of TIME readers. They and their friends bought more than four-and-a-half million copies at the newsstands--the greatest response to any single-issue publication that the American News Co. had distributed in 20 years.

Cordially,

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