The Shadow in the Sun: A Korean Year of Love and Sorrow

by Michael Shapiro

Korea, the world's fastest growing industrial nation, is to the '90s what Japan was to the '70s. In less than a generation, Korea has moved from abject poverty to industrial might. This book explains the political, social, and economic events in Korea, and the importance of understanding this unique and passionate people.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Michael Shapiro is the author of multiple non-fiction books. His work has appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, New York, and Esquire. He is a tenured professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Reviews

[Elaine Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

i picked this book up when i was visiting my folks in michigan -- apparently i read it for some college course, given all the marginal notes and highlighted passages, but of course have no recollection. reading it again, while in korea, having some knowledge of this place and its history, i found it insightful and sensitive and pretty much spot-on. shapiro writes over the period of a year, from the time immediately following the mass movement that ultimately brought democracy to korea through the 1988 olympics. he writes a lot about han and jong which i think some koreanists have a tendency to overemphasize, but his use of the terms seemed right to me. each chapter focuses on an individual, ranging from a coffee shop girl to a former political prisoner to the male master of salpuri, a traditional women's dance to release han, and these juxtaposed individual portraits create a pretty complete picture of modern korea. definitely worth reading.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good--nice to have a more human account of what was going on in Korea. Unfortunate that there's no follow-up for post 1988. At times, his han theme seemed a bit much though.