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A History of Korea
This accessible and engaging new edition continues to be one of the leading introductory textbooks on Korean history. Fully revised throughout, the author takes a thematic and chronological approach to guide readers from early state formation and the dynastic eras to the modern experience. Episodic accounts in each chapter are discussed in context with extensive examination of how the events and themes under consideration have been viewed up to the present day. By discussing recurring themes such as collective identity, external influence, social hierarchy, and family and gender, the author introduces the major historical events, patterns and debates that have shaped both North and South Korea over the past 1500 years.
This textbook is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of history, and those studying Korean or Asian history in particular. The first half of the book covers the pre-20th century era, and the second half the modern era, reflecting the structure of most Korean history courses.296 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 6, 2010
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September 28, 2013
Quite readable, although a bit rushed and broad brushed, so that I found myself having to backup and re-read chapters a few times in order to wrap my brain around it (I'm not good at just remembering facts, I need to be able to identify underlying patters or currents to see how those facts fit a story or pattern -- which made this lack of detail a bit frustrating for me).
The author starts out saying he assumes you have no background in Korean history, but then because of the broad strokes I got the feeling that he was expecting me to fill in the missing details with my own previous knowledge. I think he's sort of FORCED into doing this because a lot of what is historically true runs smack into what Koreans believe is true, and by the norms of Korean culture talking about it directly is therefore impolite -- and these things should not be talked about. I should note I"m basing this on what my college age Korean students tell me, and from talking to them I've learned most of what they know about their own history is from historical movies, TV dramas, etc... which is, just as in the states, a bit distorted; very few of them have ever taken a class on Korean history or cracked open a history book. Fewer still watch the news or read newspapers, so their sense of their own history is predominately from entertainment shows. This puts the author (who is Korean) between a rock and hard place... what is acceptable to the emotionally sensitive Korean brain that has only ever heard things that are flattering to the Korean viewer's sense of self (nationalistic belief), and what is in fact historically true.
I do not come to this book with a blank slate. I've already (before reading this book) from my various students (I teach at the University level) Korean, Chinese, etc., picked up bits of history and had numerous chances to visit a bunch of historical sites both in Seoul and around the peninsula. I had also already developed a distinct sense of a massive disconnect between Korean history as Koreans describe it to me and what I heard about their history from the Chinese, Japanese, etc. Also, if you have since I already have a preexisting knowledge of Chinese and Japanese history (I studied both in college), the more I listened to Koreans talking about their own history the more the pieces just didn't seem to fit.
Therefore, having now lived in Korea for a year and a half -- and having developed a bit of my own prejudices about the stories I was being 'taught' by my hosts, I figured it was time to actually read up on Korean history from what seemed to be authoritative sources.
One of the nice things about this book, from my perspective as someone who studied history a lot (I can teach US history no problem, and can do justice to an overview course on European or Asian history), is that the author makes a point of trying to show where the historical record often does NOT jive with how Korean nationalism has chosen to revise its past to meet current political needs. He discusses where Koreans tend to view certain historical results as inevitable (think preordained) when they were far from it, and shows where they judge their past unfairly with current ideas about political nationalism (which any historian will tell is you is an idea very much of the modern age). He also in his discussion of the Japanese occupation says a lot of things that to my ears rings as far more likely to be true than the narrative I'm used to hearing from Koreans, but which I'm sure will greatly offend most them (in that as previously stated they do NOT jive with the nationalistic narrative). To put it bluntly, according to the author, becoming part of the Japanese empire was viewed by about half or more of the population as the lessor of inevitable two evils, as the other option was to have western/white overlords (Keep in mind that this was the period of the rapid colonization of all of Asia by Europeans... which the exception of Japan which had just exhibited its military prowess by beating the Russians). While the author does not mince words when it comes to the atrocities that began with and then accelerated during WWII, his descriptions of life in the Japanese dominated peninsula BEFORE the war started may cause Koreans to become 'reactive' at best.
Also he diminishes the importance of many Korean heroes of that period as having been essentially NOT influential to any ultimate outcomes, but argues that their deeds were "amplified' after the war as Koreans desperately tried to construct a war-time stance they could be proud of. (Not unlike what one sees in how the French tell their history of WWII.) And that in fact, these figure heads were brought in from outside of Korea and as such were representatives of the Allied forces that had 'liberated' Korea, rather than of the Koreans themselves. (North Korea ends up under Russian communist hegemonic influence, the South to the Americans.) This in turn resulted in a period of intense politics as Korean went from Japanese domination to domination but US and Russian forces who had even less understanding of Korean culture than the Japanese had had, and that ultimately resulted in the Korean war.
The author does ultimately make a good argument for how this period of relying on, and or trusting in, the Japanese to protect them -- only to find themselves betrayed, which was then followed by a different sort of western colonization, resulted in the strong nationalistic tendencies (and tendency to blame everyone but themselves of any and everything wrong in Korea, or its history)that is evident among Koreans today.
Going back a bit, Koreans (here in Korea) tend to reject the strong historical and cultural ties that exist between themselves and Japan historically, preferring to see Japan simply as aggressors.
This book on the other hand discusses how one of Korea's three kingdoms had very strong ties with Japan and hints that the Japanese royal family may have originated in Korea and at the very least were deeply influenced by the Paekach kingdom. Keeping that in mind, the choice of many Korean intellectual and power elites to turn to Japan, as a preferable overlord to the western powers during the colonial period, is far more understandable. The Author goes on to suggest that this in turn may not have been (in retrospect) the worst choice when the post WWII results are considered in their totality -- and of course if you choose to simply forget the atrocities of the war. He (BRIEFLY) points out that a lot of the companies that are Korea's pride and joy today got their start during the Japanese period, and profited greatly from those collaborative connections during the post war period when the Japanese economy was at its strongest. From the modern nationalistic Korean perspective, however, the 1/2 that had supported the Japanese are now being viewed as traitors who betrayed Korea and/or Japanese-collaborators by the 1/2 who never had agreed with inviting in any colonial power -- and they choose to not think about any benefits to modern Korea's economy accrued as a direct result of that period.
In the author's mind however this does not forgive the Japanese behaviors during the war which went from one of allowing a high level of cultural freedom in Korea, even allowing them to develop and codify the Korean alphabet, and language as an outlet for the tensions of colonization ... to then doing a full about face in 1940 and forcing Korean school child to speak Japanese, attend Japanese shrines, bow to the emperor, etc... and for the populace to be forced into giving up their ancestral Korean names in favor or Japanese ones, etc.. nor does he in any way forgive the forced labor, comfort women, etc.
That said, its a good guess on my part that most (less enlightened) Koreans who would read this history would be SO offended by some of what he had to say about the war that none of this last part would matter to them. Its my guess that a lot of Koreans would probably hate this book.
Likewise, while modern Koreans like to claim almost every part of their own culture as being Korean in origin. This book/author makes a pretty good argument for showing how Koreans -- back before any notion of a modern Korean state existed (before the modern notion of nationalism) -- happily adopted everything it could from China, and integrated those ideas into what is now 'Korean culture.' And how that even back then, Korean leaders would point to various thing that were obviously imported and declare them to be uniquely Korean. Again, I doubt most of the Koreans I work with on daily basis, would appreciate this author's (who is a Korean American himself, let's not forget) interpretation of their history; however, based on every academic review I've read, this is considered an authoritative telling of it.
The author starts out saying he assumes you have no background in Korean history, but then because of the broad strokes I got the feeling that he was expecting me to fill in the missing details with my own previous knowledge. I think he's sort of FORCED into doing this because a lot of what is historically true runs smack into what Koreans believe is true, and by the norms of Korean culture talking about it directly is therefore impolite -- and these things should not be talked about. I should note I"m basing this on what my college age Korean students tell me, and from talking to them I've learned most of what they know about their own history is from historical movies, TV dramas, etc... which is, just as in the states, a bit distorted; very few of them have ever taken a class on Korean history or cracked open a history book. Fewer still watch the news or read newspapers, so their sense of their own history is predominately from entertainment shows. This puts the author (who is Korean) between a rock and hard place... what is acceptable to the emotionally sensitive Korean brain that has only ever heard things that are flattering to the Korean viewer's sense of self (nationalistic belief), and what is in fact historically true.
I do not come to this book with a blank slate. I've already (before reading this book) from my various students (I teach at the University level) Korean, Chinese, etc., picked up bits of history and had numerous chances to visit a bunch of historical sites both in Seoul and around the peninsula. I had also already developed a distinct sense of a massive disconnect between Korean history as Koreans describe it to me and what I heard about their history from the Chinese, Japanese, etc. Also, if you have since I already have a preexisting knowledge of Chinese and Japanese history (I studied both in college), the more I listened to Koreans talking about their own history the more the pieces just didn't seem to fit.
Therefore, having now lived in Korea for a year and a half -- and having developed a bit of my own prejudices about the stories I was being 'taught' by my hosts, I figured it was time to actually read up on Korean history from what seemed to be authoritative sources.
One of the nice things about this book, from my perspective as someone who studied history a lot (I can teach US history no problem, and can do justice to an overview course on European or Asian history), is that the author makes a point of trying to show where the historical record often does NOT jive with how Korean nationalism has chosen to revise its past to meet current political needs. He discusses where Koreans tend to view certain historical results as inevitable (think preordained) when they were far from it, and shows where they judge their past unfairly with current ideas about political nationalism (which any historian will tell is you is an idea very much of the modern age). He also in his discussion of the Japanese occupation says a lot of things that to my ears rings as far more likely to be true than the narrative I'm used to hearing from Koreans, but which I'm sure will greatly offend most them (in that as previously stated they do NOT jive with the nationalistic narrative). To put it bluntly, according to the author, becoming part of the Japanese empire was viewed by about half or more of the population as the lessor of inevitable two evils, as the other option was to have western/white overlords (Keep in mind that this was the period of the rapid colonization of all of Asia by Europeans... which the exception of Japan which had just exhibited its military prowess by beating the Russians). While the author does not mince words when it comes to the atrocities that began with and then accelerated during WWII, his descriptions of life in the Japanese dominated peninsula BEFORE the war started may cause Koreans to become 'reactive' at best.
Also he diminishes the importance of many Korean heroes of that period as having been essentially NOT influential to any ultimate outcomes, but argues that their deeds were "amplified' after the war as Koreans desperately tried to construct a war-time stance they could be proud of. (Not unlike what one sees in how the French tell their history of WWII.) And that in fact, these figure heads were brought in from outside of Korea and as such were representatives of the Allied forces that had 'liberated' Korea, rather than of the Koreans themselves. (North Korea ends up under Russian communist hegemonic influence, the South to the Americans.) This in turn resulted in a period of intense politics as Korean went from Japanese domination to domination but US and Russian forces who had even less understanding of Korean culture than the Japanese had had, and that ultimately resulted in the Korean war.
The author does ultimately make a good argument for how this period of relying on, and or trusting in, the Japanese to protect them -- only to find themselves betrayed, which was then followed by a different sort of western colonization, resulted in the strong nationalistic tendencies (and tendency to blame everyone but themselves of any and everything wrong in Korea, or its history)that is evident among Koreans today.
Going back a bit, Koreans (here in Korea) tend to reject the strong historical and cultural ties that exist between themselves and Japan historically, preferring to see Japan simply as aggressors.
This book on the other hand discusses how one of Korea's three kingdoms had very strong ties with Japan and hints that the Japanese royal family may have originated in Korea and at the very least were deeply influenced by the Paekach kingdom. Keeping that in mind, the choice of many Korean intellectual and power elites to turn to Japan, as a preferable overlord to the western powers during the colonial period, is far more understandable. The Author goes on to suggest that this in turn may not have been (in retrospect) the worst choice when the post WWII results are considered in their totality -- and of course if you choose to simply forget the atrocities of the war. He (BRIEFLY) points out that a lot of the companies that are Korea's pride and joy today got their start during the Japanese period, and profited greatly from those collaborative connections during the post war period when the Japanese economy was at its strongest. From the modern nationalistic Korean perspective, however, the 1/2 that had supported the Japanese are now being viewed as traitors who betrayed Korea and/or Japanese-collaborators by the 1/2 who never had agreed with inviting in any colonial power -- and they choose to not think about any benefits to modern Korea's economy accrued as a direct result of that period.
In the author's mind however this does not forgive the Japanese behaviors during the war which went from one of allowing a high level of cultural freedom in Korea, even allowing them to develop and codify the Korean alphabet, and language as an outlet for the tensions of colonization ... to then doing a full about face in 1940 and forcing Korean school child to speak Japanese, attend Japanese shrines, bow to the emperor, etc... and for the populace to be forced into giving up their ancestral Korean names in favor or Japanese ones, etc.. nor does he in any way forgive the forced labor, comfort women, etc.
That said, its a good guess on my part that most (less enlightened) Koreans who would read this history would be SO offended by some of what he had to say about the war that none of this last part would matter to them. Its my guess that a lot of Koreans would probably hate this book.
Likewise, while modern Koreans like to claim almost every part of their own culture as being Korean in origin. This book/author makes a pretty good argument for showing how Koreans -- back before any notion of a modern Korean state existed (before the modern notion of nationalism) -- happily adopted everything it could from China, and integrated those ideas into what is now 'Korean culture.' And how that even back then, Korean leaders would point to various thing that were obviously imported and declare them to be uniquely Korean. Again, I doubt most of the Koreans I work with on daily basis, would appreciate this author's (who is a Korean American himself, let's not forget) interpretation of their history; however, based on every academic review I've read, this is considered an authoritative telling of it.
May 27, 2024
I managed to finish this book, even after originally deciding to DNF the book at about 65%. Ultimately, I hated giving up when I was so far into it, so I just pushed through it. The thing is, can I really say I read it if I didn't gain much of anything?
This is one of the most encyclopedic history books I've ever read. It is compact, flying through names, events, and dates with little to no focus on a larger narrative to keep the reader rooted. I feel like I would have been better off if I had opted for a textbook, where at least it is likely to go into some depth and build an overarching narrative.
I understand he is covering a large time frame, even going all the way back to ancient history, but there had to be a more effective way to write this. Part of me wants to say, just find books that focus on specific parts of Korean history. It isn't as if good large histories don't exist. I think the book would benefit from being significantly longer, spending more time in each period to allow for the reader to gain a better familiarity with it. Instead, it is like we are reading a series of Wikipedia articles that just happen to be chronological.
Every subsection starts with a literal list of dates and event names. Maybe it is intended as a quick overview for the reader, but it doesn't actually connect each section. Really, it should have come at the end of each section as a summary of everything we had just discussed. The information is here, but I really can't recommend it.
This is one of the most encyclopedic history books I've ever read. It is compact, flying through names, events, and dates with little to no focus on a larger narrative to keep the reader rooted. I feel like I would have been better off if I had opted for a textbook, where at least it is likely to go into some depth and build an overarching narrative.
I understand he is covering a large time frame, even going all the way back to ancient history, but there had to be a more effective way to write this. Part of me wants to say, just find books that focus on specific parts of Korean history. It isn't as if good large histories don't exist. I think the book would benefit from being significantly longer, spending more time in each period to allow for the reader to gain a better familiarity with it. Instead, it is like we are reading a series of Wikipedia articles that just happen to be chronological.
Every subsection starts with a literal list of dates and event names. Maybe it is intended as a quick overview for the reader, but it doesn't actually connect each section. Really, it should have come at the end of each section as a summary of everything we had just discussed. The information is here, but I really can't recommend it.
February 19, 2021
Un essai traçant l'histoire de la Corée du VIIème siècle à aujourd'hui à travers de très court chapitre (5 pages) couvrant une période avec deux à trois événements importants qui s'y sont déroulés. À l'occasion, il y aura de plus long développement sur la société coréenne (surtout en ce qui à trait au confucianisme, à l'idée de conservatisme/tradition et comment tel ou tel événement a pu venir influencer telle ou telle position politique plus tard). On passe quand même assez rapidement jusqu'au XIXème siècle (près de la moitié du livre) pour se concentrer plus longuement sur les événements s'étant déroulés aux XIX, XX et XXIème siècle. On a -->presque<-- l'impression que la période Joseon est juste cinq, six chapitres dans toutes l'histoire de la Corée!!
C'était définitivement nécessaire comme lecture pour moi cette histoire de la Corée, je réalise que je ne connaissais absolument rien de l'histoire du pays, les questions d'impéralisme chinois et japonais soulevé par l'ouvrage était vraiment fascinante. D'ailleurs, toutes les réflexions qui semblaient s'échapper un peu du cadre du récit historique m'interpellait presque plus que le reste, on sent définitivement que ceux-ci vienne tenter d'inscrire, un peu vite, l'histoire des femmes ou l'histoire d'autres choses que l'histoire militaire, gouvernementale ou monarchique dans le fil de l'histoire (ça reste très traditionnel comme livre d'histoire à ce niveau, on parle de la New Woman / Modern Girl comme d'un phénomène sociologique du "progressisme" des mœurs (par opposition au confucianisme misogyne), mais à aucun moment on ne mentionne l'obtention du droit de vote des femmes. On évoque rapidement la fin de l'escalave autour des années 1890, ce que constituait cet esclavage (il s'agissait d'enjeux d'asservissement de classe contrairement à l'occident où cet esclavage s'articulait autour de la "race") avec un discours très similaire à d'autres ouvrages que cette pratique était en déclin continu, mais qui s'est tout de même mué en d'autres pratiques.
Ça m'a définitivement fait réfléchir à beaucoup de chose, le chapitre sur la division des Corées et comment les États-Unis, la Russie et la Chine se sont livrés bataille à travers une Corée divisée comme l'Allemagne et à conduit à des massacres entre les Coréen·nes, du jamais vu dans ce pays surtout habitué à se défendre contre les invasions et les coups d'état venu de l'extérieur et n'ayant vu que quelques révoltes populaires contre la corruption.
On touche rapidement à la littérature, quand même très détaillées autour d'une poignée d'autour du XXème siècle, avec comment leurs écrits s'inscrivaient dans la période dans laquelle ils évoluaient.
Honnêtement, je pense que c'est une excellente introduction, j'en aurais définitivement pris beaucoup plus avec beaucoup plus de détails, j'espère donc vraiment pouvoir un peu approfondir ces connaissances un jour avec d'autres essais peut-être plus détaillés sur un mouvement ou une période en particulier, ce qui rendrait probablement l'analyse un peu plus riche. J'ai maintenant une vraiment mini-mini-base de connaissance historique, je suis donc en mesure de comprendre un peu les dates et les enjeux de cette époque et ne pas me lancer dans un texte dont je ne comprend pas du tout le contexte.
(Honnêtement, j'ai pris ce livre d'histoire parce que je suis très fan de drames historiques coréens, et maintenant de films coréens de façon plus large, et je comprends tellement mieux de qui s'inspire tel ou tel personnage, telle concubine se cachant derrière le confucianisme pour obtenir plus de pouvoir, cette peur de l'invasion étrangère dans Kingdom représentée par les zombies, les intrigues autour de la persécution des chrétiens, etc. Il y a vraiment énormément de références qui déclique et je comprends un peu mieux aussi cette immense fierté autour d'une culture coréenne absolument unique)
C'était définitivement nécessaire comme lecture pour moi cette histoire de la Corée, je réalise que je ne connaissais absolument rien de l'histoire du pays, les questions d'impéralisme chinois et japonais soulevé par l'ouvrage était vraiment fascinante. D'ailleurs, toutes les réflexions qui semblaient s'échapper un peu du cadre du récit historique m'interpellait presque plus que le reste, on sent définitivement que ceux-ci vienne tenter d'inscrire, un peu vite, l'histoire des femmes ou l'histoire d'autres choses que l'histoire militaire, gouvernementale ou monarchique dans le fil de l'histoire (ça reste très traditionnel comme livre d'histoire à ce niveau, on parle de la New Woman / Modern Girl comme d'un phénomène sociologique du "progressisme" des mœurs (par opposition au confucianisme misogyne), mais à aucun moment on ne mentionne l'obtention du droit de vote des femmes. On évoque rapidement la fin de l'escalave autour des années 1890, ce que constituait cet esclavage (il s'agissait d'enjeux d'asservissement de classe contrairement à l'occident où cet esclavage s'articulait autour de la "race") avec un discours très similaire à d'autres ouvrages que cette pratique était en déclin continu, mais qui s'est tout de même mué en d'autres pratiques.
Ça m'a définitivement fait réfléchir à beaucoup de chose, le chapitre sur la division des Corées et comment les États-Unis, la Russie et la Chine se sont livrés bataille à travers une Corée divisée comme l'Allemagne et à conduit à des massacres entre les Coréen·nes, du jamais vu dans ce pays surtout habitué à se défendre contre les invasions et les coups d'état venu de l'extérieur et n'ayant vu que quelques révoltes populaires contre la corruption.
On touche rapidement à la littérature, quand même très détaillées autour d'une poignée d'autour du XXème siècle, avec comment leurs écrits s'inscrivaient dans la période dans laquelle ils évoluaient.
Honnêtement, je pense que c'est une excellente introduction, j'en aurais définitivement pris beaucoup plus avec beaucoup plus de détails, j'espère donc vraiment pouvoir un peu approfondir ces connaissances un jour avec d'autres essais peut-être plus détaillés sur un mouvement ou une période en particulier, ce qui rendrait probablement l'analyse un peu plus riche. J'ai maintenant une vraiment mini-mini-base de connaissance historique, je suis donc en mesure de comprendre un peu les dates et les enjeux de cette époque et ne pas me lancer dans un texte dont je ne comprend pas du tout le contexte.
(Honnêtement, j'ai pris ce livre d'histoire parce que je suis très fan de drames historiques coréens, et maintenant de films coréens de façon plus large, et je comprends tellement mieux de qui s'inspire tel ou tel personnage, telle concubine se cachant derrière le confucianisme pour obtenir plus de pouvoir, cette peur de l'invasion étrangère dans Kingdom représentée par les zombies, les intrigues autour de la persécution des chrétiens, etc. Il y a vraiment énormément de références qui déclique et je comprends un peu mieux aussi cette immense fierté autour d'une culture coréenne absolument unique)
January 9, 2023
Not a bad general overview of alllll of Korean history. Some of the historical snapshots seemed a bit unrelated to the broader point of their chapters.
June 9, 2018
Um excelente livro para todos os que desejam iniciar um estudo sobre a península coreana: desde história antiga à história contemporânea, cada capítulo - que parte sempre de um determinado acontecimento - dá-nos um excelente insight sobre a península, as pessoas, a economia e a política.
Recomendo vivamente!
Recomendo vivamente!
September 15, 2020
The first book I read in my lockdown programme to plug my appalling ignorance of certain parts of the world. This gives an overview of Korean history and in some ways helps to explain the situation that exists on the peninsula today. There is an initial barrier to overcome in getting familiar with unfamiliar names, but the book is laid out in a helpful way, with a summary at the beginning of each chapter and some key dates. I really enjoyed this book.
August 27, 2021
Wow. This book crams a lot of history into 245 pages. Glad to have learned much more about Korea than I knew before. So as far as dropping a pure information bomb on me, this wins.
But I have to be honest and say this book was a bit of a struggle at times. The sentence structure was not only confusing at times, but it was also very repetitive with the author using the same or similar words and phrases to start sentences. And the tone of the book was very dry and only minimally engaging.
But I have to be honest and say this book was a bit of a struggle at times. The sentence structure was not only confusing at times, but it was also very repetitive with the author using the same or similar words and phrases to start sentences. And the tone of the book was very dry and only minimally engaging.
Read
February 8, 2021I don't know how to rate this on the star system. It's an interesting overview of 14 or 15 centuries' worth of Korean history, in brief chapters around social themes. But it's also very dry and a compendium of names as much as anything. I'm glad I read it, but I didn't find it particularly enlightening.
December 28, 2020
This book isn't an exhaustive history of Korea. It instead uses a concise method of picking significant events and historical periods to cover. In this way, it's a good starting point. You get the general gist of it, but you also have the opportunity to research particularly interesting topics in further detail.
It's well-structured and gives you a little timeline of important dates at the start of each chapter. I really liked how the book regularly connects its subjects to modern day attitudes and how people perceive it today. It elevated the writing beyond 'these are the facts about this thing that happened'.
The first few chapters, and then a section in the middle, were a little dry. It's not a long book, but it took me longer than I expected to read it as some sentences are structured in overly complicated ways. I found myself rewording the sentence in my head to understand the meaning a few times.
The chapters are very concise. Generally they are a good length for the amount of information they want to convey, with each point broken up into neat sections. However, a few chapters end far too suddenly! The student demonstrations of the 1960s were covered by a small paragraph at the end of a chapter. Given their importance, they should have had more focus. That seemed like an odd choice to me.
Similarly, the book ends a bit weirdly. It introduces Park Geun-hye and the Sewol ferry disaster in the last two paragraphs and just...ends there? So much more could have been said here (this is the second edition published in 2016), and the book closes off with just one more paragraph that feels very rushed. I was expecting at least another chapter to summarise everything by picking up the threads left at the end of the other chapters. It left me feeling a bit unsatisfied, but I suppose that means I have further reading to do. 3.5 stars!
It's well-structured and gives you a little timeline of important dates at the start of each chapter. I really liked how the book regularly connects its subjects to modern day attitudes and how people perceive it today. It elevated the writing beyond 'these are the facts about this thing that happened'.
The first few chapters, and then a section in the middle, were a little dry. It's not a long book, but it took me longer than I expected to read it as some sentences are structured in overly complicated ways. I found myself rewording the sentence in my head to understand the meaning a few times.
The chapters are very concise. Generally they are a good length for the amount of information they want to convey, with each point broken up into neat sections. However, a few chapters end far too suddenly! The student demonstrations of the 1960s were covered by a small paragraph at the end of a chapter. Given their importance, they should have had more focus. That seemed like an odd choice to me.
Similarly, the book ends a bit weirdly. It introduces Park Geun-hye and the Sewol ferry disaster in the last two paragraphs and just...ends there? So much more could have been said here (this is the second edition published in 2016), and the book closes off with just one more paragraph that feels very rushed. I was expecting at least another chapter to summarise everything by picking up the threads left at the end of the other chapters. It left me feeling a bit unsatisfied, but I suppose that means I have further reading to do. 3.5 stars!
February 7, 2021
Honestly I just want to read a book about the Goryeo-Joseon transition but my library system has no such specific thing so I ended up reading this book of general Korean history instead. Which is probably for the best since it gave me a good overview. (The reason I wanted to know more about Korean history being that I've been watching some historical kdramas recently and wanted some context.)
Also a good book to read at free moments at work, being just dull enough that I never felt too sad about having to put it back down again. Yes I do mean that as a recommendation. Finding a proper book to read at work is hard.
Also a good book to read at free moments at work, being just dull enough that I never felt too sad about having to put it back down again. Yes I do mean that as a recommendation. Finding a proper book to read at work is hard.
January 4, 2024
An immensely readable and accessible general history of Korea, with enough detail to kick off deeper explorations of specific figures and periods of interest.
A great place to start learning the history of Korea.
A great place to start learning the history of Korea.
June 29, 2016
Kyung Moon Hwang's History of Korea is subtitled "An Episodic Narrative." Each chapter focuses on a particular epoch, and each epoch is presented with a crucial event that occurred during that time. Then the author builds context around that event. Some readers might find the book a bit brief in terms of its exploration of each period of time. Such a reaction would be understandable because this is more of a Whitman's sampler of Korean history than anything else. Whatever the case, this book would be good for you to discover what aspects of Korean history you'd be interested in exploring further.
March 23, 2018
Informative and very readable - couldn't put it down
November 17, 2021
Kitabı yazarken Kyung Moon Hwang'ın amacı daha çok bu oldu şu oldu diye anlatmak değil de, Kore tarihinin belirli - önemli gördüğü - noktalarını baz alarak, topyekün Kore topraklarına ve kültürüne, şimdiki zamanına, bu noktaların etkilerini kendi düşüncelerini bol bol katarak bir tarih incelemesi kaleme almakmış gibi görünüyor. Zaten 238 sayfa tutmasından, hemen hemen bir özet okuyacağımızı anlayabiliyoruz. Çok geniş de tutmuyor kronolojiyi, M.S.4.yy.dan başlatıyor. 3 Krallık Dönemi olarak geçen dönemin ortasından başlıyor bir anlamda. İlk sayfalarda bir şöyle Kore'nin kuruluş efsanelerinden, milattan öncesinden bahsediyor ama temelde bu 3 Krallık'ı oluşturan Goguryeo, Silla ve Baekje krallıklarını çok az anlatıyor. Benim özellikle merak ettiğim kısmı oluşturan bu dönem hakkında genel bir hat çizmemi sağladı sadece. Ardından hemen bir kısacık Goryeo Krallığı'nı geçip, Joseon dönemini - Kore'ye bugünkü kültürün çoğunu veren dönemi - 30 sayfada atlayarak 19.yy.a geliveriyor. Profesör belli ki 20.yy.ı konuşmak istemiş, önceki tüm sayfaları da sırf geriye atıflar yapabilmek amacıyla ya da kitabın adı Kore Tarihi olacak diye koymuş. Çünkü genel anlamda bir sırada da gitmiyor aslında anlatısı. Bir olaydan bahsediyor, sonra o olayın öncesine gidiyor ve tüm bunları yaparken de o olayı bildiğimizi varsayıyor. Yani kesinlikle Kore tarihine ilk defa girenler için yazılmış bir metin değil bu. Özellikle isimler konusunda beni acayip zorladı. Hiçbir gereği yokken her şeyi Türkçeleştirme'ye çalışmış olmaları (yayınevinin suçu) kafamı karıştırmaktan başka işe yaramadı. İngilizce romanizasyonlarında nasıl bir sakınca var anlamadım, zaten her yerde, tüm dünyada böyle geçiyorlar ve böyle bahsediliyorlar. Zaten böyle bir kitabı okuyan insan da bir şekilde Korece'ye ve Korece'nin romanizasyonuna aşinadır diye düşünüyorum. Bir özel ismi tutup da bir dolu ğ, ç ve ıi'li yazmakla bize, Türk okuyucuya bir iyilik yapılmış olmuyor. Bildiğim isimleri bile bu kim, bu ne diyerek şaşırıp durdum. Dahası o isimler öyle okunmuyor, çoğu saçmaydı yazılışların (Ben bile biliyorum, Korece bilmeyen ben bile biliyorum yahu).
Bir de yarımadadaki duruma bir dereceye kadar hakimseniz ya da dünyada olan bitenlerden ufak bir haberiniz varsa üzerine düşünecek şeyler yazıyor aslında.
Bir de yarımadadaki duruma bir dereceye kadar hakimseniz ya da dünyada olan bitenlerden ufak bir haberiniz varsa üzerine düşünecek şeyler yazıyor aslında.
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May 13, 2024This was a really interesting general history of Korea. I felt like after reading this, I was largely informed about the major events and trends that make up Korean history. The book also offers different perspectives and interpretations of the history, highlighting the ways different people have interpreted these events based on their contemporary perspectives. It feels very well written for the most part, it comes off as a bit academic, but I think it could be enjoyed by a general readership for the most part as well. It has a unique structure to it, as each chapter starts with a main event that reveals something interesting about that particular time period, and then giving greater context and background while explaining the overall significance of the event as the chapter goes on.
One thing worth noting though is that this book isn't that long, and obviously they couldn't go into full detail about every period in Korea's long history. The book is split roughly evenly between pre-modern and modern history, meaning the years of roughly 600 AD to around 1900 get roughly the same amount of pages as the 20th century and beyond do. This is probably the right decision given the limited space, considering learning contemporary history is just objectively more useful to understanding modern day Korea, but it is worth noting that basically the further back you go, the less information you get.
Early chapters in the book can cover multiple centuries at a time (chapters are usually only like 8-10 pages), whereas every decade in the 20th century basically gets its own treatment. So if ancient history is more your thing, this will give you different jumping off points for further studies, but I think you might be disappointed at just how briefly certain periods are explored here. Joseon gets a pretty decent amount of chapters dedicated to it, but if you're interested in the 3 kingdoms period, Silla, or Goryeo, the information here isn't very thorough.
One thing worth noting though is that this book isn't that long, and obviously they couldn't go into full detail about every period in Korea's long history. The book is split roughly evenly between pre-modern and modern history, meaning the years of roughly 600 AD to around 1900 get roughly the same amount of pages as the 20th century and beyond do. This is probably the right decision given the limited space, considering learning contemporary history is just objectively more useful to understanding modern day Korea, but it is worth noting that basically the further back you go, the less information you get.
Early chapters in the book can cover multiple centuries at a time (chapters are usually only like 8-10 pages), whereas every decade in the 20th century basically gets its own treatment. So if ancient history is more your thing, this will give you different jumping off points for further studies, but I think you might be disappointed at just how briefly certain periods are explored here. Joseon gets a pretty decent amount of chapters dedicated to it, but if you're interested in the 3 kingdoms period, Silla, or Goryeo, the information here isn't very thorough.
April 22, 2022
I had the audiobook of the 3rd edition of A History of Korea. I'm coming to the topic as a complete beginner. I know some of the bits of major events in the 20th century (Especially the bits that made U.S. news while I'm alive).
A very high-level overview of Korean history, with a fairly opinionated author (I'm fine with that). It moves rapidly, with clear timelines, chronological order, and the part I like -- commentary about how various later periods viewed earlier periods in terms of creating a national identity. I did like the commentary, even going back to the early periods, about how later Korean polities/cultures co-opted the history to build various narratives about national heroes or villains. Coming from a country with a much shorter history, it is interesting to see centuries-long history displayed this way. The only country I can reasonably compare this to is England, and how literary representation of various periods of its earlier periods changed in terms of what was considered heroic or shameful.
This is good as an introductory book, I feel, but I admit I'm a complete ignoramus on the topic. The author obviously has their own particular point of view on certain events and trends, but it's not overbearing. Some may find it a bit breezy or irreverent.
It gave me an appetite to learn more, which is how I'm gauging it as a good introductory book. The author made the personalities come alive, and when detailing more recent people and events, it did accord with what I remembered. That said, I'm in the U.S., and not in Korea.
It does touch on North Korea, as well as South Korea, but for obvious reasons, less is known about North Korean actions than South Korean in the modern age.
A very high-level overview of Korean history, with a fairly opinionated author (I'm fine with that). It moves rapidly, with clear timelines, chronological order, and the part I like -- commentary about how various later periods viewed earlier periods in terms of creating a national identity. I did like the commentary, even going back to the early periods, about how later Korean polities/cultures co-opted the history to build various narratives about national heroes or villains. Coming from a country with a much shorter history, it is interesting to see centuries-long history displayed this way. The only country I can reasonably compare this to is England, and how literary representation of various periods of its earlier periods changed in terms of what was considered heroic or shameful.
This is good as an introductory book, I feel, but I admit I'm a complete ignoramus on the topic. The author obviously has their own particular point of view on certain events and trends, but it's not overbearing. Some may find it a bit breezy or irreverent.
It gave me an appetite to learn more, which is how I'm gauging it as a good introductory book. The author made the personalities come alive, and when detailing more recent people and events, it did accord with what I remembered. That said, I'm in the U.S., and not in Korea.
It does touch on North Korea, as well as South Korea, but for obvious reasons, less is known about North Korean actions than South Korean in the modern age.
May 31, 2021
Kyung Moon Hwang's A History of Korea offers a brief (and I do mean *brief*) overview of Korean history from its origins to modern times, beginning with the ancient Koguryo kingdom and ending with the 2007 election of Lee Myung-bak as president of South Korea. Discussion of events from the 20th into the 21st century takes up almost half of the book, but even so, it's obvious the book is barely skimming the surface of the peninsula's history, both pre- and post-1900s.
Given the macro-historical nature of the book, names of noteworthy individuals are quickly brought up and then forgotten as the book chugs along through time, and unfortunately, I personally wasn't instilled with any motivation to learn more about such persons or their time periods.
Perhaps my greatest issue with this book was the author's half-hearted attempts to restrain himself from injecting emotional opinions and unnecessary conjectures about certain events and individuals. Anyone can play the "what if" game, and I understand it's impossible to remove one's personal biases 100%, but this is an academic work meant to educate and let people think for themselves with the information from the book as guidance. This work, however, is unapologetically colored by the author's thoughts and feelings, and I greatly disliked the tone it set for the book.
Reading this brief history of Korea has reminded me that it's impossible to condense such a large swathe of time without sacrificing significant scholarship. While I got to sample Korean history, it unfortunately left a somewhat bitter taste.
Given the macro-historical nature of the book, names of noteworthy individuals are quickly brought up and then forgotten as the book chugs along through time, and unfortunately, I personally wasn't instilled with any motivation to learn more about such persons or their time periods.
Perhaps my greatest issue with this book was the author's half-hearted attempts to restrain himself from injecting emotional opinions and unnecessary conjectures about certain events and individuals. Anyone can play the "what if" game, and I understand it's impossible to remove one's personal biases 100%, but this is an academic work meant to educate and let people think for themselves with the information from the book as guidance. This work, however, is unapologetically colored by the author's thoughts and feelings, and I greatly disliked the tone it set for the book.
Reading this brief history of Korea has reminded me that it's impossible to condense such a large swathe of time without sacrificing significant scholarship. While I got to sample Korean history, it unfortunately left a somewhat bitter taste.
December 12, 2019
A very balanced and comprehensive but concise account of Korean history from Ancient to Modern Day. Covers cultural, political and military topics and delves into the sociology of the people of the day. The chapters are structured chronologically and the start of each chapter gives a timeline of noteworthy points that will be discussed, however the chapter's themselves do jump around a bit between these. There is an absence of author opinion and bias which is very much appreciated. They go to lengths to provide context to the items being discussed rather than throwing numerous facts and buckets of information to tick the timeline boxes. The prose in which the book is written is nothing special or exciting but avoids the sleep-inducing academic lean of other history textbooks. A good choice for those interested in learning Korean history and gaining an understanding of the multi-faceted influences underlying circumstances today on the Korean Peninsula and East Asia as a whole.
November 12, 2017
This the first book on Korean history that I've ever read, so it's hard for me to compare this book to any other standard literature on Korean history. The book is split into two parts: Korean history before 1865 and Korean history after that year, both parts cover about half the book. I think this was a smart decision because you make sure that the accent lies in modern history, but not so much that you neglect all pre-modern history. The book is written in very dry, academic use of language, but the book is supposed to be read by pre-grads, so I understand why. This book is not something that i'd just recommend to interested people to read for fun; it would be better to try and find a more popular, easier book then. Due to its nature, use of facts and the excellent use of 'public history', though, I would recommend this book to any academic trying to get into Korean history.
August 28, 2025
Lovely introductory history. The approach is heavy with narrative and the nation is the protagonist. In every small section you have a clear sense about what this period of event means within the story of Korea, how it addresses earlier moments, signals change in national character, and relates to later developments. At times this leaves you a bit lost in why these events actually occurred and what their material impact was. I could have done with more intervention from the author weighing up the narrative significance of an event against its actual effects and causes (yeah, I’ll concede that history is a living thing and narrative significance is a part of actual effect, but you get the point)
March 15, 2019
This is a book that I bought 5 years ago, but got bored and never finished. I decided to go back and reread it from the beginning.
Korea was basically a blank slate for me before reading this book, so I definitely learnt something. Not all of it was enthralling, and much of it I've forgotten already. However, I feel that at the very least Korea is no longer a total blank slate.
About half the book was devoted to ancient history, and a half devoted to "modern history", by which I mean from the Japanese colonial period onwards. I enjoyed this second half of the book much more than the first half.
Korea was basically a blank slate for me before reading this book, so I definitely learnt something. Not all of it was enthralling, and much of it I've forgotten already. However, I feel that at the very least Korea is no longer a total blank slate.
About half the book was devoted to ancient history, and a half devoted to "modern history", by which I mean from the Japanese colonial period onwards. I enjoyed this second half of the book much more than the first half.
April 21, 2024
I'm not sure this is the book I'd pick if I was going to read *one* history of Korea, because there are large pieces of Korean history that are essentially left out. That said, I think it did a great job of piecing together seemingly disparate elements of East and Northeast Asian history together. Not bad. Did a great job of tying the Korean War and North/South Korea into earlier pieces of Korean history, such as Protestantism/Catholicism/Confucianism, the Japanese colonization, etc. which is more rare.
December 11, 2025
Overall a very good, narrative based approach towards overviewing Korean history. The chapters themselves are succinct yet detailed, a good mix of breadth and depth. Throughout historical periods, Hwang makes note of unique and particular individuals whose lives either shaped their historical period or were the embodiment and product of it.
If you are interested in learning more about Korean history, I highly recommend this book as a beginning piece as its form keeps the reader engaged with compelling historical story-telling.
If you are interested in learning more about Korean history, I highly recommend this book as a beginning piece as its form keeps the reader engaged with compelling historical story-telling.
December 9, 2017
This is a good thumbnail sketch of the history of Korea. It is not in depth, often left me wanting for more but it does hit major events. Very easy to read. In reading this book I have a better understanding of issues with North Korea today and it's easy to see that the US played a major role in creating our problems beginning in 1945 and we continue to bungle and misunderstand both Koreas to this day. Perhaps even more so since 2016.
February 2, 2019
This reads differently compared to a lot of history books and it’s now one of my favourites. I’m enrolled in an Asian history course and all of the textbook material is dry and overwhelming. Most of them are practically bullet points of everything that happened and what was effected, with words in between them to make sentences and paragraphs. However the layout and delivery of this text has kept me engaging. I’m glad I read it even though it was an impulse buy.
March 18, 2019
very broad-strokes approach to korean history, but good for a refresher, especially on some of the earlier history. without delving too deeply into academic debates on historiography hwang lays out how different narratives have emerged around numerous events in korean history based on the ways in which they can justify present-moment politics, ideologies, etc. very readable in terms of prose and broken up into succinct sections to make it easy to pick up and put down between other reading.
October 31, 2023
A marvelous book if you want one book to understand the history of Korea. Or even just as a guide for a trip through Korea.
Very interesting elaboration of how Korea started as a country too how some of those conflicts still impacts and divide the country today.
The only minus, is some sections seem written in quite a hurry. In particular the early establishment of north, seemed had quite a bit of grammatical errors
Very interesting elaboration of how Korea started as a country too how some of those conflicts still impacts and divide the country today.
The only minus, is some sections seem written in quite a hurry. In particular the early establishment of north, seemed had quite a bit of grammatical errors
August 19, 2019
An excellent overview of Korean history. Hwang doesn't cover absolutely everything, but the events and people he does cover are carefully explained, even discussing modern interpretations and their implications. A great jumping-off point for further research, or just a wonderful way to become familiar with Korean history, pre-modern and modern. Very readable and accessible.
August 5, 2018
Well researched historical overview of Korean history from ancient times to 21st century. If you are interested in understanding the Korean historical narrative, this is one to buy. I particularly enjoyed the post-Joseon period.
February 9, 2019
Really like the chapter setup with chronologies and sub-sections and as a slim one volume history of Korea it was quite a clear and revelatory read but all too brief. These volumes are also expensive for what they are unless sourced second hand. Useful - but I want more
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