Download or read book Korea s Twentieth Century Odyssey written by Michael E. Robinson and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2007-04-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than half of the twentieth century, the Korean peninsula has been divided between two hostile and competitive nation-states, each claiming to be the sole legitimate expression of the Korean nation. The division remains an unsolved problem dating to the beginnings of the Cold War and now projects the politics of that period into the twenty-first century. Korea’s Twentieth-Century Odyssey is designed to provide readers with the historical essentials upon which to unravel the complex politics and contemporary crises that currently exist in the East Asian region. Beginning with a description of late-nineteenth-century imperialism, Michael Robinson shows how traditional Korean political culture shaped the response of Koreans to multiple threats to their sovereignty after being opened to the world economy by Japan in the 1870s. He locates the origins of both modern nationalism and the economic and cultural modernization of Korea in the twenty years preceding the fall of the traditional state to Japanese colonialism in 1910. Robinson breaks new ground with his analysis of the colonial period, tracing the ideological division of contemporary Korea to the struggle of different actors to mobilize a national independence movement at the time. More importantly, he locates the reason for successful Japanese hegemony in policies that included—and thus implicated—Koreans within the colonial system. He concludes with a discussion of the political and economic evolution of South and North Korea after 1948 that accounts for the valid legitimacy claims of both nation-states on the peninsula.
Download or read book Korea s Place in the Sun A Modern History Updated Edition written by Bruce Cumings and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005-09-17 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Passionate, cantankerous, and fascinating. Rather like Korea itself."--Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times Book Review Korea has endured a "fractured, shattered twentieth century," and this updated edition brings Bruce Cumings's leading history of the modern era into the present. The small country, overshadowed in the imperial era, crammed against great powers during the Cold War, and divided and decimated by the Korean War, has recently seen the first real hints of reunification. But positive movements forward are tempered by frustrating steps backward. In the late 1990s South Korea survived its most severe economic crisis since the Korean War, forcing a successful restructuring of its political economy. Suffering through floods, droughts, and a famine that cost the lives of millions of people, North Korea has been labeled part of an "axis of evil" by the George W. Bush administration and has renewed its nuclear threats. On both sides Korea seems poised to continue its fractured existence on into the new century, with potential ramifications for the rest of the world.
Download or read book A Concise History of Modern Korea written by Michael J. Seth and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive and balanced history of modern Korea explores the social, economic, and political issues it has faced since being catapulted into the wider world at the end of the nineteenth century. Placing this formerly insular society in a global context, Michael J. Seth describes how this ancient, culturally and ethnically homogeneous society first fell victim to Japanese imperialist expansionism, and then was arbitrarily divided in half after World War II. Seth traces the postwar paths of the two Koreas with different political and social systems and different geopolitical orientations as they evolved into sharply contrasting societies. South Korea, after an unpromising start, became one of the few postcolonial developing states to enter the ranks of the first world, with a globally competitive economy, a democratic political system, and a cosmopolitan and dynamic culture. By contrast, North Korea became one of the world's most totalitarian and isolated societies, a nuclear power with an impoverished and famine-stricken population. Considering the radically different and historically unprecedented trajectories of the two Koreas, Seth assesses the insights they offer for understanding not only modern Korea but the broader perspective of world history."
Download or read book A Brief History of Korea written by Michael J. Seth and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring Korean history from its ancient roots to the present day, A Brief History of Korea is the story of a people with a rich and united culture that has become two Koreas in modern times--one isolated and secretive and the other among the world's most successful economies. Korean culture developed on a 600-mile-long peninsula, bordered on the north by mountains and three sides by the sea, set apart from the Asian mainland. Korea was one of the last countries in Asia to be visited by Westerners and its borders have remained largely unchanged since it was unified in the seventh century. Though it is one of the world's oldest and most ethnically homogeneous states, Korea was not born in a vacuum. Geographically isolated, the country was heavily influenced by powerful China and was often used as a bridge to the mainland by Japan. Calling themselves as "a shrimp among whales," Koreans borrowed elements of government, culture and religion all the while fiercely fighting to maintain independence from powerful neighbors. This fascinating book tells the story of Korean domestic dynasties, empires and states, as well as foreign conquest, occupation and division. Today, the two Koreas are starkly different--North Korea a nation closed to the world and South Korea an economic powerhouse and center of Asian democracy. Chronicling significant events right up through 2018's Singapore Summit, author Michael J. Seth presents a relevant, interesting and important history of Korea within a larger global context. Korea's history is a turbulent one, but ultimately the story of a resistant and resourceful people in search of lasting peace.
Download or read book A Short History of Modern Korea written by David Rees and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A New History of Korea written by Ki-baik Lee and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1988-03-15 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first English-language history of Korea to appear in more than a decade, this translation offers Western readers a distillation of the latest and best scholarship on Korean history and culture from the earliest times to the student revolution of 1960. The most widely read and respected general history, A New History of Korea (Han’guksa sillon) was first published in 1961 and has undergone two major revisions and updatings. Translated twice into Japanese and currently being translated into Chinese as well, Ki-baik Lee’s work presents a new periodization of his country’s history, based on a fresh analysis of the changing composition of the leadership elite. The book is noteworthy, too, for its full and integrated discussion of major currents in Korea’s cultural history. The translation, three years in preparation, has been done by specialists in the field.
Download or read book A History of Korea written by Michael J. Seth and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2010-10-16 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive yet compact book, Michael J. Seth surveys Korean history from Neolithic times to the present. He explores the origins and development of Korean society, politics, and still little-known cultural heritage, showing how this ancient, culturally and ethnically homogeneous society was wrenched into the modern world, ultimately to be arbitrarily divided into two opposed halves after World War II. Tracing the six decades since, Seth explains how the two Koreas, with their deeply different political and social systems and geopolitical orientations, evolved into sharply contrasting societies. Throughout, he adds a rich dimension by placing Korean history into broader global perspective and by including primary readings from each era. All readers looking for a balanced, knowledgeable history will be richly rewarded with this clear and concise book.
Download or read book A Concise History of Modern Korea written by Michael J. Seth and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-03-03 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in a fully revised and updated edition, this history of modern Korea explores the social, economic, and political issues it has faced since being catapulted into the wider world at the end of the nineteenth century. Placing this formerly insular society in a global context, Michael J. Seth describes how this ancient, culturally and ethnically homogeneous society first fell victim to Japanese imperialist expansionism, and then was arbitrarily divided in half after World War II. Seth traces the postwar paths of the two Koreas—with different political and social systems and different geopolitical orientations—as they evolved into sharply contrasting societies. South Korea, after an unpromising start, became one of the few postcolonial developing states to enter the ranks of the first world, with a globally competitive economy, a democratic political system, and a cosmopolitan and dynamic culture. By contrast, North Korea became one of the world's most totalitarian and isolated societies, a nuclear power with an impoverished and famine-stricken population. Considering the radically different and historically unprecedented trajectories of the two Koreas, Seth assesses the insights they offer for understanding not only modern Korea but the broader perspective of world history. All readers looking for a balanced, knowledgeable history will be richly rewarded with this clear and cogent book.
Download or read book Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea written by Carter J. Eckert and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-07 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conclusion -- Notes -- Korean MMA Cadets by Class -- Glossary of Names and Terms -- Bibliography -- Sources and Acknowledgments -- Index
Download or read book A Concise History of Korea written by Michael J. Seth and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2006-07-27 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engaging text provides a concise history of Korea from the beginning of human settlement in the region through the late nineteenth century, equally emphasizing social, cultural, and political history. Students will be especially drawn to descriptions of everyday life for both elite and non-elite members of society during various historical periods. A Concise History of Korea emphasizes how Korean history can be understood as part of an interactive sphere that includes three basic areas: China, Japan, and the Manchurian/Central Asian region. Historical maps illustrate the changes in the region over time. The annotated bibliography of works in English is a useful addition to this clear and comprehensive Korean history.
Download or read book Modern Korea All That Matters written by Andrew Salmon and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2014-08-29 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In no nation on earth has history accelerated with such speed as in Korea. A medieval dynasty at the end of the 19th century, it underwent a traumatic colonization, then, in its hour of liberation was divided by the great powers at the end of World War II. Devastated by a fratricidal war, the peninsula has remained divided ever since. South Korea is the greatest national success story of the 20th century. From the ashes of war, it transformed itself, against the odds - and against much advice - into an industrial powerhouse and thriving democracy. Now a high-tech wonderland, it is undergoing social and cultural transformations that add further layers to its dynamic DNA. North Korea is an economic, social and political disaster, successful only at totalitarianism. Having transmogrified from a blood-and-iron communist dictatorship into a bizarre, neo-fascist monarchy, it is a black hole at the heart of Asia. Engulfed by paranoia, the regime presides over a malnourished populace, a 1.1 million man army and a nuclear arsenal. From nuclear missiles to Samsung smartphones; from assassins to salarymen; from Kim Il-sung to Psy; this is the extraordinary story of the flashpoint peninsula that dominates talk in boardrooms and newsrooms. Korea, the author argues, provides two stark benchmarks for national development: Epic success and catastrophic failure. And its final chapter has yet to be written.
Download or read book The Korean War written by Bruce Cumings and published by Modern Library. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A BRACING ACCOUNT OF A WAR THAT IS EITHER MISUNDERSTOOD, FORGOTTEN, OR WILLFULLY IGNORED For Americans, it was a discrete conflict lasting from 1950 to 1953. But for the Asian world the Korean War was a generations-long struggle that still haunts contemporary events. With access to new evidence and secret materials from both here and abroad, including an archive of captured North Korean documents, Bruce Cumings reveals the war as it was actually fought. He describes its origin as a civil war, preordained long before the first shots were fired in June 1950 by lingering fury over Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Cumings then shares the neglected history of America’s post–World War II occupation of Korea, reveals untold stories of bloody insurgencies and rebellions, and tells of the United States officially entering the action on the side of the South, exposing as never before the appalling massacres and atrocities committed on all sides. Elegantly written and blisteringly honest, The Korean War is, like the war it illuminates, brief, devastating, and essential.
Download or read book The Dawn of Modern Korea written by Andreĭ Nikolaevich Lanʹkov and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The 20th century was a time of great changes for any country, but in Korea these changes were especially dramatic. In 1960, it was one of the world's poorest countries. By 2000 it transformed itself into one of the world's largest economies. This astonishing transformation completely changed Koreans' daily life as well. This book describes how small but essential things have changes over the last century, and how new technology and ideas arrived in Korea for the first time. Within the last century photographs, newspapers, movies, restaurants, electric lights, cars (as well as accidents caused by them), subways, and so many other things appeared in Korea. In this book, the author details how these "modern things" changed the centuries-old ways of Korean life." -- BACK COVER.
Download or read book Korea A Very Short Introduction written by Michael J. Seth and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-23 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having spent centuries in the shadows of its neighbours China and Japan, Korea is now the object of considerable interest for radically different reasons— the South as an economic success story and for its vibrant popular culture; the North as the home to one of the world's most repressive regimes, at once both bizarre and menacing. This Very Short Introduction explores the history, culture, and society of a deeply divided region. Michael Seth considers what it means to be Korean, and analyses how the various peoples of the Korean peninsula became one of the world's most homogeneous nations, before exploring how this nation evolved, in a single lifetime, into today's sharply contrasting societies. He also discusses how Korea fits into the larger narrative of both East Asian and world history, economically, politically, and socially. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Korea in World History written by Donald N. Clark and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donald Clark does a masterful job of situating the entire sweep of Korean history in its global context thus belying the shop worn stereotype of Korea as a hermit nation. Clark uses his mastery of both medieval and modern history to vividly describe the often ignored contributions of this fascinating society to East Asian civilization writ large. His concise chapter arrangement and lively narrative writing pulls the reader into the Korean story while showing just how relevant that story is, particularly in modern times, for an American readership. Clark has condensed without sacrificing important detail, and he emphasizes important themes from Korea's past that have combined with the turbulent 20th century to produce the complex strategic and economic situation at the beginning of the 21st century on the peninsula. Particularly trenchant are his chapters on the division of Korea as well as a thoughtful treatment of North Korea which is too often ignored in other texts. This book will make an excellent companion volume in East Asia survey courses, and other courses on East Asia. After all, as Prof. Clark points out again and again, understanding Korea remains vital to a true appreciation of East Asia's past and present.
Download or read book A Cultural History of Modern Korea written by Wanne J. Joe and published by Weatherhill. This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding modern Korean culture requires more than just a cursory glance. For a country steeped in such a long history, it is important to go back and look carefully at older times to reach a complete picture of the modern cultural paradigm. Wanne J. Joe has done just that in this extensive book that details how Korean culture grew and flourished from the Joseon Dynasty through to the March 1 Independence Movement in 1919.
Download or read book Future Yet to Come written by Sonja M. Kim and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2022-06-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Korea is home to cutting-edge electronics, state-of-the-art medical facilities, and ubiquitous high-speed internet. The country’s meteoric rise from the ashes of the Korean War (1950–1953) to rank among the world’s most technologically advanced societies is often attributed to state-led promotion of science and technology in nation-building projects. With chapters that discuss Korea’s dynastic past, foreign occupations, Cold War geopolitics, postwar rehabilitation in the twentieth century, and the contemporary neoliberal moment, Future Yet to Come argues that a longer historical arc and broader disciplinary approach better elucidate these transformations. The book’s contributors illuminate the “sociotechnical imaginaries” that promoted, sustained, and contested Korea’s scientific, medical, and technological projects in realizing desired futures. Focusing special attention on visual culture and the life sciences, the essays present competing visions held by individuals and institutions of power in the use and purpose of scientific engagements. They demonstrate Korean specificities in culture and language, and the myriad social, political, spatial, and symbolic arrangements that shaped incorporations of and changes to existing systems of knowledge and material practices. Whether discussing moral epistemologies, imperialist or developmentalist thrusts in public health regimes, or new configurations of the “self” enabled by bio industries and media technologies, the book expands both the regional and global understanding of translation, accommodation, and transfer. Tracing imaginaries across the vicissitudes of Korea’s past recalls their history and makes visible their shifts and resilience in dynamic political economies. Future Yet to Come reminds us how deeply intertwined science, medicine, and technology are to not only our polities, corporations, and societies but also the human condition. Bridging histories of science and medicine with anthropologies of technology and the arts, the book will appeal to students and scholars of Korean and East Asian studies as well as those with interests in the comparative history of medicine, STS (society and technology studies), art history, media studies, transnationalism, diaspora, and postcolonialism.
