Times Past in Korea

Times Past in Korea PDF Author: Martin Uden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113664119X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
In earlier times, for the Chinese, Korea was 'the country of courteous people from the east', and for westerners 'the land of the morning calm' or 'hermit kingdom'. In this fascinating collection of writings on times past in Korea the author helps to lift the veil on this once closed country, providing the reader with a wide selection of first-hand accounts by travellers who 'discovered' Korea - some as snapshots by those passing through, others more detailed evaluations of Korean culture and everyday life by those who spent time there. The collection covers a period of over 400 years - from Hendrik Hamel's journal of the 1600s to early 20th century records, such as Roy C. Andrew's 1918 published account of his expedition, entitled Exploring Unknown Corners of the 'Hermit Kingdom'.

Times Past in Korea

Times Past in Korea PDF Author: Martin Uden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113664119X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Get Book Here

Book Description
In earlier times, for the Chinese, Korea was 'the country of courteous people from the east', and for westerners 'the land of the morning calm' or 'hermit kingdom'. In this fascinating collection of writings on times past in Korea the author helps to lift the veil on this once closed country, providing the reader with a wide selection of first-hand accounts by travellers who 'discovered' Korea - some as snapshots by those passing through, others more detailed evaluations of Korean culture and everyday life by those who spent time there. The collection covers a period of over 400 years - from Hendrik Hamel's journal of the 1600s to early 20th century records, such as Roy C. Andrew's 1918 published account of his expedition, entitled Exploring Unknown Corners of the 'Hermit Kingdom'.

Times Past in Korea

Times Past in Korea PDF Author: Martin Uden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description


A History of Korea

A History of Korea PDF Author: Michael J. Seth
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742567176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 595

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Book Description
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.

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated Edition)

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated Edition) PDF Author: Bruce Cumings
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393327027
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 547

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Book Description
"When Korea's Place in the Sun first appeared, Bruce Cumings argued that Korea had endured a "fractured, shattered twentieth century." The new century has seen South Korea flourish after a restructuring of its political economy, and North Korea suffer through a famine that has cost the lives of millions of people. The United States continues to play an important role on the Korean peninsula, from the Clinton administration overseeing the first real hints of reunification to the Bush administration confronting a renewal of 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." "For those who need a grounding in the tempestuous history surrounding Korea, or a context in which to understand its role in current global politics, this updated edition of Korea's Place in the Sun is a must read."--BOOK JACKET.

North Korea/South Korea

North Korea/South Korea PDF Author: John Feffer
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
ISBN: 9781583226032
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
The Korean peninsula, divided for more than fifty years, is stuck in a time warp. Millions of troops face one another along the Demilitarized Zone separating communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea. In the early 1990s and again in 2002-2003, the United States and its allies have gone to the brink of war with North Korea. Misinterpretations and misunderstandings are fueling the crisis. "There is no country of comparable significance concerning which so many people are ignorant," American anthropologist Cornelius Osgood said of Korea some time ago. This ignorance may soon have fatal consequences. North Korea, South Korea is a short, accessible book about the history and political complexites of the Korean peninsula, one that explores practical alternatives to the current US policy: alternatives that build on the remarkable and historic path of reconciliation that North and South embarked on in the 1990s and that point the way to eventual reunification.

A New History of Korea

A New History of Korea PDF Author: Ki-baik Lee
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674255267
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
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.

Korea

Korea PDF Author: Andrew C. Nahm
Publisher: Elizabeth, N.J., U.S.A. : Hollym International Corporation
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
History of the Korean People: Tradition and Transformation

Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey

Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey PDF Author: Michael E. Robinson
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824831748
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
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.

A History of the Korean People in Modern Times

A History of the Korean People in Modern Times PDF Author: Robert Tarbell Oliver
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
An objectively balanced history of Korea during the development of its modernization - from about 1800 to the present - this book emphasizes the character, beliefs, and sentiments of the people and the personalities and careers of their pivotal leaders. The history narrates the struggles of Koreans to resist imperialistic pressures exerted against the "strategic heart of northeast Asia" by Japan, China, Russia, and England. It also examines, in particular detail, the sometimes helpful and sometimes hurtful role of the United States - Korea's most influential and most reluctant ally. What is Korea, who are Koreans, and what are they really like? South Korea has set the pattern for emergence from poverty to prosperity, from endemic disease to healthfulness, and from general illiteracy to universal education. A 1992 study by a U.S. testing service found that elementary students of South Korea ranked first in both science and mathematics among the ten most "advanced nations" of the world. These achievements, not accidental, account for the success of Korea, which may be called a modern miracle. During the past two hundred years of Korea's modernization period, the Korean people have displayed strength and courage by preserving their nationalism and special culture in the face of surrounding and stronger nations. For instance, when Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945 and attempted to "Japanize" its conquest, the Korean people held fast to their own traditions. Indeed, against all imperialistic enemies, Korea sought to protect itself by becoming a tightly isolated Hermit Kingdom. In the years of Japanese rule of Korea, the Indian poet Tagore wrote, "Korea, once a bright light in thegolden age of Asia, if it is to be relit, will be again the light of the East". His words were prophetic. Not only has Korea distinguished itself in the area of social reform; it has emerged as a fountainhead of Asian culture. The inspirational leadership of ethical philosophers and the village Silhak movement have met the modernizing influence of Christian missionaries and Western commercialization to guide the Korean people toward informed, self-reliant democracy. In A History of the Korean People in Modern Times, Robert T. Oliver vividly chronicles the full scope and progress of Korea - from its near-primitive beginnings to present-day prosperity. The pages of the volume are alive with accounts of individuals, ranging from political and intellectual leaders to peasants and workers, whose combined efforts reflect and illustrate the nature of the Korean people.

Korea in World History

Korea in World History PDF Author: Donald N. Clark
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780924304668
Category : Imperialism
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
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.