Amazon.com: Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea's Struggle for Freedom eBook: Gowans, Stephen: Books
Patriots, Traitors and Empires is an account of modern Korean history, written from the point of view of those who fought to free their country from the domination of foreign empires. It traces the history of Korea's struggle for freedom from opposition to Japanese colonialism starting in 1905 to North Korea's current efforts to deter the threat of invasion by the United States or anybody else by having nuclear weapons. Koreans have been fighting a civil war since 1932, when Kim Il Sung, founder of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, along with other Korean patriots, launched a guerrilla war against Japanese colonial domination. Other Koreans, traitors to the cause of Korea's freedom, including a future South Korean president, joined the side of Japan's Empire, becoming officers in the Japanese army or enlisting in the hated colonial police force. From early in the 20th century when Japan incorporated Korea into its burgeoning empire, Koreans have struggled against foreign domination, first by Japan then by the United States. Patriots, Traitors and Empires, The Story of Korea's Struggle for Freedom is a much-needed antidote to the jingoist clamor spewing from all quarters whenever Korea is discussed.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Washington’s Long War on Syria is a well-researched and deeply considered analysis of the tragedy that has befallen Syria. Stephen Gowans reveals the political and economic interests that are motivating Washington’s intervention in Syria. No praise is too high for this much-needed corrective to Western propaganda. This fascinating book is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the war in Syria.” Gregory Elich is on the Board of Directors of the Jasenovac Research Institute and the Advisory Board of the Korea Policy Institute.
“It is always refreshing to read Stephen Gowans. … he does his homework and his writing is well-documented and far from the well-intentioned fluff that litter too many websites. He is careful to situate his subject within its context and he has a good eye for discerning what is important and what is of lesser consequence. These virtues are exemplified by his latest book… Stephen Gowans has written a marvellous and incisive study of modern Korea.” —Tim Beal, author of Crisis in Korea (Pluto Press, 2011)
"Stephen Gowans is not a writer to mince words or to defer to mainstream distortions. He makes no concessions to the standard self-serving Western narrative, and this is one of the reasons his work is so consistently refreshing. Gowans is also noted for his careful research and masterly knack for deploying information in support of logical analysis. Patriots, Traitors and Empires is no different in those respects. His book is an impassioned call for justice, imbued with a deeply felt sympathy for the Korean people and their struggle for freedom." —Gregory Elich, Zoom in Korea, Critical News and Analysis of the Korean Peninsula
"A highly recommended read for armchair historians and history scholars alike. Very informative and worth a 5-star rating. Patriots, Traitors and Empires goes on my 2018 longlist for a “The Very Best Book Award for Non-Fiction." —James Fisher, The Miramichi Reader
About the Author
Stephen Gowans is an independent political analyst whose principal interest is in who influences formulation of foreign policy in the United States. His writings, which appear on his What’s Left blog, have been reproduced widely in online and print media and have been cited in academic journals and other scholarly works. Some articles have been translated into many languages.
Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Patriots, Traitors and EmpiresReviewed in the United States on August 10, 2018
Format: Paperback
Even the sainted Jimmy Carter isn’t spared in Stephen Gowans’ new book, Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom.
The book is a well-sourced, passionate, and compelling attempt to counter the narrative that the United States’ role in Korea is about preserving democratic ideals and human rights. As the title suggests, the book shows the view that those Koreans who want to end the brutal rule of outsiders like the Japanese and the Americans, are the “Patriots”, and those “quislings” who are part of the structure of that outside rule are the “Traitors”, so don’t expect much information about North Korean flaws. If you want the complete history of Korea, this probably shouldn’t be the only book about Korea on your shelf, but if you want ammunition to steer people away from the dummies.com version of history they’ve been taught, this is a good place to start.
5 people found this helpful
HelpfulComment Report abuse
Dr. T
5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than just the story of KoreaReviewed in the United States on November 27, 2019
Format: Paperback
This might be my favorite book ever. Not only is it a sort of "people's history of the DPRK" or "A history of North Koreans from the perspective of North Koreans" but it is so much more than that. You learn about the economic and imperialist forces behind WW1 and WW2, you learn about how the US has been surpassing movements of liberty and equality throughout the world for over a century.
This book it very readable, and consistently interesting. There is no fluff here, just meat and potatoes. I only wish he talked a bit more about Kim il sung himself or the juche ideology, but the stuff he did say about those was super interesting and important. I cannot recommend this book enough. I will read every book this guy writes from now on. 10/10
HelpfulComment Report abuse
Ray Hogenson
5.0 out of 5 stars Context the mainstream media will never giveReviewed in the United States on December 2, 2019
Format: Paperback
An excellent counter-narrative to the dishonest way the DPRK is portrayed in American media. A must-read!
HelpfulComment Report abuse
See all reviews from the United States
Top international reviews
Leigh Darnton
4.0 out of 5 stars From a different angle
HelpfulComment Report abuse
Ray Hogenson
5.0 out of 5 stars Context the mainstream media will never giveReviewed in the United States on December 2, 2019
Format: Paperback
An excellent counter-narrative to the dishonest way the DPRK is portrayed in American media. A must-read!
HelpfulComment Report abuse
See all reviews from the United States
Top international reviews
Leigh Darnton
4.0 out of 5 stars From a different angle
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2018
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
We have become so used to being told how evil North Korea is over decades it is quite difficult to see the situation from a different perspective. The author somewhat overemphasises the point that there is an alternative view but this is justified to some degree. The North has suffered over the decades from isolation, especially since the demise of the USSR & the strangulation by the US (& us) in terms of trade - witness the banning of coal exports from the country so making life much harder for the people of the DPKR. Well worth a read in my opinion.
One person found this helpful
-------------
Goodreads review
Aug 04, 2018★ rated it liked it
Shelves: empire-sabatoge-espionage-cia, history-historiography, marxism-hegel-rev-dialectics, politics-political-science, collection-print, fascism-neo-nazism-etc
I'm not really sure who the audience is here, tbh. If it's for non-communists and anti-communists, the citations seem bare and not exactly convincing [I mean, -I- think the Webbs and Anna Louise Stong, for example, are important and helpful sources, but it would seem more appropriate to take the approach of someone like Szymanski in emphasizing your argument by citing (not necessarily even exclusively, but mostly) outright anti-communist or otherwise "mainstream" or "non-partisan" sources]; if it's aimed at communists, I'm not sure there's much content here that will be new to anyone at all. Then again, perhaps I don't feel like I gleaned anything new because I think I pretty much read all of what I would say are Gowans' main sources earlier this year [Cumings for stuff specific to Korea; on the theoretical side, Lenin's "Imperialism" and Losurdo, etc.]. Perhaps the best audience would be people who are non-communist or sympathetic to communism and curious, and who largely lack preconceptions about actually-existing-socialism in Korea [doesn't seem like there could be -that- many people like that in the Anglosphere who would also get ahold of this moderately academic-y book, but idk...].
Most of the history specific to Korea is straight from Cumings [someone who, btw, I know is the "foremost" Anglosphere Korea historian or whatever, but is honestly extremely orientalist and awful imho], and I think the best and richest passages in the book are ones that place this history within the context of colonialism and the project of anti-colonialism which defines the 20th century [see Losurdo]. Interestingly Gowans, in contrast to Losurdo,-- for whom [I'm simplifying of course, and Losurdo's position is very nuanced and perhaps ultimately not actually all that dissimilar from Gowans'] Liberalism describes an essential ideological continuity of colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, genocide, and fascism-- emphasizes that in a sense the socialist anti-colonial struggles of the USSR, DPRK, et al., can be seen as the -true- continuation of the progressive work of the liberal ["Enlightenment" in Gowans' words] politic sparked by the Jacobins and Haitians.
In any case, where I'd already learned certain things, it's not a bad thing to have refreshed my memory and solidified what I learned in those sources, as well as to have enriched and broadened my understanding of them. I pretty much never miss an entry to Gowans' blog, and his analysis is always helpful in some way. (less)
flag2 likes · Like · comment · see review
May 24, 2018James Fisher rated it it was amazing
Shelves: non-fiction, war, social-issues
An excellent book that exposes (and explodes) myths about North Korea and shows how South Korea is a puppet state of the US. Full review: http://bit.ly/koreanstruggle
flag1 like · Like · see review
Jul 18, 2018Mohamed rated it liked it
Shelves: owned
As far as an introductory glance into the modern (early 20th century onwards) history of the Korean Peninsula is concerned, Stephen Gowans does incredibly well in Patriots, Traitors, and Empires. The book is concise, clear, and easy to read. Gowans illustrates a history of Korea that has been brutalized, exploited, and occupied for decades, thus explaining the emergence of a resistance movement as typified by the "patriot" Kim Il-Sung. Conversely, Gowans is excellent in covering the history of ...more
flagLike · comment · see review
Jul 09, 2018Sheena rated it it was amazing
Shelves: imperialism, history, indigenous-studies
Eye opening and poetic. Fascinating history for those who are already anti-imperialist and for those who are not this puts into plain perspective why the DPRK (among every other anti-imperialist nation on earth) deserves your support. Cannot recommend enough.
flagLike · comment · see review
Jun 25, 2019deathbydust rated it really liked it
informative, but author can get a bit repetitious. otherwise it's an important read that upends the popular perception of the dprk, rok, and america's role in the conflict, countering the propaganda disseminated by the american empire in what the author calls the epistemology of ignorance.
flagLike · comment · see review
May 07, 2018Carlos Martinez rated it it was amazing
Shelves: korea
Very important book, one of a small handful that give a nuanced and interesting view of modern Korean history (others include Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History, North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power and Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. Disengagement).
As you would expect with Stephen Gowans, the perspective is unapologetically anti-imperialist, but in a sea of essentially pro-imperialist writing on North Korea, this is no bad thing. Plus the book is well-sourced and credible. (less)
---
Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom by Stephen Gowans
JUNE 12, 2018 BY JAMES M. FISHER
Of all the wars fought in the twentieth century, the one I was least familiar with was the Korean War. Odd, because my father-in-law served in Korea with Canadian Forces. With Baraka Books’ 2018 release of Patriots, Traitors and Empires by Stephen Gowans came my opportunity to learn more about the history of Korea, how it came to be divided into North and South and so on. It also helped me to understand current events, with the remote possibility of the two Koreas uniting, something the Korean peoples have wanted for decades (and the US does not want).
“The Koreans have as little use for an American Korea as they had for a Japanese one. They want a Korean Korea”
In its fourteen chapters, plus an Introduction and Conclusion, Notes and a Bibliography, Mr. Gowans, writing with great clarity, takes us back in history to the Empire of Japan and how it came to have barbaric control of Korea in 1910, enslaving the Korean people and taking the land’s resources for the island Nation. Then, with the exit of the Japanese after their defeat in WWII, came the partitioning of Korea and the entrenchment of the Americans. What came as an eye-opener for me was the number of American troops and bases presently in Korea (at the time of writing of the book in 2018):
There are “not two, but three Koreas,” observed William R. Polk: the DPRK [North Korea], the ROK [South Korea]and US Military Bases. Actually, there is only one Korea and that Polk can point to three (or even two) is emblematic of the power Washington has to create artificial political constructions and an ideology to explain them. There is, in reality, one Korea. But grafted onto the one indivisible country is an illegitimate state, the ROK, (“basically set up” by Washington as Bruce Cumings observes) and roughly two dozen US military bases on which 30,000 service personnel are stationed as an occupation force.
The above is typical of the clear logic Mr. Gowans uses to explain how South Korea is basically a puppet state of the US and the primary reason the US has not left the peninsula (as they agreed to do in 1949; the Soviets did leave as agreed) is because they need its strategic geographic location as a power projection platform in Asia.
My review copy has an abundance of highlights and dog-eared pages, indicative of a fact-filled and scholarly work. A highly recommended read for armchair historians and history scholars alike. Very informative and worth a 5-star rating. Patriots, Traitors and Empires goes on my 2018 longlist for a “The Very Best!” Book Award for Non-Fiction.
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
We have become so used to being told how evil North Korea is over decades it is quite difficult to see the situation from a different perspective. The author somewhat overemphasises the point that there is an alternative view but this is justified to some degree. The North has suffered over the decades from isolation, especially since the demise of the USSR & the strangulation by the US (& us) in terms of trade - witness the banning of coal exports from the country so making life much harder for the people of the DPKR. Well worth a read in my opinion.
One person found this helpful
-------------
Goodreads review
Aug 04, 2018★ rated it liked it
Shelves: empire-sabatoge-espionage-cia, history-historiography, marxism-hegel-rev-dialectics, politics-political-science, collection-print, fascism-neo-nazism-etc
I'm not really sure who the audience is here, tbh. If it's for non-communists and anti-communists, the citations seem bare and not exactly convincing [I mean, -I- think the Webbs and Anna Louise Stong, for example, are important and helpful sources, but it would seem more appropriate to take the approach of someone like Szymanski in emphasizing your argument by citing (not necessarily even exclusively, but mostly) outright anti-communist or otherwise "mainstream" or "non-partisan" sources]; if it's aimed at communists, I'm not sure there's much content here that will be new to anyone at all. Then again, perhaps I don't feel like I gleaned anything new because I think I pretty much read all of what I would say are Gowans' main sources earlier this year [Cumings for stuff specific to Korea; on the theoretical side, Lenin's "Imperialism" and Losurdo, etc.]. Perhaps the best audience would be people who are non-communist or sympathetic to communism and curious, and who largely lack preconceptions about actually-existing-socialism in Korea [doesn't seem like there could be -that- many people like that in the Anglosphere who would also get ahold of this moderately academic-y book, but idk...].
Most of the history specific to Korea is straight from Cumings [someone who, btw, I know is the "foremost" Anglosphere Korea historian or whatever, but is honestly extremely orientalist and awful imho], and I think the best and richest passages in the book are ones that place this history within the context of colonialism and the project of anti-colonialism which defines the 20th century [see Losurdo]. Interestingly Gowans, in contrast to Losurdo,-- for whom [I'm simplifying of course, and Losurdo's position is very nuanced and perhaps ultimately not actually all that dissimilar from Gowans'] Liberalism describes an essential ideological continuity of colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, genocide, and fascism-- emphasizes that in a sense the socialist anti-colonial struggles of the USSR, DPRK, et al., can be seen as the -true- continuation of the progressive work of the liberal ["Enlightenment" in Gowans' words] politic sparked by the Jacobins and Haitians.
In any case, where I'd already learned certain things, it's not a bad thing to have refreshed my memory and solidified what I learned in those sources, as well as to have enriched and broadened my understanding of them. I pretty much never miss an entry to Gowans' blog, and his analysis is always helpful in some way. (less)
flag2 likes · Like · comment · see review
May 24, 2018James Fisher rated it it was amazing
Shelves: non-fiction, war, social-issues
An excellent book that exposes (and explodes) myths about North Korea and shows how South Korea is a puppet state of the US. Full review: http://bit.ly/koreanstruggle
flag1 like · Like · see review
Jul 18, 2018Mohamed rated it liked it
Shelves: owned
As far as an introductory glance into the modern (early 20th century onwards) history of the Korean Peninsula is concerned, Stephen Gowans does incredibly well in Patriots, Traitors, and Empires. The book is concise, clear, and easy to read. Gowans illustrates a history of Korea that has been brutalized, exploited, and occupied for decades, thus explaining the emergence of a resistance movement as typified by the "patriot" Kim Il-Sung. Conversely, Gowans is excellent in covering the history of ...more
flagLike · comment · see review
Jul 09, 2018Sheena rated it it was amazing
Shelves: imperialism, history, indigenous-studies
Eye opening and poetic. Fascinating history for those who are already anti-imperialist and for those who are not this puts into plain perspective why the DPRK (among every other anti-imperialist nation on earth) deserves your support. Cannot recommend enough.
flagLike · comment · see review
Jun 25, 2019deathbydust rated it really liked it
informative, but author can get a bit repetitious. otherwise it's an important read that upends the popular perception of the dprk, rok, and america's role in the conflict, countering the propaganda disseminated by the american empire in what the author calls the epistemology of ignorance.
flagLike · comment · see review
May 07, 2018Carlos Martinez rated it it was amazing
Shelves: korea
Very important book, one of a small handful that give a nuanced and interesting view of modern Korean history (others include Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History, North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power and Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. Disengagement).
As you would expect with Stephen Gowans, the perspective is unapologetically anti-imperialist, but in a sea of essentially pro-imperialist writing on North Korea, this is no bad thing. Plus the book is well-sourced and credible. (less)
---
Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom by Stephen Gowans
JUNE 12, 2018 BY JAMES M. FISHER
Of all the wars fought in the twentieth century, the one I was least familiar with was the Korean War. Odd, because my father-in-law served in Korea with Canadian Forces. With Baraka Books’ 2018 release of Patriots, Traitors and Empires by Stephen Gowans came my opportunity to learn more about the history of Korea, how it came to be divided into North and South and so on. It also helped me to understand current events, with the remote possibility of the two Koreas uniting, something the Korean peoples have wanted for decades (and the US does not want).
“The Koreans have as little use for an American Korea as they had for a Japanese one. They want a Korean Korea”
In its fourteen chapters, plus an Introduction and Conclusion, Notes and a Bibliography, Mr. Gowans, writing with great clarity, takes us back in history to the Empire of Japan and how it came to have barbaric control of Korea in 1910, enslaving the Korean people and taking the land’s resources for the island Nation. Then, with the exit of the Japanese after their defeat in WWII, came the partitioning of Korea and the entrenchment of the Americans. What came as an eye-opener for me was the number of American troops and bases presently in Korea (at the time of writing of the book in 2018):
There are “not two, but three Koreas,” observed William R. Polk: the DPRK [North Korea], the ROK [South Korea]and US Military Bases. Actually, there is only one Korea and that Polk can point to three (or even two) is emblematic of the power Washington has to create artificial political constructions and an ideology to explain them. There is, in reality, one Korea. But grafted onto the one indivisible country is an illegitimate state, the ROK, (“basically set up” by Washington as Bruce Cumings observes) and roughly two dozen US military bases on which 30,000 service personnel are stationed as an occupation force.
The above is typical of the clear logic Mr. Gowans uses to explain how South Korea is basically a puppet state of the US and the primary reason the US has not left the peninsula (as they agreed to do in 1949; the Soviets did leave as agreed) is because they need its strategic geographic location as a power projection platform in Asia.
My review copy has an abundance of highlights and dog-eared pages, indicative of a fact-filled and scholarly work. A highly recommended read for armchair historians and history scholars alike. Very informative and worth a 5-star rating. Patriots, Traitors and Empires goes on my 2018 longlist for a “The Very Best!” Book Award for Non-Fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment