The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation
JaHyun Kim Haboush, William Haboush (Editor), Jisoo Kim (Editor)
3.64
25 ratings6 reviews
The Imjin War (1592–1598) was a grueling conflict that wreaked havoc on the towns and villages of the Korean Peninsula. The involvement of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean forces, not to mention the regional scope of the war, was the largest the world had seen, and the memory dominated East Asian memory until World War II. Despite massive regional realignments, Korea's Chosŏn Dynasty endured, but within its polity a new, national discourse began to emerge. Meant to inspire civilians to rise up against the Japanese army, this potent rhetoric conjured a unified Korea and intensified after the Manchu invasions of 1627 and 1636.
By documenting this phenomenon, JaHyun Kim Haboush offers a compelling counternarrative to Western historiography, which ties Korea's idea of nation to the imported ideologies of modern colonialism. She instead elevates the formative role of the conflicts that defined the second half of the Chosŏn Dynasty, which had transfigured the geopolitics of East Asia and introduced a national narrative key to Korea's survival. Re-creating the cultural and political passions that bound Chosŏn society together during this period, Haboush reclaims the root story of solidarity that helped Korea thrive well into the modern era.
GenresHistoryNonfictionChina
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 8, 2016
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Mick Pletcher
93 reviews4 followers
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July 4, 2018
This is an excellent book. Before reading this, I knew little about the history of Korea as it was never taught in school. After reading it, the history that took place in the 16th century is astonishing on how it went from individual armies to one great army of Korean and Chinese while fighting the Japanese invasion. The invasion resulted in almost 300,000 casualties, with most being Korean and Chinese.
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on Christian
9 reviews6 followers
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November 14, 2019
I'm curious as to why the author named the river in Chinju (Jinju, 진주) "Ch'oksōk" when its name is Namgang.
Books that use Romanized spellings of native words need to have an index of the native spelling.
Okay. This book was well done. I'm not sure she proved her thesis, but it still offers a great look into the mindset of Korea during the first Imjin War.
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Juhyundred
106 reviews26 followers
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December 29, 2021
Another literary studies text with a great deal of historical insight to offer. Kim Haboush’s dependence on discursive analysis and conceptions of nationalism is a bit limiting at times. Nevertheless this is still a rich and relatively short read, focusing on a variety of historical documents from court records and proclamations to postwar literature. The last chapter was kind of skippable
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Meg ☀︎ Carlson
36 reviews
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September 9, 2022
This is an excellent book about the history and i loved learning about it!! My only problem was some of the wording made it super hard to understand certain point. Again, I did read this for a class, but I am happy we were able to discuss this topic!
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Davis Florick
27 reviews1 follower
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July 10, 2017
Surprisingly focused on Korean language and identity development.
china east-asia korea
...more
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Eric Tsui
24 reviews31 followers
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August 1, 2017
The book raised an important point: the origin of Korean nationalism could be traced towards a 16th century war, which was fought among Korea, Japan and the Ming Empire. Indeed this war defined East Asian international order, and the effect could still be felt in these days. The argument, however, is incomplete for sad reasons: the author passed away when the book was half-done. Her early death is a great loss to the community of Korean historical studies.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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