Korea: A History
by Eugene Y. Park (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (45)
While popular trends, cuisine, and long-standing political tension have made Korea familiar in some ways to a vast English-speaking world, its recorded history of some two millennia remains unfamiliar to most. Korea: A History addresses general readers, providing an up-to-date, accessible overview of Korean history from antiquity to the present. Eugene Y. Park draws on original-language sources and the up-to-date synthesis of East Asian and Western-language scholarship to provide an insightful account. This book expands still-limited English-language discussions on pre-modern Korea, offering rigorous and compelling analyses of Korea's modernization while discussing daily life, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ history, and North Korean history not always included in Korea surveys. Overall, Park is able to break new ground on questions and debates that have been central to the field of Korean studies since its inception.
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CONTENTS
Figures, Table, and Maps
Preface
Conventions
Introduction
PART I: THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
1. The Dawn of Korean Civilization to 391 CE
2. The Three Kingdoms, Puyõ, and Kaya, 391–676
3. The Northern and Southern States, 676–918
PART II: THE POST-CLASSICAL PERIOD
4. Early Koryõ, 918–1146
5. Late Koryõ, 1146–1392
PART III: THE EARLY MODERN ERA
6. Early Chosŏn, 1392–1567
7. The Mid-Choson Crisis and Recovery, 1567–1724
8. Late Chosŏn Renovation and Decline, 1724–1864
PART IV: THE LATE MODERN ERA
9. Reform, Imperialism, and Nationalism, 1864–1910
10. Japanese Occupation, 1910–1945
11. Establishment of Two Korean States, 1945–1960
12. Growth and Divergence, 1960–1980
13. Toward Détente, 1980–2000
14. Recent Developments
Further Readings
Index
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Review
"Korea: A History is another essential interdisciplinary work not only for the Korean Studies community but also for wider audiences, transferring a clear-cut and detailed account of the peninsula's history. It is an excellent historical textbook about Korea's political, economic, and social background from its own unique historiographical point of view."--Gabor Sebo, Pacific Affairs
"This long-awaited book demonstrates the author's broad expertise, and incorporates recent discoveries of Korean history. Strongly recommended both for readers interested in an introduction to Korean history and for specialists who want to update their knowledge."--Yumi Moon, Stanford University
"With discussions on numerous aspects of cultural and economic history--including religion, education, gender, architecture, food, and popular culture--this comprehensive but accessible book is a welcome corrective to earlier work that tended to focus on institutional, intellectual, and political history of Korea as a 'tributary state' in the sinocentric order."--Ross King, University of British Columbia
"This book offers a sweeping yet detailed overview of the Korean past. Park's periodization (classical, post-classical, early modern, and late modern) is an innovative interpretation and succeeds in making the Korean narrative relevant to comparative world history."--James B. Lewis, University of Oxford
"Korea... is full of details and the writing flows and provides a sweeping overview of Korea from prehistoric times to the modern era, enabling readers to understand and appreciate Korea as a civilization in its own right with admirable cultural, economic and political achievements, rather than as an obscure entity nestled between and fought over by bigger neighbors."--Hilton Yip, Asian Review of Books
"Park is one of the few experts in premodern Korean history in the West, and he gives the long premodern past the attention it fully deserves.... The writing is accessible, and the book is an excellent reference for lay readers, college students, and professional historians. Highly recommended."--M. J. Wert, CHOICE
"Park has succeeded in writing an innovative and informative overview of Korean history. He has done so by drawing from 'original-language sources and the up-to-date synthesis of East Asian and Western-language scholarship.'"--Jaymin Kim, Acta Koreana
About the Author
Eugene Y. Park is the Rick and Cathy Trachok Endowed Chair in International Studies and Professor in History at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is the author of A Genealogy of Dissent (Stanford University Press, 2018).
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Publication date : 15 February 2022
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Eugene Y. Park
Eugene Y. Park is an American historian of Korea. After studying at UCLA and Harvard, Park completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale and has held faculty appointments at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Nevada, Reno. Park has also taught at Harvard, Korea, McGill, Seoul National, and Yonsei, and has given over 60 invited lectures, speeches, or presentations, including the Twenty-Sixth Annual Stanley Spector Memorial Lecture on East Asian History and Civilization at Washington University in St. Louis (2019). The author of seven books, Park is also interested in genealogy, population genetics, primatology, portraiture, religion, and philosophy. Various high-profile projects have consulted with him, including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (PBS) and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). In 2016, Park co-chaired the organizing committee for the Eighth Biennial World Congress of Korean Studies.
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From other countries
Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Tolles Buch
Reviewed in Germany on 22 August 2026
Really a great and detailed book that also provides a great insight into Korean history for me as a beginner.
I am very satisfied and can only recommend it to anyone who is interested in the country of culture or history.
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Money waster
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!!
Reviewed in the United States on 8 July 2022
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I am only reading this for fun as I am not a serious historian or student. This book is so good I read it cover to cover and enjoyed it completely. I wish it was longer and more detailed in the part from years 2000 to present, but hopefully this author will write another book with that as the focus. If that happens, I will definitely buy it.
Country of Origin: Printed in the USA
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Jocelyn Tieman
4.0 out of 5 stars easy to read
Reviewed in the United States on 4 July 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
good intro to Korean history...
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Larry W hayes
1.0 out of 5 stars Dry as dust
Reviewed in the United States on 18 May 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Very disappointed book was tough read, lacked any emotion in presentation, and lacked depth presenting history of Japanese occupation or the Korean War.
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