Reviews for The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, Revised & Updated

The average rating for The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, Revised & Updated based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-01 00:00:00 Robert Yarbrough How can one go about writing a review for a book like this? A book on the shelves of mainstream bookstores and competing with what seems to be an ever-growing "Korea" genre in the "Asia" section of most chain bookstores or on Amazon.com. This might be the closest attempt at "non-biased" Western history of Modern Korea. It is a collection of facts and photos that details the evolution of Korean internal policy and foreign policy from the end of the Japanese Colonial Period until the beginnings of Modern Korean democracy at the end of the 80's and into the 90's. If you are interested in that, and all the good and band that it entails, you will find this book informative. However, a book like this must compete with the likes of more narrative-based histories with firmer ideologies such as Bruce Cummings or B.R. Myers, both of whom have written more "hot" books about Korea. However, if you like to read history with as little written between the lines as possible, while still acknowledging the claims of both sides, this is a worthwhile starting point to Modern Korean Studies. Remembering that it's difficult to rate the book. Judging from the reviews of Cummings and Myers and others on this website, it probably wouldn't hold many of your interest. However, if you are interested in the book's somewhat dry but indispensable history, it is definitely a compelling read.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-07-14 00:00:00 Penny Applegate This book covers Korea from 1950 to 2000. It contains a lot of facts about events. If that is what you are looking for, this is a good book for you. I found Korea's Place in the Sun to be a better read. That book has some opinion thrown in which made it more interesting for me. One thing On China by Henry Kissinger and this book have in common is the focus on politicians, diplomts and soldiers. Fifty years ago, these things were important, but in the last fifteen years that type of stuff takes a back seat to business relationships. You might be reading this on your ipad, an Apple branded product that has components from LG, a Korean company, that is assembled in China. Economics are more important than statesman-type things.