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A review by xzp314
Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History by Bruce Cumings
3.0
as i read somewhere -- was indeed true that the author's viewpoint on Korea is very particular & the writing is neither objective nor masks itself.
what i was really looking for was a 'traditional' history book - ie a chronology of dates and events and people, so it's not fair to say that i was disappointed by this in that sense since it was not the purpose of this book to serve such a need. the thematic organization of the book was refreshing, however, and although it was not what i was looking for, i nevertheless learned something from seeing the pie sliced in a different way. if i could do it over, i would prefer to read / familiarize myself with the actual history before reading this as some of the dates/people were lost on me since my knowledge is limited at best. (also doesn't help that i know the names and events in actual korean and the romanization throws you off a lot).
also thought-provoking to see an emphatic presentation of possibly controversial sentiments / interpretations.
what i was really looking for was a 'traditional' history book - ie a chronology of dates and events and people, so it's not fair to say that i was disappointed by this in that sense since it was not the purpose of this book to serve such a need. the thematic organization of the book was refreshing, however, and although it was not what i was looking for, i nevertheless learned something from seeing the pie sliced in a different way. if i could do it over, i would prefer to read / familiarize myself with the actual history before reading this as some of the dates/people were lost on me since my knowledge is limited at best. (also doesn't help that i know the names and events in actual korean and the romanization throws you off a lot).
also thought-provoking to see an emphatic presentation of possibly controversial sentiments / interpretations.