History / History by country / Asia / Korea

A Single Shard

by Linda Sue Park

In this Newbery Medal-winning book set in 12th century Korea, Tree-ear, a 13-year-old orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch’ulp’o, a potters' village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated...

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom inthe West

by Blaine Harden

The heartwrenching New York Times bestseller about the only known person born inside a North Korean prison camp to have escaped

North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s...

Korea: The Impossible Country

by Daniel Tudor

[Long overshadowed by Japan and China, South Korea is a small country that happens to be one of the great national success stories of the postwar period. From a failed state with no democratic tradition, ruined...

A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present

by Michael J. Seth

In this comprehensive yet compact book, Michael J. Seth surveys Korean history from Neolithic times to the present. He explores the origins and development of Korean society, politics, and still little-known...

Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo

by Jack Cheevers

In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission: to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and...

A Concise History of Korea: From the Neolithic Period through the Nineteenth Century

by Michael J. Seth

This engaging text provides a concise history of Korea from the beginning of human settlement in the region through the late nineteenth century, equally emphasizing social, cultural, and political history. Students...

Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War

by Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Through travels that range from Geneva to Pyongyang, this remarkable book takes readers on an odyssey through one of the most extraordinary forgotten tragedies of the Cold War: the "return" of over 90,000 people,...

The Last Days of Kim Jong-il: The North Korean Threat in a Changing Era

by Jr. Bruce Bechtol

North Korea has remained a thorn in the side of the United States ever since its creation in the aftermath of the Korean conflict of 1950û1953. Crafting a foreign policy that effectively deals with North Korea,...

Korea: A History

by Bong-youn Choy & Younghill Kang

There has long been the need for a detailed, scholarly history of Korea. The author has satisfied this need with a comprehensive political and socioeconomic history of Korea from 57 B.C. to modern times, including...

North Korea: A Guide to Economic and Political Developments

by Ian Jeffries

There is much intense interest in North Korea at present. This partly arises from questions about Korea's nuclear capability and intentions, and about the extent to which North Korea may be viewed as 'a rogue...

Korea's Fight for Freedom

by A. Fred

Korea's Fight for Freedom Originally published in 1920, this is an exhaustive examnation of Korea's struggle for freedom from oppressive Japanese rule. 'In this book I describe the struggle of an ancient people...

Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea

by Sheila Miyoshi Jager

A major historical account of the Korean War, its origins, and its evolving impact on the world.Sixty years after North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the Korean War has not yet ended....

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters

by B.R. Myers

Understanding North Korea through its propaganda

What do the North Koreans really believe? How do they see themselves and the world around them?

Here B.R. Myers, a North Korea analyst and a contributing editor...

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated)

by Bruce Cumings

"Passionate, cantankerous, and fascinating. Rather like Korea itself."--Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times Book ReviewKorea has endured a "fractured, shattered twentieth century," and this updated edition brings...

The Old Garden

by Hwang Sok-Yong & Jay Oh

Political prisoner Hyun Woo is freed after eighteen years to find no trace of the world he knew. The friends with whom he shared utopianist dreams are gone. His Seoul is unrecognizably transformed and aggressively...

The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98

by Stephen Turnbull & Peter Dennis

The invasions of Korea launched by the dictator Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1592-1593 and 1597-1598) are unique in Japanese history for being the only time that the samurai assaulted a foreign country. Hideyoshi planned...

Making of Modern Korea

by Adrian Buzo

This fully updated second edition of The Making of Modern Korea provides a thorough, balanced and engaging history of Korea from 1910 to the present day. The text is unique in placing emphasis on Korea's regional...

Korean Unification

by Jacques L Fuqua

One day, one nation on the Korean Peninsula

Korea's Development Under Park Chung-Hee

by Hyung-A Kim

Based on personal interviews with the principal policy-makers of the 1970s, Korea's Development under Park Chung-Hee examines how the president sought to develop South Korea into an independent, autonomous sovereign...

Korea's Divided Families: Fifty Years of Separation

by James Foley

The divided families problem is a serious social issue in North and South Korea, involving hundreds of thousands of first generation divided family members, most of whom have not seen their relatives since the...