Korea's Place in the Sun

This book is, quite simply, the best introduction to modern Korean history. Like other similar books, it covers the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, but it also has a helpful chapter that gives an overview of Korea’s premodern history.

What really sets this book apart is its carefully chosen insights on key aspects of modern history that give readers a deeper understanding of current events in Korea.

The book is a pleasure to read thanks to the author’s engaging writing style; it also provides an intellectual thrill because of the author’s questioning of Western assumptions about Korea as well… show more.

Cumings’ books on Korea—there are a number of them—could fill every spot on a list of the five best books to understand the DPRK. Cumings is the leading Western expert on Korean modern history, and Korea’s Place in the Sun is the best place to start. I love every one of Cumings’ books, and this one especially. He is a superb writer and doesn’t pander to established opinions.

University of Chicago professor Bruce Cumings is the preeminent expert on modern Korean history. He is also a gifted writer, and this book is the best one-volume history of Korea one can find. Cumings explains both the extraordinary progress Korea has made in 150 years, and the terrible damage that 35 years of Japanese colonialism did to the country. He demonstrates the ways that North and South Korea mirror each other, and is fairer to the North than most Western historians.