A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present

by Michael J. Seth

Now in a fully revised and updated edition including new primary sources and illustrations, this comprehensive book surveys Korean history from Neolithic times to the present. Michael J. Seth explores the origins and development of Korean society, politics, and still little-known cultural heritage from their inception to the two Korean states of today. Telling the remarkable story of the origins and evolution of a society that borrowed and adopted from abroad, Seth describes how various tribal peoples in the peninsula came together to form one of the world’s most distinctive communities. He shows how this ancient, culturally and ethnically homogeneous society was wrenched into the world of late-nineteenth-century imperialism, fell victim to Japanese expansionism, and then became arbitrarily divided into two opposed halves, North and South, after World War II.


Tracing the post-war years since 1945, the book explains how the two Koreas, with their deeply different political and social systems and geopolitical orientations, evolved into sharply contrasting societies. South Korea, after an unpromising start, became one of the few postcolonial developing states to enter the ranks of the first world, with a globally competitive economy, a democratic political system, and a cosmopolitan and dynamic culture. North Korea, by contrast, became one of the world’s most totalitarian and isolated societies, a nuclear power with an impoverished and famine-stricken population. Seth describes and analyzes the radically different and historically unprecedented trajectories of the two Koreas, formerly one tight-knit society. Throughout, he adds a rare dimension by placing Korean history into broader global perspective. All readers looking for a balanced, knowledgeable history will be richly rewarded with this clear and concise book.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Asia

640 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Ozymandias · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Lot Of Interesting Stuff About A Place I Know Little About

This book provides a good guide to two millennia of Korean history. This is not a civilization that was familiar to me, but I feel like I understand it a lot better now even if I still have questions. Plenty of questions.

I read this book more out of a sense of obligation than any expectation I’d find Korean history interesting. I find Japanese and Chinese history fascinating, but they’re independent civilizations rather than subordinate kingdoms to the Heavenly Emperor. So I was pleased to discover that Korean history is a lot more unique and rich than that. They’re hardly Chinese implants for a start. I was amazed at just how Japanese much of their culture is – assuming Japan had been the one attached to the mainland and facing an aggressive superpower they may have responded the same way. Korea actually went through the same collapse of centralized rule and rise of military shoguns that Japan did, and at around the same time. Only Japan stuck with it while Korea ultimately rejected it and brought back a strong centralized king. And that’s where that land border comes in: Japan’s warriors triumphed in their Mongol war while Korea’s were discredited. And the obvious threat from China never allowed the growth of regional warlords the way island Japan could. I wouldn’t want to carry the Japan = Korea analysis too far, but it is definitely striking when you look at it.

It’s also interesting how aristocratic and status conscious Korea has always been. They imported a lot of China’s centralized government, but they always preserved the aristocracy (yangbans). The exams for example, were adapted to simply serve as a vehicle for competition within the aristocracy. And the king, despite his high status, ruled through an aristocratic council composed of different shifting factions. Factional disputes are another recurring theme here. Korean history seems riddled with them and with gross corruption – a theme prominent in Korean media as well. If there’s a complaint here, it’s just that you never really get a sense of how these factional disputes played out in practice. To understand that you really need to pick a narrow period and track the motions. The aristocratic loathing for military service was also fascinating. Most cultures don’t go down that route as they rely on the military for survival, but Korea has for a long time.

The book is always searching for clear sociological themes – the role of women and the power of the aristocratic classes. Both seem to get worse over time. It also focuses on the economy, art & literature, and foreign relations. Each chapter ends with two things I find very useful: a Korea in World History heading that provides context from other events going on at the time, and a selection of source extracts that demonstrate one or more of the themes in the chapter. In this, I think this book is better than a native Korean guide (most other introductory works are translated South Korean textbooks) since it serves as a guide to Korean culture and society rather than a more narrow political/economic tract that takes such things for granted. For a similar reason, I think the Oxford History of the United States books provide the best coverage of American history.

The book is a good length – long enough to cover every period in at least some detail but not so long that it tries to say everything. It definitely has a stronger focus on the modern era: the period after 1876 takes up more than half the book. Honestly, I do feel that it is a little unbalanced in favor of the present day. Part of this is probably the fact that it’s an updated edition – the chapters on divided Korea stop at 1993 and there’s an additional chapter afterwards bringing us up to 2015. Quite a lot has changed in the last twenty years. I suppose another part is that it feels like reading about two different countries: which of course is exactly what you’re doing. The extreme contrast between North and South Korea just seems so bizarre after reading the very united history of Korea. The chapters do run a bit long for my taste. They tend to be nearish to forty pages, which is a lot to read in one sitting if you’re a compulsive chapter-finisher like me.

The book is very interesting and displays a lot of knowledge but at times it can be a bit dry. I don’t remember ever feeling particularly immersed in Korean society or mourning any individual voices. It’s aloof and scholarly and never spends long on any one era. While the narrative function is clear it still feels at times like a list of facts strung together rather than a flowing narrative or thematic overview. I do think this is inevitable to some degree, and having been reading a lot of overviews this is far from the worst, but be warned: it can be tough going at times.

I am very glad to have read this book. It provided me with an excellent overview of Korean history and provided an annotated bibliography so I can research any areas of particular interest further. My brother lived in Korea for two years, but now I know more Korean history than he does. I feel very superior. So that’s my blurb (publishers pay attention): for a largely unwarranted sense of superiority read this book.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very accessible narrative overview history of Korea from antiquity to the present. It is only concise in the sense that it covers an enormous amount of content in a precise fashion. But short it is not! The book is almost 600 pages in length and I took my time reading it. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to get a good sense of Korea's long national history.

[Mark Henkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book that I read over 26 days, from February 1 to 26, 2023, consuming 2,200 minutes (36 hours 40 minutes).

It provides an accessible and informative walkthrough of the "three kingdoms" (of each 500-year dynastic eras) of Silla to Koryo to Choson (Joseon) until the Japanese colonialism of 1910, followed by the Division after World War II, the Korean War, and what happened to both North Korea and South Korea from 1945 until 2019.

I never knew how deeply the communist North Korean governments were focused on Reunification (even if by force) as I now understand the nationalism that both North and South embraced (in their separate ways). I also did not realize how totalitarian the pro-Western South Korean governments had been until most recent times.

Having been a fan of South Korean TV drama series for a decade now, it was exciting for me to see so many explanations of things I had observed in such shows. For just one example, the corporatism of Chaebols (the families of uber-elite corporations) in the super-large "crony capitalism" - that were given special low-rate loans by government assistance that were NOT available to small business truly - explained a lot. For one more example, the cult of North Korea's "juche" ideology provided vastly more clarity for me regarding the "beyond-communist" totalitarian control and mindset of the North Korea's seemingly-religious succession of Father, Son, and Grandson leaders. And there are so many other examples I could add, too.

One last comment I have to make is that this reveals to me how human beings will always find ways to organize governments over themselves, even by force from others. This reality is NOT just a "Western-thing." The Korean people went through many different permutations and forms of governments (even their Kings were not as powerful as we might have thought due to Aristocrat power, etc.). Seeing this makes me realize that, even if one does not have a strong government, they will eventually have one IMPOSED on them otherwise. It is with this understanding that I could never support actual non-government anarchism - it will only lead to one being IMPOSED by imperialist conquerors anyway. Hence, this teaches me to prefer SOME governmental system that has a Constitution that defines and constrains such government power, that empowers the people to change their representatives in government, and that makes sure that the rights of the Individuals are protected even from a majority. I hereby learn again how and why I still will only prefer to be a citizen of what the United States is supposed to be:
a Constitutional REPRESENTATIVE Republic
(Note: #WeAreNOTaDemocracy).

Anyway, I loved this book. I strongly recommend this to anyone.
This book is 5 Stars.

[Michael Crha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instructions unclear. Failed the civil examinations. I have brought shame upon my family and am being exiled to an island. 10/10
🇰🇷🇩🇰 Hej fellow Danes at KU

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid overview of all of Korean history.

[Joseph Francher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overbiew. Detailed references. Good read.

[Erik Champenois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of Korean history, though strongly emphasizing modern times. The first part of the book (dealing with ancient Korea up till the late 1800s) was a bit too segmented - I sometimes wished for more details and narrative, with more of a focus and better choices on what to include/not include. I preferred the flow of the more narrative second part which helped illuminate political developments of recent decades quite well.

A good resource that helped me understand Korea's extended past history, the philosophical and religious influences of Confucianism and Buddhism, political developments of recent decades, and Korea's historical relationship to China and Japan (in spite of some important episodes vis-a-vis Japan, China was much more of an influence). One strength that I appreciated was how each chapter would end with a section situating Korea's history for that chapter with wider East Asian and worldwide trends, very helpful for drawing connections between Korean and larger regional/global historical developments.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

An excellent overview of a country which, although fascinating in its own right, it's far too often forgotten and overshadowed by its two giant neighbours. Particularly good on the post-war history of divided Korea.