SKAS Book Review 3
(Originally published in IEKAS, 05-14, April 15, 2005)
The History of Korea (The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations Series)
by Djun Kil Kim
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Greenwood Press (2005)
ISBN: 0313332967
List price: $45
About the Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations Series: (www.greenwood.com)
The series is intended to provide students and interested laypeople with up-to-date, concise, and
analytical histories of many of the nations of the contemporary world. In addition to the historical
narratives, each volume in this series contain an introductory overview of the country's geography,
political institutions, economic structure, and cultural attributes.
As of today, other countries in the Series include: Argentina, Australia, the Baltic States, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, China, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, India,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia,
South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey.
About the author:
Mr. Djun Kil Kim served in the Korean government for more than two decades, most recently as
the Minister of Public Affairs at the Korean Embassy in Washington, DC. He has been a life long
buff of the Korean history, especially on the subject of the origin of the Korean identity. In 2003-
2004 academic year, Mr. Kim was a visiting professor at Brigham Young University where he
taught Korean history.
About the book:
To be sure, this book is not one of those thick tomes by history scholars, but rather it is a concise
presentation of the Korean history as a quick reference source for students and interested
laypeople.The main text is only 180 pages long for easy reading. In addition to the main narratives,
the book contains;
Timeline of Historical Events, from 8000 BC to June 2000.
Notable People in the History of Korea
Glossary of Selected Terms
Bibliographic Essay
This volume provides a comprehensive review of Korea's history, from its roots in Neolithic civilization,
and the tradition and evolution of nation-building in the traditional East Asian world system, through
Korea's global setting in modern times.
Related articles:
1. History of Korea by Radio Korea International
http://211.233.32.54/src/history/hok_contents.asp
2. Annotated Chronology of the Korean Immigration to the United States,
Korean-American Forum, 2005, http://www.skas.org