Bruce Cumings
Korea's Place in the Sun
A Modern History
"Passionate, cantankerous, and fascinating.
. . . Rather like Korea itself."
—Nicholas D. Kristof,
New York Times Book Review
KOREA HAS ENDURED a "fractured, shattered twentieth
century," and this updated edition brings Bruce
Cumings's leading history of the modern era into the
present. The small country, overshadowed in the
imperial era, crammed against great powers during the
Cold War, and divided and decimated by the Korean
War, has recently seen the first real hints of reunification.
But positive movements forward are tempered by
frustrating steps backward. In the late 1990s South
Korea survived its most severe economic crisis since
the Korean War, forcing a successful restructuring of
its political economy. Suffering through floods,
droughts, and a famine that cost the lives of millions
of people, North Korea has been labeled part of an
"axis of evil" by the current Bush administration and
has renewed its nuclear threats. On both sides Korea
seems poised to continue its fractured existence on
into the new century, with potential ramifications for
the rest of the world.
BRUCE CUMINGS teaches Korean history,
East Asian political economy, and international
history at the University of Chicago.
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