Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey: A Short History

Formorethanhalfofthetwentiethcentury，theKoreanpeninsulahasbeendividedbetweentwohostileandcompetitivenation-states，eachclaimingtobethesolelegitimateexpressionoftheKoreannation.ThedivisionremainsanunsolvedproblemdatingtothebeginningsoftheColdWarandnowprojectsthepoliticsofthatperiodintothetwenty-firstcentury.Korea'sTwentieth-CenturyOdysseyisdesignedtoprovidereaderswiththehistoricalessentialsuponwhichtounravelthecomplexpoliticsandcontemporarycrisesthatcurrentlyexistintheEastAsianregion.Beginningwithadescriptionoflate-nineteenth-centuryimperialism，MichaelRobinsonshowshowtraditionalKoreanpoliticalcultureshapedtheresponseofKoreanstomultiplethreatstotheirsovereigntyafterbeingopenedtotheworldeconomybyJapaninthe1870s.HelocatestheoriginsofbothmodernnationalismandtheeconomicandculturalmodernizationofKoreainthetwentyyearsprecedingthefallofthetraditionalstatetoJapanesecolonialismin1910.Robinsonbreaksnewgroundwithhisanalysisofthecolonialperiod，tracingtheideologicaldivisionofcontemporaryKoreatothestruggleofdifferentactorstomobilizeanationalindependencemovementatthetime.Moreimportantly，helocatesthereasonforsuccessfulJapanesehegemonyinpoliciesthatincluded--andthusimplicated--Koreanswithinthecolonialsystem.HeconcludeswithadiscussionofthepoliticalandeconomicevolutionofSouthandNorthKoreaafter1948thataccountsforthevalidlegitimacyclaimsofbothnation-statesonthepeninsula.