A heart-wrenching and gripping novel with over a million copies sold! Painter of the Wind is a masterful novel that was adapted into a popular, award winning South Korean TV series. This gem of a book also delights readers with a rare collection of thirty-four colour paintings, including Shin Yun-bok’s Portrait of a Beauty and Kim Hong-do’s Wrestling. Set … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 116)
A History of Korea (Macmillan Essential Histories)
This accessible and engaging new edition continues to be one of the leading introductory textbooks on Korean history. Fully revised throughout, the author takes a thematic and chronological approach to guide readers from early state formation and the dynastic eras to the modern experience. Episodic accounts in each chapter are discussed in context with extensive … [Read More]
Bitna: Under the Sky of Seoul
Publisher description: The French writer and Nobel Literature laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio has harbored a keen interest in Korea that not only prompted him to learn and master the Korean language on his own but also inspired his new novel. Bitna: Under the Sky of Seoul is Le Clézio’s portrait of Seoul—its people and its … [Read More]
Winter in Sokcho
Publisher description: It’s winter in Sokcho, a tourist town on the border between South and North Korea. The cold slows everything down. Bodies are red and raw, the fish turn venomous, beyond the beach guns point out from the North’s watchtowers. A young French Korean woman works as a receptionist in a tired guesthouse. One … [Read More]
The Beauty of Old Korean Paintings: A History and an Appreciation
Publisher description: The Beauty of Old Korean Paintings originally was written in Korean under the subtitle A History and An Appreciation of Traditional Korean Paintings. As stated above the book began as an illustrated lecture by Lee Dongju 이동주 «李東洲», a self-trained art historian. The book evokes this passionate connoisseur’s acute, entertaining and at times uncomfortably frank … [Read More]
KPOP: Roots and Blossoming of Korean Popular Music
Publisher description: K-pop, referring to pop and dance music performed by idol groups mainly targeted at teens, has been expanding in popularity beyond Asia to Europe and South America. It was the 1990s when this school of music first appeared in Korea, but its emergence was not abrupt and its roots are sunk deep into … [Read More]
Korean Pop Music – Riding the Wave
Publisher description: Korean popular music has in the last decade become a significant model for youth culture throughout Asia. Yet, although the Korean music industry is both vibrant and massive, this is the first book-length work devoted to the subject to appear in English. The book offers a comprehensive account, written by thirteen scholars of … [Read More]
Korea Witness: 135 Years of War, Crisis and News in the Land of the Morning Calm
Publisher description: This book follows the long journey of correspondents who have passed through Korea. Since the first of them, photographer Felice Beato, arrived in 1871 with American troops invading Kangwha Island, foreign journalists have puzzled over this land, as complicated and fascinating now as 135 years ago. Famed author Jack London grappled with a … [Read More]
The Dawn of Modern Korea: the transformation in life and cityscape
The 20th century was a time of great changes for any country, but in Korea these changes were especially dramatic. In 1960, it was one of the world’s poorest countries. By 2000 it transformed itself into one of the world’s largest economies. This astonishing transformation completely changed Koreans’ daily life as well. This book describes … [Read More]
The Martyred
Publisher description: During the early weeks of the Korean War, Captain Lee, a young South Korean officer, is ordered to investigate the kidnapping and mass murder of North Korean ministers by Communist forces. For propaganda purposes, the priests are declared martyrs, but as he delves into the crime, Lee finds himself asking: What if they … [Read More]
Korean Tea Classics by Hanjae Yi Mok and the Venerable Cho-ui
Publisher description: Three ancient texts expressing the essence of the Korean Way of Tea are here translated into English for the first time. The oldest, ChaBu (Rhapsody to Tea), by Hanjae Yi Mok (1471-1498), is a sophisticated and delicate celebration of tea. The author was a scholar of considerable attainments who died far too early. … [Read More]
The Korean Way of Tea
Publisher description: Tea drinking is now a global pastime and a delectable variety of teas are much sought after by connoisseurs worldwide. In this meditative volume to understanding, appreciating and serving Korean tea, authors Brother Anthony of Taizé and Hong Kyeong-hee share their intimate knowledge of a cultural practice and art form, that at its … [Read More]
Korean Shamanism: Revivals, Survivals and Change
Publisher description: A thoroughly readable collection of critical research from prominent scholars in the fields of anthropology, religion, history, and the arts. Koreans, virtually alone in the world, have kept the ancient traditional religion of shamanism alive at a time of massive industrialization, modernization and Westernization. SOAS adds: Chapters developed from presentations at the symposium … [Read More]
Sueño and Bascom mystery series
Publisher description: Sergeant George Sueño and his partner, Ernie Bascom, are stationed in Korea with the US 8th Army in the 1970s. They investigate crimes in which US Army personnel might have been involved. Meanwhile, George, who is very interested in Korea and its culture, does what he can to soften everyone’s bad opinion of … [Read More]
Inspector O series
Publisher description: James Church introduces readers to one of the most unique detectives to appear on page in years—the elusive Inspector O. This mystery series brings readers into the enigmatic world of North Korea, as Inspector O finds himself tangled in conspiracies and cover-ups. The series includes the novels A Corpse in the Koryo, Hidden Moon, Bamboo and … [Read More]
Everlasting Flower: A History of Korea
Publisher description: South Korea – a democratic high-tech Asian Tiger and flamboyant host of the 2002 World Cup; North Korea – a secretive dictatorship on Bush’s notorious ‘axis of evil’, with a controversial nuclear program and a poverty-stricken population. These two Koreas seem worlds apart, separated along the 38th parallel by the last active ‘cold … [Read More]