The much anticipated sequel to the million-copy international bestselling debut The Second Chance Convenience Store. Welcome back to the store where everyone has a story. The Second Chance Convenience Store is open again. After captivating millions of readers worldwide, The Second Chance Convenience Store is back with a delightful sequel that’s just as moving and … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 4)
The Psychology of Luck: Korean Secrets for Attracting Wealth and Success
Praised as a book that ‘brings you luck the moment you open it’, this book contains lessons on how to understand – and use – the psychology of luck. Why are successful people so obsessed with luck? Because they want to draw things of value to them. The average person will experience at least a … [Read More]
So What If I Love My Single Life [forthcoming]
So What If I Love My Single Life by YouTuber Seen Aromi, who has captivated 400,000 readers, covers everything you need to live alone successfully. If you want to live a fulfilling day all by yourself, this book is a must-read. When you say you want to live alone, you often hear nagging from people … [Read More]
Dreamt I Found You
From the critically acclaimed author of The Apology comes a contemporary retelling of Korea’s Romeo & Juliet, as the cousin of the star-crossed lovers helps them avoid a tragic fate. When Dahee Shin was nine years old, she made a promise to protect her favorite cousin, Channing, who has always been like a sister to … [Read More]
Reprimands and Admonitions: Reflections on the Japanese Invasions of Korea, 1592-1598
Reprimands and Admonitions (Chingbirok 懲毖錄) is a record of the events surrounding the Imjin War (1592–1598). In the work, government minister Ryu Sŏngnyong vividly portrays all the major developments of the crisis. This revised translation by Choi Byonghyon brings to the modern reader the author’s seasoned wisdom and sincere efforts to overcome national crises. Ryu … [Read More]
Cold War Comrades: An Emotional History of the Sino-North Korean Alliance
In this major new interpretation of Sino-North Korean relations, Gregg A. Brazinsky argues that neither the PRC nor the DPRK would have survived as socialist states without the ideal of Sino-North Korean friendship. Chinese and North Korean leaders encouraged mutual empathy and sentimental attachments between their citizens and then used these emotions to strengthen popular … [Read More]
The Korean Communist Movement, 1918-1948
Tells for the first time the fascinating story of the old Korean Communist movement before the takeover in the North. It presents the fullest and most reliable account of the origins of that hitherto enigmatic leader of the northern Communist regime, Kim Il-sŏng. At the same time it throws new and valuable light on the … [Read More]
The Mermaid from Jeju
Inspired by true events on Korea’s Jeju Island, Sumi Hahn’s “entrancing [debut] novel, brimming with lyricism and magic” (Jennifer Rosner, The Yellow Bird Sings) explores what it means to truly love in the wake of devastation. In the aftermath of World War II, Goh Junja is a girl just coming into her own. She is … [Read More]
Behind Five Willows
From the New York Times-bestselling author of A Crane Among Wolves comes a warm and romantic homage to Jane Austen set in historical Korea, about a reader and a writer who secretly fight against government book banning and find themselves irresistibly drawn together. As the dutiful second daughter of a poor family, Haewon is expected … [Read More]
International Aid and South Korea: Experience from Recipient to Donor
This book explores South Korea’s experience as an aid recipient, as an aid donor, and as an inter‑Korea aid provider. Analysing case studies of international aid both received and dispensed by South Korea, from the end of the Korean War until the present day, this collection provides a novel lens through which to explore South … [Read More]
The Great Homecoming
1959, Seoul. Divided from his family by the violent tumult of the Korean civil war, Yunho arrives in South Korea’s capital searching for his oldest friend. He finds him in the arms of Eve Moon, a dancer with many names who may be a refugee fleeing the communist North, or an American spy. Beguiled, Yunho … [Read More]
Forever President: A Biography of Kim Il Sung
Pieces together the rise, achievements, and failures of North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung ruled his country, North Korea, for longer and shaped it more profoundly than almost any other modern leader. He created a unique and seemingly bizarre and menacing political and social system, establishing a dynasty that has maintained it … [Read More]
Hanyo (The Housemaid)
The upwardly mobile Kim family employs a young woman to help manage their new house. Mr. Kim begins an affair with the nameless ‘housemaid’, who soon drags the entire family into a terrible tragedy… The director Kim Ki-young played a formative part in South Korean cinema’s “Golden Age” of the 1960s and 1970s; his 1960 … [Read More]
Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism
How the US military origins of global capitalism facilitated both South Korea’s “economic miracle” and the decline of US industrial might The US military has become a ubiquitous part of modern economic life. The Cold War prompted the first permanent overseas deployment of US troops and the creation of a global network of US military … [Read More]
The Politics of the Have-Nots: What South Korean Activism Teaches Us about Radical Democracy [forthcoming]
Social change requires the emergence of a collective subject that can foster solidarity within and across national boundaries. But how can such a collective come together in our current era of liberal individualism and the pursuit of maximum profit? In The Politics of the Have-Nots, Hae Yeon Choo theorizes how this collective might cohere and … [Read More]
Unruly Rites: Christianity, Ritual Politics, and the Making of Religious Difference in Modern Korea, 1884-1945 [forthcoming]
When Western missionaries first introduced Protestant Christianity to Korea in 1884, Korean converts adopted beliefs and practices that defied prevailing Confucian norms, including distinct faith-based rituals. By the turn of the twentieth century, during the final years of the Chosŏn dynasty, competing cultural and religious viewpoints started to roil Korean society with frenzied—even life-and-death—controversies over … [Read More]