Michael J. Seth, A Concise History of Korea: From the Neolithic Period through the Nineteenth Century
Michael J. Seth, A Concise History of Korea: From the Neolithic Period through the Nineteenth Century (Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) In A Concise History of Korea Michael Seth provides an excellent introduction to Korea’s pre-modern history. He attempts a thorough survey of religion, art, literature, and politics in all the key periods. Early Chinese sources provide most of the material we have on ethnic groups in Korea. Histories of the Three Kingdom period (c. 18 BCE-676) rely heavily on legend and dynastic accounts written later. But by the Silla, from 676 to 935, there are ample sources allowing a full description of daily life, religion and literature. While the chapters on the Unified Silla and Koryo (935-1392) dynasties are fully-fleshed, it is in his treatment of the Chosun (1392-1910) dynasty, to which he devotes four chapters, that Seth shines. Seth does an excellent job of situating Korea within the northeast Asian sphere of c
