Since a large part of GMA's curriculum revolves around Korean martial
arts, a general understanding of the country of origin will only deepen
a student's martial arts experience, and at the upper levels of study,
an understanding of rudimentary Korean history becomes increasingly essential.
Granted, a Korean history textbook is not the type of reading one wants
to curl up with in front of the fire, but those wishing to look into the
subject should strongly consider this very thorough book. The most obvious
candidates to read this book are students who want to put their due diligence
into researching their black belt papers. For most people, an entry in
the encyclopedia will suffice in providing background, but for those who
want a more detailed reference or have more specific interests, this book
may very well be most comprehensive yet easy to read Korean history text
available. It surpasses anything I came across while getting a minor in
Asian Studies.
The best thing about the book is its detail; the worst thing about the
book is its detail. It discusses most all of the events that shape the
military and martial arts tradition of Korea—from the three kingdom period
and the hwarang to Admiral Yi Sun-sin and the turtle ship to the decline
of the military during the Confucian Yi (Choson) Dynasty. Of particular
interest to Gentry students is the book’s frequent focus on the yangbang,
or gentry class of Korean society. Unfortunately, the yangbang are often
not romanticized as the ideal that inspired the G in GMA; rather, the book
tends to focus on the practical problems of political fighting, abuse and
corruption that occurred with in the upper classes. It perhaps more
importantly puts all these events in the context of both Korean social
conditions and foreign relations of the time. Sadly, it is not the
book's intention to focus merely on those subjects more relative to the
Korean martial artist, so the information is interspersed among the
thousands of years of Korean history.
Although the book as a whole is more weighted towards the 20th century,
it covers all eras and all facets of life: politics and military, art,
economics, social conditions of both the upper and the lower classes,
education, religion, etc. To the authors' credit, the book has found an
amazing balance between detail and overview, covering great spans of time
with enough detail that the reader gets a feel for what is happening without
getting bogged down. It is also interesting to note that in this accelerated
journey through time it becomes easy to notice how history repeats itself
in Korea. One may not retain all the details of the history, but the reader
definitely comes away from the book with a more innate understanding of
how things transpired in Korea. Another positive of the book is the large
number of contributors from a diverse background, which, as another reviewer
pointed out gives the book a very unbiased, objective, matter-of-fact
feel to it.
For all its positives, it is still a 400-page history text. To read
it in its entirety may be of interest but is not greatly entertaining
and still remains laborious even if the book keeps things simple. It is
obviously written for the Asian Studies major, not the tourist. Still,
there is a comprehensive index, making the book a handy reference for
those not interested in actually reading it. Overall, a great Korean history
textbook to have at your disposal if you are serious student of the martial
arts.
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