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Everlasting Flower: A History of Korea, by Keith Pratt. London: Reaktion Books, 2006. 320 pp. $34.95 cloth.
Keith Pratt's book is a narrative history of Korea from Neolithic to contemporary times. It is a welcomed effort, since there is a need for a one-volume survey of Korean history written for non-Koreans that does not neglect the premodern period. Everlasting Flower surveys the political and social history of Korea dealing with topics such as the unification of much of the peninsula under Silla, the establishment of the Kory0 state, the Mongol invasions, the Imjin Waeran, the "opening" of Korea, the division, the Korean War, and the construction of highly divergent societies in North and South Korea. There are nine chapters: the first four cover before 1800 and last four since 1864.
This book differs markedly from the several other surveys available in its major emphasis on cultural history. In his preface Pratt says that he had wanted to subtitle the book "The Role of Culture in the Evolution of Modern Korea." Drop the word "modern" and this would be an aptly descriptive title. The focus is on "culture" chiefly in the traditional sense of the art, architecture, music, literature, and various forms of aesthetic expression by the elites, although popular culture is not neglected. This emphasis on culture and the skillful ways the author uses culture to understand the development of a distinctive Korean society makes this book quite different from most general histories. Considerable space is given to Korea's artistic heritage in the narrative parts of each chapter. There are thirty-two illustrated boxed essays devoted to artworks, architecture, music, and various cultural objects as well as individual artists. These are one of the most attractive...