Sung Bum-Young founded ‘The Spirited Garden’ on Korea’s Jeju island, in 1968. The garden is a world-renowned bonsai venue, and is in Jeju’s Top Ten attractions. You simply can’t miss seeing it when you’re there. What every visitor yearns to discover is how this garden was built. This book, The Spirited Garden: The Story of […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Literature' Category
WoWasis book review: Brenda Sunoo’s ‘Moon Tides: Jeju Island Grannies of the Sea’
One of the most compelling cultural elements of Korea are the haenyeo, women who free-dive in the sea to catch food and capture seaweed. There are two books currently available on the haenyeo. One of them, Mother of the Sea: the Jeju Haenyeo, is also the subject of a WoWasis book review. Brenda Paik Sunoo’s […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Mother of the Sea: the Jeju Haenyeo’
The haenyeo are female Korean divers, who for centuries have been going underwater without breathing apparatus, in search seafood and seaweed. They stay under for a period of up to 2 1/2 minutes. It’s a tough job and a tough life. There are few books written in English about the haenyeo, and one of them […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Two Koreas: a Contemporary History,’ by Don Oberdorfer
Veteran journalist and Korea-watcher Don Oberdorfer’s revised edition of his classic The Two Koreas: a Contemporary History (2002, ISBN 0-465-05162-6) remains an essential text on 20th century Korean history. Revised shortly after Kim Jong Il took power, the book traces the histories of North and South Korea, focusing on the Korean War and post-war years. […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Korean War: a History,’ by Bruce Cumings
There are an awful lot of books on the history of the Korean War. So many, in fact, that it’s confusing determining which one to pick. The best we here at WoWasis have read, as well the shortest (at 243 pages of text), is Bruce Cumings’ The Korean War: a History (2010, ISBN 978-0-679-64357-9). The […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Boye de Mente’s ‘Etiquette Guide to Korea’ and ‘Korean Business Etiquette’
Boyé Lafayette De Mente has been writing books on Asian themes for decades. And not just books on Asian etiquette, either. He’s written on Asian women, Hawaiian culture, and Japanese Geisha. He certainly qualifies as an old Asia Hand. So it shouldn’t have surprised us here at WoWasis that Korea’s been on the Korea beat, as […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Hank Kim’s ‘Ask a Korean Dude’
Veteran Korean journalist Kim Hyung-geun, who goes by the name Hank Kim, has written an informative guide to Korean customs and culture that worth reading before the visitor makes his or her first trip to Korea, Ask a Korean Dude: An Authoritative and Irreverent Guide to the Korea Experience (2012, ISBN 978-89-97639-00-7 03040). The book […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Bridge at No Gun Ri’ massacre in Korea
As it becomes increasingly apparent during the reading of the book, the miracle of the book The Bridge at No Gun Ri: a Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War (2001, ISBN 0-8050-6658-6) is that it got published at all. Authors Charles J. Hanley, Sang-Hun Choe, and Martha Mendoza won a Pulitzer Prize for their investigative […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Thailand (Siam) as it was in 1926
To scholars and historians, a romp through Thailand’s used bookstores is always fascinating, revealing a plethora of material not available in stores carrying new books. But there are treasures to be found in used bookstores in other countries as well, consisting of older books carried home by travelers, and sold to used stores by those […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Book review: Susan Conway’s ‘Thai Textiles’
Here at WoWasis, we consider it a tribute to author Susan Conway that her book Thai Textiles (1992, ISBN 974-8225-798) continues to be a primary source on the subject some 20 years after its initial publishing date. This 192 page paperback retails for $140 USD on the internet, although used copies may be found for […]
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