Seoul History

Seoul is a colossus both in its physical presence and the demand it places on any intellectual effort to understand it. How did it come to be? How can a city this immense work? Underlying its spectacle and incongruities is a city that might be described as ill at ease with its own past. The bitter rifts of Japanese colonization persist, as does the troubled aftermath of the Korean War and its divisions; the economic “Miracle on the Han” that followed is crosscut by memories of the violent dictatorship that drove it.

Discover Seoul with the most incisive andentertaining guidebook on the market. Whether you plan to check out the changingof the guard at Gyeongbokgung, indulge in mouthwatering seafood at NoryangjinFish Market or head farther out to discover the DMZ, The Rough Guide to Seoulwill show you the ideal places to sleep, eat, drink, shop and visit alongthe way.

Assimilating Seoul, the first book-length study written in English about Seoul during the colonial period, challenges conventional nationalist paradigms by revealing the intersection of Korean and Japanese history in this important capital.

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