Landlords, Peasants, and Intellectuals in Modern Korea

Book excerpt: This volume introduces, for the first time in English, the work of one of the major schools of historiography in South Korea. Centered at Yonsei University, the school focuses on intellectual and socioeconomic history. A selection of studies illuminates the internal dynamics and historical roots of Korea's transition to modernity and the division of the country and is a powerful refutation of the so-called "stagnation theory." The volume is in three parts: the first covers the period before the Japanese occupation; the second focuses on the socioeconomic history during the occupation; and the last examines the work of three major intellectuals of the occupation period: Paek Nam'un, An Chaehong, and Yi Sunt'ak.