Everyday Life in Joseon-Era Korea

Michael D. Shin, Ph.D. (2002), University of Chicago, is Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Cambridge. He has published research on early modern Korean history and is the co-editor of Landlords, Peasants, and Intellectuals in Modern Korea (Cornell East Asia Series, 2005).

Winner of the 2014 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award"Shin and Park have produced an eminently readable translation of a well-known and popular Korean-language history of Joseon-era Korea from 1996. How Did People Live in the Joseon Period? Shin's lively introduction provides an excellent overview of the Joseon era, which spanned from 1392 to 1910, offering readers sufficient historiographic background without getting bogged down by minutia. The subsequent chapters, rendered into fluid and engaging English, depart from the standard approach of more formal histories of Korea. Chapters cover topics as diverse as farming, currency, education, the penal system, the life and hard times of itinerant merchants, military life, food culture (including an interesting section on the origins of kimchi), and outhouses at the palaces. This focus on everyday life among the commoners interrupts earlier histories of Korea that focused largely on the ruling classes. The volume is beautifully illustrated and handsomely presented. A very helpful glossary and an excellent index complete the package. This book will be of considerable interest to students at the undergraduate levels (lower and upper division alike), and should find a spot on the bookshelves of general readers interested in the history of Korea." – T. R. Tangherlini, University of California, Los Angeles, in: CHOICE (July 2014) [Copyright American Library Assocation]