The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea

Good product

The title of this book is strikingly similar to Vogel's another book "Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China" published in the same year 2011. As a Korean person, I actually lived through his era during my childhood and witnessed a sudden national funeral followed by a group of military riflemen guarding my school (was a primary school attached to a university, and of couse the military was placed to surpress any potential student demonstration calling for democracy).I know a lot of people who really hates him, but also a lot of people who admires him so much. However, I always had this feeling that their hatred/respect makes them to become blind-sighted of some aspects of his legacy, like it or not, that we're still living in. Understanding how those were implemented from the first place is a crucial step required to be able to understand how to fix/improve. Hence I bought this book right after it was published, was reading it from time to time, but still far from completing (about 20% into it; will update the review when I finish).It's not entirely written by Vogel, but a joint editorship by Vogel and Kim Byung-Kook. A wide range of political scientists participated by contributing a chapter or two. Thus far, I think this is one of the most authoritative book with a lot of cross references. Highly recommended to anyone wanting to learn more details of what really happened during the era. Reading it in English allows me to distance myself from emotions, which I believe it could have been the case for the authors.Hopefully I can finish before the election in Korea in December. His daughter is running for the presidency this time. I wish this book can be published in Korean language sometime in the future...

A very well organized book. You do not only learn how S.Korea became a developed country only within two decades but also enjoy the stories of similar countries like South American, China, Singapour, Taiwan even Japan in the same book. If for S.Korea, a country which has got quite a big financial and technological support from the USA and Japan, catching up developed countries was so diffucult, god really should help the others.Thanks to the producers.

It is a pleasure to read a work written in such a clear and pleasant manner. The book is long and comprehensive; it gives a detailed view of what Park Chung Hee did. I especially enjoyed comparison between successful leaders of Korea, Singapore, China and Turkey. Not a book for a tourist, but would be of interest for people looking deep into how South Korea was able to quickly lift up standard of leaving.

This book consists of the following chapters which illuminate various aspects of the Park Jun Hee era.Introduction: "The Case for Political History" by Byung-Kook KimCh.1 "The May Sixteenth Military Coup" by Yong-Sup HanCh.2 "Taming and Tamed by the United States" by Taehyun Kim and Chang Jae BaikCh.3 "State Building: The Military Junta's Path to Modernity through Administrative Reforms" by Hyung-A KimCh.4 "Modernization Strategy: Ideas and Influences" by Chung-in Moon and Byung-joon JunCh.5 "The Labyrinth of Solitude: Park and the Exercise of Presidential Power" by Byung-Kook KimCh.6 "The Armed Forces" by Joo-Hong KimCh.7 "The Leviathan: Economic Bureaucracy under Park" by Byung-Kook KimCh.8 "The origins of Yushin Regime: Machiavelli Unveiled" by Hyung Baeg ImCh.9 "The Chaebol" by Eun Mee Kim and Gil-Sung ParkCh.10 "The Automobile Industry" by Nae-Young LeeCh.11 "Pohang Iron & Steel Company" by Sang-young Rhyu and Seok-jin LewCh.12 "The Countryside" by Young Jo LeeCh.13 "The Chaeya" by Myung-Lim ParkCh.14 "The Vietnam War: South Korea's Search for National Security" by Min Yong LeeCh.15 "Normalization of relations with Japan: Toward a New Partnership" by Jung-Hoon LeeCh.16 "The Security, Political, and Human Rights Conundrum, 1974-1979" by Yong-Jick KimCh.17 "The Search for Deterrence: Park's Nuclear Option" by Sung Gul HongCh.18 "Nation Rebuilders: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Lee Kuan Yew, Deng Xiaoping, and Park Jung Hee" by Ezra F. VogelCh.19 "Reflections on a Reverse image: South Korea under Park Jung Hee and the Philippines under Ferdinad Marcos" by Paul D. HutchcroftCh.20 "The Perfect Dictatorship? South Korea versus Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico" by Horge I. DominguezCh.21 "Industrial Policy in Key Developmental Sectors: South Korea versus Japan and Taiwan" by Gregory W. NobleConclusions: "The Post-Park Era" by Byung-Kook KimA ruthless tyrant or a visionary leader, an insatiable power-monger or an incorruptible statesman, many Koreans still hate him while also many regard him as one of the most outstanding figures in the whole history of Korea. This book gives you voluminous and arguably objective knowledge to understand his good, bad, and ugly. Though I feel that this book is generally more focused on his positive side, you may have an opposite impression. After finishing this book, you may feel like spitting on his grave as he notoriously predicted.Because each chapter was written by a different author, there are inevitably redundancies in this rather lengthy book. You read about the same subjects repeatedly in different chapters.The kindle edition has some shortcomings in its handling. Its footnote numbers are not linked to their contents. You can jump from a chapter to neither next nor previous one.