Each evaluation sheet includes the following general information about each text:

• Text Title
• Text Publisher
• Author and date of publication

• Total number of points on our weighted point scale
• Total number of words
• Number of index citations
• Number of visuals
• Rank in category which denotes the standing of each text within a given category and is used throughout the study as a reference number on graphs, charts etc.
• Overall rank indicates a text's standing among all of the books included in this survey.
• Percentile score viz-a-viz the best text in the category
• Percentile score viz-a-viz the best text in the survey (the highest ranking text each category and the overall best text each represent 100% so each text would be a percentage of that total).

If we found biases, errors, or inconsistencies, we listed them as well.

Comments:

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Page: 535 The map on this page miss-marks Hanyang (modern day Seoul) as Kwangju which is much further to the south.

Page: 536 The photographs on this page are described by the caption below as a Buddhist ceremony at the ancient Yi palace. The ceremony featured in one of the pictures is actually the semi-annual Confucian memorial ceremony held at the Songgyun'gwan (national shrine to Confucius). The pavilion in the other picture is the Kyonghoe-ru which is not the Yi palace, nor is it a religious center.

Page: 536 The text claims that Japan invaded Korea in 1910. This is when Korea was formally annexed by Japan in a bloodless transfer of ruling authority. There was no military invasion.

Page: 537 The text says that there is an old Korean proverb which says that, "Korea is a land that is like a shrimp caught between two whales." The proverb actually states that, "when whales fight, shrimps backs are broken." The true proverb actually has a very different connotation from what the text implies.

Page 522-542 The romanization of a few proper Korean nouns such as P'yongyang, Yi Sun-sin and peoples names lack consistency or are misspelled.

Comments:

Korea has its own subtitle in the table of contents, and overall the coverage is good, with balanced treatment of history, the Korean War, and the modern period. Details such as the palace orchestra dating back 500 years, are very good.

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Per capita GNP was higher than $3000 in 1990.

The ancient kingdom of Paekche is given in phonetic script as Pi Chee. It is not pronounced "peachy" but rather Peck cheh.

The map on the spread of Buddhism stops in Korea, and does not give Korea credit for transmitting Buddhism to Japan.

Comments:

Overall the data was quite good. Maps were good for the early period, and a section on economic growth was good for the recent period. Korea is mentioned with Japan in a chapter heading.

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Comments:

Page: 289 The text mentions that the T'ang army was lead by a Korean general (unnamed). He was defeated by Arabs near Samarkand in western Asia.

Page: 315-316 The text states that a flow of people and culture came from Korea to Japan throughout the centuries starting with the Yayoi people and included cultural exchanges like patterning king's graves after those found in Korea. Korea also contributed scribes, potters and other skilled people to Japan throughout the centuries.

Page: 316 The text states that Paekche was a conduit for elements of Chinese culture such as characters and Buddhism.

Page: 340 The text states that "by the eighteenth century, Korea, some say, was more Confucian than China itself, although this is open to question."

Page: 1230 The text mentions that although authoritarian, North Korea's government resembles Confucianism given many of the familial references to the country and leader not to mention Kim Il Sung designating his son as his successor.

NOTE: An exceptional text given the space afforded to the subject of Korea.

Comments:

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Comments:

The following statement was one of the best on a slightly confusing subject: "The Koreans also invented a method of printing using movable metal type that the Chinese later adopted."

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Comments:

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Comments:

Ancient history, introducing terms such as Shilla, Koryo, Yi, King Sejong, and a picture of the Shilla gold crown are all done well.

Korea is slightly short-changed in the phrasing about the origins of movable metal type. Movable type began in China in the eleventh century, but the fonts were made of either wood or ceramics. The Koreans developed metal fonts in the thirteenth century. The text speaks of the "introduction" of metal type which implies that it came from China.

Maps were good, particularly on the spread of Buddhism (p. 127). The map of Ch'ing China, however, inappropriately depicts Korea as a "province" of China.

Comments:

Coverage tended to be vague and general, and concentrated more on the Korean War than on things before or after that time.

Comments:

All of Korean history is summed up in one paragraph and then over two pages is spent on the Korean War.

Korea is, on the positive side of the ledger, cited as example of economic growth in the Pacific Rim in the 1980s.

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Comments:

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There were some very positive treatments of Korea in this text. The early period is treated well, and Korea is treated equally with China, Japan, and the Mongols in a chart of leaders on page 234. Good map treatment (p. 53) and a picture of Yi Sun-shin (p. 234).

The better than average treatment went awry with treatment of Wang Kon, however. He is given as Koguryo founder, not Koryo founding king.

Statement of frustration concerning Korean War effort was somewhat demeaning to South Korea. To say "the fighting had gained neither side anything" doesn't give proper recognition to the people, politics, and prosperity of South Korea.

Comments:

This text covers pre-modern history briefly, but spends more space on recent events.

Korea is listed as part of the T'ang empire (page 276), erroneously.

This text is strong on maps, and treats Korea fairly well. For example, the map of Han China show shading on the northern half of the Korean peninsula, which is acceptable. Many other texts shade all of Korea; giving an erroneous impression. T'ang, Sung, and Ming maps do not shade Korea, showing Korea's independent status. Mongol and Manchu/Ch'ing maps shade Korea; in the case of the former, there is no reasonable objection. The Mongols dominated Korea. The Ch'ing dynasty of the Manchu's, however, was a completely different story. Korea's relationship to the Manchu's was like the relationship it had had with the Ming -- a tributary relationship, which must be either explained as different from a case of hegemony (such as found in the Roman Empire), or not categorized as a case of hegemony at all.

The map of the diffusion of Buddhism was good and showed the trail from India, through China, through Korea, to Japan.

Comments:

There was a problem with a similar photograph in the body of the text, however. On page 702 there is a photo captioned as the Olympic Stadium in Seoul. In reality, it was photograph of Seoul City Hall decorated for the Olympics.

On the positive side, the complicated concept of the tributary relationship with Ch'ing China is attempted in the legend to a map on page 240. The other maps were quite good, too. In fact the one on the spread of Buddhism properly includes Korea, but the text (p. 213) excluded Korea.

The wording on how Hideyoshi set out on his invasion on the Asian mainland was extremely odd. The Japanese "sought help from Korea, but the Koreans refused and fought instead on the side of China." This is like saying Hitler sought help from the British but the British refused and fought instead on the side of the Allies." Pure nonsense. Hideyoshi, indeed, sent a note asking for a "royal road" to China, but no one then nor now should understand that as anything less than a call for surrender and threat of invasion.

On the positive side, however, the Korean navy is credited with destroying the Japanese navy. Here, though, an opportunity was missed. The man credited with the naval operations, Yi Sun-shin, was truly a heroic personage, and one of the most important in Korean history. A sketch of the man and his deeds would add color and interest particularly for a text for young people.

Comments:

Comments:

This text emphasizes the Korean War, and aside from that, nearly every other mention of Korea is in regard to an invasion.

Errors and Inconsistencies

Page 261 repeats the dubious claim of the Japanese that early Yamato kings ruled over a part of the Korean peninsula. This should be couched in terms of one, unverified, and possibly exaggerated, claim of an old Japanese history.

Comments:

On the positive side, Korean was noted as having a separate language from the Chinese family of languages -- a minor degree of independent treatment.

Maps of T'ang, Sung, and Ming periods and showed Korea as independent, but Han and Ch'ing maps inaccurately included Korea.

Comments:

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Overall, there is a bias toward China as a mighty, learned, dominating country, which cuts against Korea somewhat.

There is no mention of Korea in the table of contents, the Korean war is very brief, and overall coverage is sketchy.

Comments:

The map of the spread of Buddhism, however, correctly shows Korea's role as a conduit from China to Japan. And the sympathetic tone of manipulated by superpowers is also to the credit side of the ledger for this text.

Errors or Inconsistencies:

Inaccuracies include Japan "invading" Korea in 1910 (p. 625), and fifteen, rather than sixteen, nations sending troops to join the UN forces at the time of the Korean War (also p. 625).

Comments:

The weighted-points total was relatively low viz-a-viz the word count because the coverage on Korea was scattered throughout numerous sections, none of which concentrated on presenting Korea as an integral entity.

Errors include the date Japan annexed Korea, 1910 not 1911. Perhaps there was some spill-over from Chinese history where 1911 is an important date -- the founding of the Republic and the end of the Ch'ing dynasty.

The map showing the spread of Buddhism on page 135 shows Buddhism going into Korea from China and into Japan from China, bypassing Korea. This short-changes Korea which was the major conduit of Buddhist teachings, texts, artisanship, and architecture.

Comments:

Comments:

Page: 258 The text mentions that both the Sui and T'ang dynasties were held at bay by the Koreans and subordination to China was only nominal.

Page: 258 The text says that the Chinese chose to regard trade missions as tribute missions, and Korea remained independent from China.

*This book was written from a Euro-centric point of view with the rest of the world included as an afterthought.

Errors or Inconsistencies

Comments:

This text makes no effort to present any of Korea's history before the Korean War except to note conquest of Korea by China. Page 267 * makes the statement "another Chinese army conquered Korea" but little else is portrayed about pre- modern Korea. For the modern period, the Korean War and economic prosperity are covered, but only briefly. There is a photograph of workers assembling an automobile in a Korean factory.

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The table of contents lists an item on page 226 titled, "The Hermit Nation." Since Korea was once known as the Hermit Kingdom, we anticipated a narrative about Korea. It was about Japan.

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