Contentious Kwangju: The May 18 Uprising in Korea's Past and Present - Paperback

by Gi-Wook Shin (Editor), Kyung Moon Hwang (Editor), Jong-Chul Ahn (Contribution by)

One of the largest political protests in contemporary Korean history, the May 1980 Kwangju Uprising still exerts a profound, often contested, influence in Korean society. Through a deft combination of personal reflections and academic analysis, Contentious Kwangju offers a comprehensive examination of the multiple, shifting meanings of this seminal event and explains how the memory of Kwangju has affected Korean life from politics to culture. In keeping with the book's title, the essays offer competing interpretations of the Kwangju Uprising, yet together provide the most thorough English-language treatment to date of the multifaceted, sweeping significance of this seminal event.

Author Biography

Gi-Wook Shin is associate professor of sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. Kyung Moon Hwang is assistant professor of history, University of Southern California.