Anyone read "Generals and Scholars"?

[PuyoGirl]

It's up on Amazon.com and it mentions covering this SPECIFIC era in Koryo history. Is anyone familiar with it? Is it a good read?

I think it's been mentioned before, but maybe I blanked out.

(Lately,I picked up "Sources of Korean Tradition Vol 1" and it is a GREAT read. So many of the historical anecdotes are told in a dramatic way, plus, it's good to have a good foundation of knowledge on the culture. Unfortunately, the other night I devoured SO much of the book, I actually MADE IT to the 1170 revolution! I bit the bullet and read onwards and discovered that they only devote five pages to the Age of Warriors era. However, they include a GREAT snippet of...










MAJOR SPOILER












YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!













...the OFFICIAL document General Choe wrote to the Emperor denouncing Yi Uimin as a traitor and why he had to take the fatal "measures" he did. It also goes on to list how to "fix" the regime (ten points of wisdom). Believe it or not, the document is worded very eloquently and reads like a dramatic play. If these documents (the Koryo Sa) is what the writers of Age of Warriors were working with, they must have had an easy and fun time writing the scripts!

Wow!

[lourdes]

I posted info on Generals and Scholars a while ago. I found this book quite interesting with loads of info on this time period. We are certainly in for a few surprises.

[PuyoGirl]

I want to know if the price of the book is worth it though.

For example, I spent 15 bucks on my Korean History book and it dedicates fifteen pages (out of 300) to the 1170 uprising.

Is this book worth it?

[FrederickII]

I'd klike to see a book completely devoted to the 1170 uprising until the fall of Yi Ui Mins regime in 1196. But something tells me that this era of Koreas history is one of the less recorded eras.

[JP Paulus]

FrederickII said:

I'd klike to see a book completely devoted to the 1170 uprising until the fall of Yi Ui Mins regime in 1196. But something tells me that this era of Koreas history is one of the less recorded eras.

Of course it's less recorded -- many of the generals were illiterate! They say so themselves in AoW!

[Chung Kyun]

if you go to korea you will find way more info on them.the warriors could had been illiterate but the writers weren't.im sure they have way more info on them.here in america we get the translation books.so it wont be as perfect as the books there.

i always wanted to know if they ever found the weapons they use to have and other stuff that belong to them.plus the choson dynasty burn almost all of the koryo books.because they said the koryo era was a barbaric way of life.

[Eowyn]

PuyoGirl said:

Is this book worth it?

Generals and Scholars (Edward J. Shultz) is, I have read, the only book written in English that has analyzed Koryo military rule in depth. I have read it. You can see some early remarks of mine on page 4 of this forum under the thread started by lourdes (Generals and Scholars Military Rule in Medieval Korea).
I find the book an analysis rather than a narrative history. There's not too many interesting personal tidbits about the warriors in it. Mainly it examines how power was shaped and shifted.
The emperor is there and Chung Jung-bu and Ui-min,as well as Ui-bang, Yi Ko, Kyun, even Lt. Kim is mentioned, but all pretty quickly. For example, Kyung Dae-seung appears in a total of 5 pages (not in a row either). To give you a sense: the book is 254 pages including index and notes (body of the work ends on 189), and Dae-seung is talked about mostly on pages 32 and 34 (that's basically it).
The preface is informative, discussing how Koryo history was handed down, and the introduction gives an age of warriors summary. The first two chapters (p. 9-54) discuss the 1170 coup and our emperors reign. I think you'll enjoy this. The rest of the book deals with General Choe, along with a few chapters on peasants, Buddhism, and economics.
I recommend it. Yes, its worth every penny. Thank you, Edward J. Shultz! You'll learn a lot, Puyogirl! There is not too much info on this period, the book even says so and tells why. For much of history the age of warriors was looked down upon as an age of chaos.