Description
Book SynopsisAmerica''s Man in Korea is the story of America''s initial involvement in Korea as told through the private family letters of U.S. Navy ensign George Clayton Foulk, Washington''s representative in Seoul in the mid-1880s. The Hermit Kingdom, as Korea was known, was no ordinary diplomatic posting at this time. Emerging from centuries of self-imposed isolation, Korea was struggling to establish itself as an independent nation amid the imperial rivalries of China, Japan, England, and Russia; anti-foreign violence remained a simmering threat; the Korean government was a hotbed of intrigue and factional strife, its monarch King Kojong casting about for help. Foulk, fluent in Korean and the foremost western expert on the country, was an astute observer of this country''s transformation. In his private letters, published here for the first time, Foulk recounts his struggle to represent the U.S. and to help Korea in the face of State Department indifference.
Trade ReviewFor decades, George Clayton Foulk, and his ill-fated service in Korea in the 1880s, have captured the imagination of students of early Korean-American relations. Samuel Hawley's timely edition of Foulk's private letters is comparable in significance to the pioneering documentary work done by George M. McCune and John A. Harrison more than a half century ago. Scholars in modern Korean history, American diplomatic history, and American-East Asian relations will all benefit from the publication of this remarkable collection of letters. -- Robert R. Swartout Jr., Carroll College
As the first American to master the Korean language and one of the first Americans to penetrate the previously closed kingdom of Korea in the 1880s, George Foulk provides an intimate look at the customs of late Choson Korea and the personalities of some of that country's highest-ranking officials. Thrust into diplomatic service, Foulk also provides a brutally frank assessment of some of the first American diplomats and missionaries and a scathing indictment of US policy toward Korea. His letters constitute an invaluable resource for understanding the complex events swirling around Northeast Asia in the late nineteenth century. -- Wayne Patterson,
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Private Letters of George C. Foulk, 1884-1887 Chapter 3 Notes
