Hardcover. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 388 pages, hardcover. B&w plates. INSCRIBED BY ECKERT. Light foxing to edge and light wear to bottom edges of cover. According to conventional interpretations, the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 destroyed a budding native capitalist economy on the peninsula and blocked the development of a Korean capitalist class until 1945. In this expansive and provocative study, now available in paperback, Carter J. Eckert challenges the standard view and argues that Japanese imperialism, while politically oppressive, was also the catalyst and cradle of modern Korean industrial development. Ancient ties to China were replaced by new ones to Japan - ties that have continued to shape the South Korean political economy down to the present day.Eckert explores a wide range of themes, including the roots of capitalist development in Korea, the origins of the modern business elite, the nature of Japanese colonial policy and the Japanese colonial state, the relationship between the colonial government and the Korean economic elite, and the nature of Korean collaboration. He conveys a clear sense of the human complexity, archival richness, and intellectual challenge of the historical period. His documentation is thorough; his arguments are compelling and often strikingly innovative.

Hardcover. Tokyo, Hokuseido Press, Reprint, 1968, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 382 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket & slipcase. Mustard cloth boards with black printed titles to spine. Full page, full color illustrations protected with tissue guards throughout. Frontis illustration, Man Playing the Samisen, in full color & protected with a tissue guard. Chronological chart of Japanese Humor tipped-in. Dust jacket with light wear to edges, lightly price-clipped to corners. Plain slipcase with creases, light wear to edges. Clean, unmarked copy.