I am indebted to the many people who have assisted me with this book. They are too numerous to mention here so I will just single out a few. I would like to thank the late Kim Chul-hee, who made my times in Korea comfortable, and my professor at the University of Hawaii, Yong-ho Choe, from whom I learned a great deal about Korean history. Many thanks to Edward Shultz and Donald Baker, who read the manuscript, offered many useful suggestions, and caught an embarrassing number of errors. Lisa Kuchy aided me in making the maps. The Korea Foundation and the Academy of Korean Studies have partially sponsored my visits to Korea. The patience and help of Jessica Gribble and the staff of Rowman and Littlefield walked me through the final stages of completing the manuscript. My colleagues in the area of Korean studies whose work is cited in the endnotes and bibliography of this book have done the hard research that this book is based on. My students at James Madison University have been guinea pigs for the early drafts of this text. Their questions guided me in deciding what to include and how to make it comprehensible to nonspecialists.
This book is the product of years of being around people who aided me in various ways in my pursuit of understanding Korean history. I want to express my gratitude to them, especially to the many Koreans who over the years have shared their love and knowledge of their culture and who have encouraged me to continue in my attempt to make Korea a bit better known to non-Koreans. To one Korean in particular, Choe Soo-ok, I owe a special thanks. Without her encouragement I would probably not have written this book.