“As a statesman, strategist, and scholar, Songnyong played a vital role in the history of Korea and of Asia at large. In this painstakingly researched, elegantly written, and analytically profound work, Choi Byonghyon brings this important historical figure back to vivid life. The author quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson’s aphorism “There is properly no history; only biography,” and this book draws on the best of both traditions—the sweep of history and the intimacy of biography—to shed light on an overlooked chapter in the history of an ancient nation and to tell the story of the self-effacing yet heroic Ryu Songnyong. Highly recommended!”—on Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and Rogers Chair, the American Presidency, Vanderbilt University
“Ryu Songnyong, Chancellor of Choson Korea is a monumental scholarly achievement. This biography of Ryu Songnyong presents a great deal of new and insightful materials for the English-reading world. But the book is much more than a biography of Ryu Songnyong. It is a window into premodern Korean politics, society, and worldview during one of the most important periods of East Asian and global history.” —George Kallander, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, History Department, Syracuse University
“Choi Byonghyon, a well-known translator of Choson-dynasty texts, has switched gears and become a biographer. His narrative of the life of Ryu Songnyong provides us an opportunity to view one of the most tumultuous periods in Korean history through the eyes of a top official at that time. There is nothing else in English offering this type of insider’s look at both the factional politics and the war with Japan at the end of the sixteenth century.“—Donald Baker, Professor of Korean History and Civilization, University of British Columbia
