PDF The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt; 1933-1945: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History Culture (Paperback)) by Richard D. Polenberg in History

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Despite the passage of over forty years since the official end of the civil war in Korea; the north and the south sections of the country remain technically at war. In Korea and Its Futures; Roy Richard Grinker argues that the continued conflict between North and South Korea; and the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula; must be understood within the broader social and cultural contexts in which Koreans live. Grinker suggests that a fundamental obstacle to peace on the peninsula is that South Korea has become a nation in which nearly all aspects of economic; political; and cultural identity are defined in opposition to North Korea. He further demonstrates that in spite of its status as a sacred goal for all Koreans; the idea of unification threatens the world in which almost every South Korean has been born and raised. In chapters on defectors; divided families; student protests; and early education; Grinker reveals how South Korean conceptions of unification prevent either side from recognizing that a unified Korea must also be a diverse Korea. In other words; Grinker points out; unification is largely perceived by South Koreans not as the integration of different identities but as the southern conquest and assimilation of the north - in short; as winning the war. Korea and Its Futures is a critical and illuminating look at a conflict which has refused to yield despite changes in a post-Cold War world.