The focus of Richard Zgusta’s The Peoples of Northeast Asia through Time is the formation of indigenous and cultural groups of coastal northeast Asia, including the Ainu, the “Paleoasiatic” peoples, and the Asiatic Eskimo. Most chapters begin with a summary of each culture at the beginning of the colonial era, which is followed by an interdisciplinary reconstruction of prehistoric cultures that have direct ancestor-descendant relationships with the modern ones. An additional chapter presents a comparative discussion of the ethnographic data, including subsistence patterns, material culture, social organization, and religious beliefs, from a diachronic viewpoint. Each chapter includes maps and extensive references.

Four hundred years ago, indigenous peoples occupied the vast region that today encompasses Korea, Manchuria, the Mongolian Plateau, and Eastern Siberia. Over time, these populations struggled to maintain autonomy as Russia, China, and Japan sought hegemony over the region. Especially from the turn of the twentieth century onward, indigenous peoples pursued self-determination in a number of ways, and new states, many of them now largely forgotten, rose and fell as great power imperialism, indigenous nationalism, and modern ideologies competed for dominance. This atlas tracks the political configuration of Northeast Asia in ten-year segments from 1590 to 1890, in five-year segments from 1890 to 1960, and in ten-year segments from 1960 to 2010, delineating the distinct history and importance of the region. The text follows the rise and fall of the Qing dynasty in China, founded by the semi-nomadic Manchus; the Russian colonization of Siberia; the growth of Japanese influence; the movements of peoples, armies, and borders; and political, social, and economic developments—reflecting the turbulence of the land that was once the world's "cradle of conflict." Compiled from detailed research in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Mongolian, and Russian sources, the Historical Atlas of Northeast Asia incorporates information made public with the fall of the Soviet Union and includes fifty-five specially drawn maps, as well as twenty historical maps contrasting local and outsider perspectives. Four introductory maps survey the region's diverse topography, climate, vegetation, and ethnicity.

Sovereignty Experiments tells the story of how authorities in Korea, Russia, China, and Japan—through diplomatic negotiations, border regulations, legal categorization of subjects and aliens, and cultural policies—competed to control Korean migrants as they suddenly moved abroad by the thousands in the late nineteenth century. Alyssa M. Park argues that Korean migrants were essential to the process of establishing sovereignty across four states because they tested the limits of state power over territory and people in a borderland where authority had been long asserted but not necessarily enforced. Traveling from place to place, Koreans compelled statesmen to take notice of their movement and to experiment with various policies to govern it. Ultimately, states' efforts culminated in drastic measures, including the complete removal of Koreans on the Soviet side. As Park demonstrates, what resulted was the stark border regime that still stands between North Korea, Russia, and China today. Skillfully employing a rich base of archival sources from across the region, Sovereignty Experiments sets forth a new approach to the transnational history of Northeast Asia. By focusing on mobility and governance, Park illuminates why this critical intersection of Asia was contested, divided, and later reimagined as parts of distinct nations and empires. The result is a fresh interpretation of migration, identity, and state making at the crossroads of East Asia and Russia.

Northeast Asia, where the interests of three major nuclear powers and the world's two largest economies converge around the unstable pivot of the Korean peninsula, is a region rife with political-economic paradox. It ranks today among the most dangerous areas on earth, plagued by security problems of global importance, including nuclear and missile proliferation. Yet, despite its insecurity, the region has continued to be the most rapidly growing on earth for over five decades—and it is emerging as an identifiable economic, political, and strategic region in its own right. As the locus of both economic growth and political-military uncertainty in Asia has moved further to the Northeast, a need has developed for a book that focuses analytically on prospects for Northeast Asian cooperation within the context of both Asia and the Asia-Pacific regional relationship. This book does exactly that, while also offering a more general theory for Asian institution building.

North Korea's regime has managed to survive in the face of serious internal and external challenges. Kim (political science, Columbia U., US) and Lee (foreign policy and security studies, Sejong Institute, South Korea) present eight essays that address North Korea's system survival strategies in the context of these challenges from a variety of theoretical perspectives, including assymetrical conflict theory, mercantile neorealism, and prospect theory. The papers are organized into three sections that explore the broad theoretical and practical aspects of North Korean-Northeast Asian relations (Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States are the Northeast Asian powers for the purposes of this discussion); the global, regional, and national forces that have shaped patterns of conflict and cooperation with the Northeast Asian powers, and the effects of the security and economic domains on system survival strategies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

My acquaintances raise the question: Why does a medical doctor write a historiography? My answer is still the same as I provided in the past couple of times. Because of geopolitics and unique Korean culture, they couldnt envision the way I set the premises. Classic Chinese character interpretation has to be based upon reasoning. Traditional type of simple logic wouldnt work. Series of syllogism is needed to get the bottom out. The most reliable source of information is the logograms, its advancement, and the Shijing. Under the new study method, the legendary Dangun Wanggeom was unveiled. The Eurasian nomads moved to east, settled in the birth place of Yellow River Valley Civilization, controlled the epic flood, and set the capital of Dangun Joseon around the Xiechi pool. The mob killed Wanggeom, set the Xia dynasty ()of China, chased out the Dangun followers to the north. The Wanggeom followers ended up in the Xiongnu territory and left Donghu culture. They spread out to the north and also through the sea of Hahn to Japanese archipelago to Okinawa. Baekjae even had the Chinese Imperial Seal for awhile. Constant struggle of two groups is the History of Northeast Asia. This New Theory needs to be assessed by others.