Magnum Photographers

This is a big and heavy coffee table book with an introduction and brief overview of Korean history by Bruce Cumings. Many of the photos are quite lovely, although with the format of the book it was a little annoying to have to repeatedly flip back to the rear of the book to read the story behind each photograph. I was looking to get a real visual sense of Korea, but I don't think this book fully delivered. Much of it could be pictures from anywhere in Asia, and perhaps that was the intent, but in that way it failed to give me a better view of what makes Korea unique and interesting. There were however plenty of photographs that did give me good glimpses into Korea.… (mehr)