*The Park Chung Hee Era*

That is a book from last year, edited by Byung-Kook Kim and Ezra F. Vogel, which somehow escaped the notice of much of the broader world.  Maybe because it is a collection, as we all know that most edited collections are mediocre.  This one is superb, as it offers a very detailed and also fairly comprehensive look at the seminal years for South Korean economic growth.  Two-thirds of the essays are excellent and the others are at least pretty good.  My favorite was the Paul Hutchcroft comparison between the economic development of South Korea and the Philippines.  Not everyone will want 650 pp. on economic (and other) policy under South Korean autocracy, but if you do this is the book for you.  I didn’t even mind paying $47.50 for it.