"Having lived and worked in South Korea for many years, Michael Breen considers what drives the nation today, and where it is heading. Through insightful anecdotes and observations, he provides a compelling portrait of Asia’s most contradictory and polarized country.

South Koreans are motivated by defiance, Breen argues: defiance of their antagonistic neighbor, North Korea, of their own history and of international opinion. Here is an overlooked nation with great drive that determined to succeed on its own terms."

This book is an excellent, comprehensive history on South Korea and its rise from poverty to prominence.