The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture - Softcover

Euny Hong

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1471131041 ISBN 13: 9781471131042

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK, 2014

Synopsis

How did a really unhip country suddenly become cool? How could a nation that once banned miniskirts, long hair on men and rock 'n' roll come to mass produce pop music and a K-pop star that would break the world record for the most YouTube hits? Who would have predicted that a South Korean company that used to sell fish and fruit (Samsung) would one day give Apple a run for its money? And just how does South Korea plan to use pop culture to beat America at its own game. Welcome to South Korea: The Brand. In The Birth of Korean Cool journalist Euny Hong uncovers the roots of the 'Korean Wave': a fanaticism for South Korean pop culture that has enabled them to make the rest of the world a captive market for their products by first becoming the world's number one pop culture manufacturer. South Korea's economic development has been nothing short of staggering - leapfrogging from third-world to first-world in just a few years and continuing to grow at a rapid and unprecedented rate - and for the first time The Birth of Korean Cool will give readers exclusive insight into the inner workings of this extraordinary country; it's past, present and future.

About this title

Review:

'Full of insight and shocking facts, The Birth Of Korean Cool is a hilarious, gutsy, eye-opening account of Korean drive and success. I couldn't put it down. Euny Hong is a force of nature' Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and author of The Triple Package and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

'If you're not fascinated by Korea yet, you damn well should be. The most innovative country on earth deserves a hilarious and poignant account on the order of Euny Hong's The Birth of Korean Cool. Her phat beats got Gangam Style and then some' Gary Shteyngart

'A funny, iconoclastic Korean-American journalist and author turns her skewering lens on her own culture....Hong gives a thoughtful, self-deprecating and sly analysis...A pleasing mix of Margaret Cho, Sarah Vowell and a pinch of Cory Doctorow' Kirkus

'Euny Hong mounts a vigorous argument for why K-culture is taking over the world... a pleasing mix of admiration and scepticism' Metro

'Hong's breezy book is a good place to begin to understand this rising nation' Times

'Highly Entertaining' Guardian

'Incisive and humorous...an excellent case study of calculated entrepreneurial moxie' New York Times

'[A] highly entertaining account of how South Korea, one of the world s poorest and least fashionable countries, became a cultural superpower' Observer

'Hong is a vibrant tour guide, accessible, informed and yet amusingly iconoclastic...Never failing to entertain as she informs, Hong illuminates not only the highs and lows of Hallyu, but the collective mindset of a quite remarkable nation' --Mail on Sunday

About the Author:

Euny Hong is a journalist and author. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal Europe, among others. Now living in New York, she grew up in Gangnam, Seoul.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1471131041
• ISBN 13: 9781471131042
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432