Beyond the Shadow of Camptown

By studying the lives and history of Korean & military brides, Ji-Yeon Yuh pays tribute to an important group that has not received the understanding, attention, and respect that it deserves. Full of compelling stories, Beyond the Shadow of the Camptowns is sure to inspire new ways of thinking about U.S. and especially immigration history, as well as Asian American and Asian history. - Elaine Kim,University of California at Berkeley By studying the lives and history of Korean military brides, Ji-Yeon Yuh pays tribute to an important group that has not received the understanding, attention, and respect that it deserves. Full of compelling stories, Beyond the Shadow of the Camptowns is sure to inspire new ways of thinking about U.S. and especially immigration history, as well as Asian American and Asian history. - Elaine Kim,University of California at Berkeley Ji-Yeon Yuh uses a wealth of sources, especially moving oral histories, to tell an important, at times heartbreaking, story of Korean military brides. She takes us beyond the stereotypes and reveals their roles within their families, communities, and Korean immigration to the U.S. Without ignoring their difficult lives, Yuh portrays these women's agency and dignity with skill and compassion. - K. Scott Wong,Williams College Sensitive and absorbing, Beyond the Shadow of Camptown probes a little-known but fascinating aspect of Asian-American history: the lives of nearly 100,000 Korean women who married American soldiers, and often live a silent, marginal existence in the United States. Professor Yuh gives eloquent voice to these women, linking their diaspora to a gripping and original account of the often appalling circumstances of American military occupation in Korea, while also locating many heartening stories of personal empowerment and triumph over the odds. - Bruce Cumings,author of Korea's Place in the Sun Where do marriage, diaspora, racism, and the politics of global alliances converge? In the dreams and dailiness of the thousands of Korean women living in the United States today. Ji-Yeon Yuh's engaging and revealing book shows us that by listening attentively to the Korean women married to white and black American men, we can become a lot smarter about the realities of globalized living. - Cynthia Enloe,author of Maneuvers: the International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives Yuh has composed a complex, provocative, and compassionate portrayal of the experiences of Korean military brides from the 1950s through the 1990s. . . . Delving into how these women face isolation and alienation from both Korean and US societies because of their transnational status, Yuh's masterful history demonstrates that these women have resisted perceptions of both societies and forged communities based on their claiming Korean and US identities as Korean military brides. A wonderful resource... Highly recommended. (Choice) Beyond the Shadow of Camptown: Korean Military Brides in America, immigration historian Ji-Yeon Yuh explores how Korean women relate to American men in these cross-cultural relationships, and how the military link between the dominant U.S. and subservient Korea tends to complicate their marriages, already challenging for many other reasons, with a dose of international politics as well. (Korean Quarterly)