Maps: Early kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula modern Korea -- Chronology of Korean history -- The creation of state identity -- From earliest times to AD 668: cultural patterns in flux -- Unified Silla, AD 668-936: the building of confidence -- Koryŏ, 918-1392: the struggle for independence -- Early to mid-Chosŏn, 1392-1800: the search for an acceptable orthodoxy -- A century of insecurity -- The Hermit kingdom, 1800-64: tradition at work -- Incursion, modernization and reform, 1864-1905: tradition at bay -- A century of suffering -- Culture under threat, 1905-45: the colonial era -- Partition and war, 1945-53: return to disunity -- Post-war Korea: tradition and change.