Home Was The Land Of Morning Calm: A Saga Of A Korean-american Family [Hardcover]

K. Connie Kang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 1995

”I am more American than Korean in my mind, but I am more Korean than American in my soul.”In this poignant, bittersweet family memoir, K. Connie Kang tells the story of one of America’s most recent, and successful, immigrant groups: the Korean-Americans.The author’s tale is one of hardship, as wars twice force her family to flee their homes in Korea. It is also a story of heartbreak, as her new life in America, first as a student and then as a reporter, irreversibly separates her from her parents and their values. Ultimately, hers is a story of the lure of American freedom, and the wisdom offered up by a lifelong struggle to reconcile two vastly different cultures.Connie Kang, who came to the United States in 1961, interweaves her family’s story with Korea’s tempestuous recent history. Her grandfather, Myong-Hwan Kang, a nationalist organizer during the period of Japanese colonialism, is arrested and tortured for his activities. Only a few years after the victory over Japan, war breaks out with the Communists in the North. Connie and her mother escape on an all-night ride on top of a railroad car, and arrive as refugees in Pusam. Eventually they rejoin Connie’s father in Tokyo, and then Okinawa.As a college student in America, the author meets other Korean students, and for the first time grapples with the question of her Korean identity. Though she is drawn to the personal freedom in America, her emotional ties to her family and country are equally strong, setting the stage for a conflict of identities which has yet to cease. She becomes one of the first Korean-American journalists in the U.S., but still her family breaks up her intended marriage to an American. When she tries living and working in Korea, she finds the role of women too restricted. Finally she decides to settle in America. Now, as a reporter, she covers the Asian-American communities around Los Angeles, helping to bring to light the issues that affect recent immigrants like herself.In a warm, sympathetic voice that is refreshingly candid but never sentimental, K. Connie Kang has written the book on the Korean-American experience. It is a story that will touch us all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an unusually frank and vivid narrative, Los Angeles Times reporter and editor Kang chronicles her Korean-American family from the turn of the century to the present. Her grandfather, Myong-Hwan Kang, a resistance fighter against the Japanese occupation of Korea, was tortured and imprisoned twice by the Japanese, once in 1914 and again in 1919. At the outbreak of the Korean War, her family fled their ancestral home in North Korea, settling in Seoul, then Pusan and moving to Tokyo, where her father, Joo-Han Kang, an English teacher, was recruited to assist General Douglas MacArthur's command in the early 1950s. After an adolescence in Japan, the author studied at the University of Missouri in 1961, followed by Northwestern University. Then Kang moved back to Korea (1967-1970), marrying a white American Vietnam veteran against her parents' protests.The marriage fell apart in Baltimore when she refused to cut her ties to Korean ways. In the 1970s, as a reporter in San Francisco, she helped her family relocate and open a grocery store there. Writing with deep insight about Korea's tumultuous political history, her bicultural identity and the challenges facing Asian-Americans, Kang delivers a stirring, beautiful book. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"An unusually frank and vivid narrative...Kang delivers a stirring, beautiful book." -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (July 9, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201626845
• ISBN-13: 978-0201626841
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superbly written bio that also educates us about Korean Hist, November 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Was The Land Of Morning Calm: A Saga Of A Korean-american Family (Hardcover)

This is my first book written about Korea. As an adopted Korean woman, searching for knowledge about my homeland has become central. Thus, from a friend's suggestion, I read Connie's book about her own life of displacement. Although she was born in Korea, she spent little time actually living within the boudaries of her own country. Her story begins several generations earlier from her own, chronicling the events that inevitably changed outside views of Korea, and also Korea herselve. More than just a lesson in history, it is a book so well written it sings.

I recommend this book for anyone, no matter your cultural heritage. It is important that her story be heard, as a record of the struggles new immigrants experience in this country. Besides inspiring me to learn and do more about Korea, she has given me a good starting point to work from. I no longer feel as ignorant about my own people.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating work-monumental in scope, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Was The Land Of Morning Calm: A Saga Of A Korean-american Family (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating work--monumental in scope and content. I would recommend it to all readers who are interested in learning more about Asian Americans and Asia. It should be a required text in secondary and college social science and literature classes. Connie Kang writes with insight and knowledge that is extraordinary.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars inspiring and insightful, August 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Was The Land Of Morning Calm: A Saga Of A Korean-american Family (Paperback)

It took me months to track down a copy of Connie's book, but it was well worth it. Growing up as a second generation Korean American interested in becoming a journalist, I knew of very few Korean and Asian American journalists, especially women. I found Kang's memoir inspiring, detailed and well written. I read the book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. There were so many moments in the story that I felt like she was talking directly to me. Even if you're not Asian American, the story is universal and explores the questions of identity, understanding, and growing up.