[A]uthor Gonzalez, with co-author Lee, offers a searching reflection on the tension between South Korea's embrace of globalization and its ancient culture... Gonzalez astutely charts this tension, and overall, his appraisal of South Korea is impressively comprehensive, encompassing many aspects of its complex culture... [He] combines his rigorous research with a depth of personal experience, lucidly presented in this admiring but critical account. An edifying analysis that's exacting but fair." Kirkus Reviews

In COREA DEL SUR: El precio de la eficiencia y el éxito, authors John Gonzalez and Young Lee combine their backgrounds and professional experiences to look behind the public face of South Korea. Through stories, anecdotes, and hard evidence, they capture Koreans being themselves without the glamour and glitz of K-pop, K-beauty, and K-drama. They examine the conditions, behavioral patterns, and cultural values that helped lift the country from the ashes after the Korean War to the international stage as the fourth-largest economy in Asia and 12th in the world. Their analysis includes the price Koreans have paid for the country's astonishing achievements and the existing social inequality.