Before the Green Miracle (《조선의 숲은 왜 사라졌는가》 영문판 | Joseon’s Vanished Forests - The History of Forest D

Before the Green Miracle (《조선의 숲은 왜 사라졌는가》 영문판 | Joseon’s Vanished Forests - The History of Forest D

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Description
Before the Green Miracle: Joseon’s Vanished Forests
Korea’s postwar reforestation is celebrated as one of the great environmental recoveries of the twentieth century. But before that green miracle, the forests of the peninsula had been pushed to the edge of collapse.
In Before the Green Miracle, Young Woo Chun traces how pine-centered state policies, deeply rooted cultural values, and technological constraints combined to deplete Korea’s woodlands throughout the late Joseon period. Grounded in meticulous historical records and attentive to the everyday lives of those who depended on the land, this book offers the first systematic English-language account of forest degradation in premodern Korea. It serves as a sobering reminder of how fragile the balance between human societies and their natural environments can truly be.
저자

전영우

1951년경남마산에서태어나고려대임학과와같은과대학원을졸업하고,미국아이오와주립대에서산림생물학박사학위를받았다.현재국민대학교교수로재직중이다.저서로는'산림문화론','숲과한국문화','나무와숲이있었네','숲과녹색문화','숲보기읽기담기','우리가정말알아야할우리소나무','한국의명품소나무','숲과문화'등이잇으며,그밖에일어판'森と韓國文化',영어판'TheRedPine,Korean'sTreeofLife','ForestsandKoreanCulture'등을펴냈다.그외산림문화에관한다수의논문을국내외의학술지에발표했다.

출판사 서평

TheHistoryofForestDevastationinLateJoseonKorea

BeforeKorea’smodern“GreenMiracle”transformedthenationintooneoftheworld’smostsuccessfulreforestedcountries,thelandenduredcenturiesofecologicaldecline.BeforetheGreenMiraclerevealstheuntoldhistoryofhowtheforestsoflateJoseonKorea(17th-19thcenturies)weregraduallydestroyedunderthepressuresofstatepolicies,socialinequality,andrelentlessdemandfortimber,itisessentialtounderstandthecontextoftheseevents.

Drawingonroyalchronicles,localarchives,andtechnicalrecords,Prof.Chun,Young-woooffersavividreconstructionofKorea’spremodernenvironmentalcrisis.Heshowshowwell-intentionedpoliciessuchastheGeumsong(PineLoggingProhibition)andSongjeong(ComprehensivePinePolicy)paradoxicallyhastenedthedepletionofpineforests.Thesamepinetreesthatsymbolizedloyaltyandmoralpuritybecamevictimsofhumangreed,war,andneglect.

Movingbeyondenvironmentalhistory,Prof.Chunexploresthedeeperculturalandphilosophicaldimensionsofforestuse-howConfuciangovernance,economicsystems,andcollectiveperceptionsshapedattitudestowardnature.HisanalysisrevealsthatthetragedyofJoseon’sforestswasnotmerelyecological,butmoralandinstitutional,foreshadowingmoderndebatesaboutsustainabilityandhumanresponsibility.

Engagingandmeticulouslyresearched,BeforetheGreenMiraclebridgeshistory,ecology,andphilosophytoilluminateoneoftheleastunderstoodchaptersofKoreanhistory.Thisbookwillappealtoreadersofenvironmentalstudies,Asianhistory,andanyoneinterestedinthetimelessstrugglebetweenhumanambitionandthenaturalworld.

IfmodernKorea’sforestsrepresentrecoveryandresilience,theforestsoflateJoseonstandasareminderoffragilityandloss-amirrorthroughwhichwecanbetterunderstandthecostofprogressandthemeaningofsustainabilityitself.