[KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"

[Sheila Miyoshi Jager]

Professor Baker:

Whatever your opinion of Brian Myers is as a scholar, I think we need to 
take seriously the evidence that he provides which indicates the strong  
possibility that Charles Armstrong's book *Tyranny* may be seriously 
flawed.   I think it is incumbent upon us as a community of scholars to 
find out whether these claims are indeed true and not to shoot the 
messenger.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager


On 9/15/2016 11:25 AM, Don Baker wrote:
> I wouldn’t trust Brian Myers to evaluate someone else’s scholarship. 
> He actually posted on his blog a while back a recommendation to 
> readers to trust a totally concocted “account” of the May 18, 1980, 
> massacre in Kwangju that claimed that the whole incident was caused by 
> North Korean agents who had infiltrated Kwangju before May 18: Daniel 
> Kim (Kim Taeryŏng) Y/ŏksarosŏ ŭi 5.18: 5.18 chaep’an pŏmniŭi mosun 
> /[Looking at May 18 in historical perspective: Legal contradictions in 
> the trials related to the May 18 incident-  (Seoul: Pibong Books, 
> 2013) Myers went on to assert on his blog that "there is evidence or 
> testimony to back up the claim of DPRK involvement.”   He has now 
> removed that post from his blog, so maybe he realized how ridiculous 
> his assertion was. (The original posting was at 
> http://sthelepress.com/index.php/2016/06/14/recommendation-may-18th-as-history-2013/ 
>
>
> Don Baker
>
> Don Baker
> Professor
> Department of Asian Studies
> University of British Columbia
> Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2
> don.baker at ubc.ca
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: jiyulkim at gmail.com
> Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:09:00 -0400
> To: koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com
> Subject: [KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"
>
> [NOTE TO ADMINISTRATOR: please discard two earlier versions and review 
> this for posting]
>
> I came across this recent posting by B. R. Myers revoking his 
> recommendation for Charles Armstrong's /Tyranny of the 
> Weak/ (2013)/./ Myers' revocation is, for me, unprecedented.
>
> Myers compares Armstrong's /Tyranny /with Balazs Szalontai's /Kim Il 
> Sung in the Khrushchev Era/ (2005)/. /He gives detailed examples why 
> he can't support the book.  If there is any truth to what Myers says 
> then it is all very disturbing since Armstrong's books are widely 
> admired and used.
>
> I wonder what others think.  Myers' post can be found at
> http://sthelepress.com/
>
> Jiyul Kim
> Oberlin College
> Oberlin, Ohio

-- 
Sheila Miyoshi Jager
Professor of East Asian Studies
Oberlin College

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