Gwangju Uprising

This publication not only provides the reader with an incredible history of the ten days in May 1980 when the uprising occurred, it does so by keeping the spirit of the uprising intact...I couldn't help but be reminded of John Reed's classic journalism on Russia's October Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World or even the slender text by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair reporting the 1999 uprising in Seattle against the World Trade Organization, 5 Days That Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond. Still, this book goes beyond these titles in its depth and breadth discussing what was perhaps one of the greatest post-Sixties movements until the series of anti-capitalist globalization protests that shook up the world from 1999-2001. Besides its role as a journal, it also serves as a handbook - a manual, if you will - of how such events unfold and how they are run. -- Ron Jacobs * Counterpunch * Serves as a testament not only to the broad mobilization for democracy, but also to the painstaking efforts of those who collected and published the information in defiance of the government. -- Darcie Draudt * International Affairs * The story of the Gwangju Uprising is preserved in this book...it is a history that deserves to be recorded and deserves to be shared. * International Examiner * Gwangju Uprising sets the record straight with far too much detail to refute, offering a sobering lesson for the people of the future about what sacrifices were made for freedom in the Republic of Korea...A moving work of exceptional scholarship. -- Patrick McShane * Asian Review of Books * This book celebrates the courage and tenacity of the people, particularly the brave writers who persevered during an era of an oppressive dictatorship, and recorded the struggle for human rights, freedom, and against a succession of corrupt leaders, and the witnesses who boldly came forward during that era to tell their stories in an environment of oppression and fear. -- Bill Drucker * Korean Quarterly *

Hwang Sok-yong is Korea's most renowned contemporary writer, the recipient of many of the country's highest literary prizes and the author of The Prisoner, forthcoming in translation from Verso (2021).

Publication Committee's Introduction: Breaking the Silence in the Face of Slander Preface: Once More Beyond the Darkness Part 1: The Unstoppable Waves of History Chapter 1: From October to May. Chapter 2: Sporadic and Passive Resistance (Sunday, May 18: Day 1 of the Uprising) Chapter 3: Transition to an Active Offensive (Monday, May 19: Day 2 of the Uprising) Chapter 5: Armed Protests and Victory (Wednesday, May 21: Day 4 of the Uprising) Chapter 6: The Uprising Expands Chapter 7: The Blockade of Gwangju and Civilian Massacres (May 21-24) Part 2: Gwangju! Gwangju! Gwangju! Chapter 8: Liberation I (Thursday, May 22: Day 5 of the Uprising) Chapter 9: Liberation II (Friday, May 23: Day 6 of the Uprising) Chapter 10: Liberation III (Saturday, May 24: Day 7 of the Uprising) Chapter 12: Liberation V (Monday, May 26: Day 9 of the Uprising) Part 3: The End, and a New Beginning. Chapter 13: The Uprising's Completion (Tuesday, May 27) Chapter 14: The Rest of the Story Chapter 14: Work Left Undone Appendix Timeline of Events:The Gwangju Uprising over the course of 10 days (May 17, 1980-May 27, 1980) Publishing the Revised Edition:The History of Recording the Uprising Bibliography