blind men and elephant fish : Snapshots of Korean History and Culture

Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul writes a great series of columns for the Korea Times about various aspects of Korean history and culture. The latest one entitled "Life of Ms. Lee" outlines the life of a "typical" Korean woman born circa 1920. He has written many other articles in this series, I also recommend reading "Foreigners" and "Daehan-minguk."