Compellingly written social history of what my Korean friends jokingly call "a country in itself." The breadth and depth of this narrative gives weight to that description -- Burrows and Wallace present details and facts mingled with a sense of what it was like to live in the city. The book's strength is the effortless weaving of customs and lifestyles of notables and the less famous within the more salient factual material. For anyone who loves the city or a well-written single volume history. David R. Bannon, Ph.D.; author "Race Against Evil."