The military history of East Asia has been little known to Westerners. Swope (history, Ball State University) rectifies this with an absorbing account of the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Under their leader, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Japanese aimed at establishing a mainland empire, even to unseating the Ming Chinese Emperor, Wanli. The Koreans called on the Chinese for help but it took six years to drive the Japanese back to their ships and by then, Korea was almost destroyed. Swope tells the story from the alternating perspectives of all three countries, giving not only a thorough account of the events of the war but also a commentary on national propaganda machines and how a well-established myth can have repercussions centuries later. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)