The end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth marked a fascinating time in Korean history, as the country maneuvered between the great powers with a degree of independence that it would soon lose. Equally fascinating was William Franklin Sands, who seemed to take in everything and write about it with great eloquence, including Korea's brief sojourn as an empire, and never-before-seen rebels on Jeju Island. Wayne Patterson has brought this period and this man to life in a deeply-researched book that readers will have trouble putting down.
— Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago; author of The Origins of the Korean War
William Franklin Sands—a youthful, low ranking American diplomat who became the most influential foreign advisor in the court of Emperor Kojong—was undoubtedly one of the key figures active in Korea in the twilight years of the Taehan Empire before it became a Japanese protectorate in 1905. Wayne Patterson, who has published several other outstanding monographs on this period, has done a great service in bringing to light hitherto unknown material on Sands and weaving it into an extremely readable narrative that complements Sands’ own autobiographical work Undiplomatic Memories: The Far East 1896–1904, as well as considerably increasing our understanding of another important figure from this period, Horace N. Allen. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of Korean–American relations and who wishes to gain a deeper insight into the international rivalry over Korea around the beginning of the twentieth century.
— Michael C. E. Finch, Keimyung University
The historical narrative became amazingly complex as the tottering Korean Empire approached the turn of the twentieth century. Most often this story is one in which the main actors are the great powers who were competing for a preponderance of influence on the peninsula. Patterson’s study goes against the grain of great power competition and provides an intimately granular narrative of one young diplomat’s experience amid the political maelstrom of Korea in its last years of independence. Following a young William Franklin Sands from the machinations of finding a diplomatic position in the Far East through his tenure as secretary in the American Legation in Seoul and finally to a position of advisor to the Korean Emperor, Kojong, this book provides a rare glimpse at not only the political infighting between foreign powers in Korea, but also a revealing portrait of internecine conflict between foreign diplomats and struggles for position and influence in this charged political setting. Thus this study provides insights to not only larger international struggles in Korea but also an intimate portrait of personal intrigue, the politics of appointment, and life in turn of the century Korea.
— Michael Robinson, Indiana University Bloomington
This is an amazing story of the role that a young American diplomat played in the last years of Korean independence at the turn of the century. Wayne Patterson unearths new material that paints a portrait of the internal and external machinations swirling around Emperor Kojong from the pressure of great power politics. Patterson teaches us masterfully about the importance of this relatively unknown figure in U.S.-Korea relations.
— Victor Cha, Georgetown University