Min Yŏnghwan was a statesman and reformist of late Chosŏn dynasty Korea. His suicide in protest of the 1905 Japanese-Korean Treaty of Protection made him a "powerful symbol of Korean independence" and led to his being regarded as a major patriot in Korea to this day. This book, however, celebrates Min's life as a diplomat through his own words. Min's detailed descriptions of his journeys to Russia to attend Czar Nicholas II's coronation and London for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee produce vivid images of the world at that time while also revealing Min's perceptions of it from his Confucian background. Readers will find the translation smooth and the texts engaging.