North Korea: Another Country
Ratings2
Average rating3
15
Ratings2
Average rating3
A leading expert on Korea draws on his knowledge of Korean history and recently declassified government documents to provide a study of North Korea and its vilified leader, Kim Jong Il.
Reviews with the most likes.
Some parts, especially the first chapter on the Korean War and the chapter on Kim Il Sung's origins were interesting. Overall, not a very enlightening read.
I don't think it's bad, I am just not the target audience. Reading some of the other low-score reviews from this site makes me believe that this book may be relevant for most of people though.
I learned a LOT from this. After reading [b:The Orphan Master's Son 11529868 The Orphan Master's Son Adam Johnson https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327878601s/11529868.jpg 16467838] I realized I know like, nothing about North Korea. And now I know... some things about North Korea. This is a fairly dense read (... also I'm used to reading YA fiction so my bar for “dense” may have been lowered over the years) but it's certainly readable, and it is an intelligent & insightful look at the history of North Korea, particularly focused on the last 50 years or so. Cumings has a very sympathetic, non-alarmist, non-patronizing perspective on Korean culture which is very refreshing for a USAian to read, since obviously most of our media... does not do that.I'm still interested in checking out [b:Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea 6178648 Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea Barbara Demick https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320449375s/6178648.jpg 6358552] and/or [b:The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia 16248578 The Real North Korea Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia Andrei Lankov https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1355426296s/16248578.jpg 22279286] for more about day to day life in North Korea, but this was really good, useful background reading for me.
