INTRODUCTION
Part 1. THE SOCIETY KIM IL SUNG BUILT AND HOW HE DID IT
Part 2: TWO DECADES OF CRISIS
Part 3. THE LOGIC OF SURVIVAL (DOMESTICALLY)
Part 4. THE SURVIVAL DIPLOMACY
Part 5. WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE NORTH?
Part 6. BEING READY FOR WHAT WE WISH FOR
CONCLUSION
Andrei Lankov is Professor of History at Koomkin University in Seoul, South Korea. A native of Leningrad, he studied in North Korea as an exchange student. His books include North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea, and From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea, 1945-1960.
"[A] probing, clear-eyed study of the world's most irascible
dictatorship. Lankov's is one of the best and most accessible
recent accounts of this seemingly outlandish nation, and the book
eschews North Korea's lurid stereotypes to reveal a stunted
normalcy."
-Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"The Real North Korea is one of the best books about this isolated
republic to appear in years. Andrei Lankov draws on three decades
of experience to write a deeply informed, thoughtful, fair-minded
and highly readable account of 'life and politics' in North Korea,
from day one to the present. His policy recommendations for dealing
with the nuclear problem, for a South Korea waiting impatiently to
inherit the North, and for the eventual end of this
regime as we know it, are cogent and full of something rare in
discussions about this irascible country: common sense."
-Bruce Cumings, Chair of the History Department at the University
of Chicago, and author of Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern
History
"Lankov explains how North Korea's survival imperative combined
with South Korea's success compels the regime to persist in
internally rational but self-isolating behavior that only further
deepens its quandary. North Korea is the Galapagos Island of nation
states, and Lankov provides clear analysis of how the regime has
survived despite steep odds, why the leadership cannot change, and
why it must."
-Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the
Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, The Council on Foreign Relations
"The Real North Korea presents a detailed and careful analysis of a
country that has been difficult for many to understand. Andrei
Lankov, one of the world's top North Korea scholars, provides a
fascinating look at the internal dynamics and motivations that
drive North Korea. Few scholars of North Korea have the experience
and insight of Andrei Lankov, and this book will be required
reading for all who wish to better understand the actions of
the
DPRK."
-Terence Roehrig, Professor in National Security Affairs and
Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group at the U.S. Naval War
College and author of Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. Nuclear
Umbrella
"Lankov offers a highly readable book and a unique perspective that
yields a knowledgeable, sardonic, acerbic and not entirely
dispassionate view of North Korea. The author also dishes up a rare
treat, mostly unfound in books of this genre: common sense and
humility about the North's future, a theme from beginning to
end."
--National Interest
"Andrei Lankov has written a wonderful introduction to North Korean
history and North Korean studies in The Real North Korea.
Historians and researchers in other specialties -- particularly
involving the history of the Communist world -- will find it a good
introduction to the peculiarities of North Korea. Policymakers and
staffers in Washington will find a sober-minded, realistic, and --
given the author's personal background as a Soviet academic --
very different take on North Korea than the standard media line.
Highly recommended."
--History News Network
"The book, an engaging blend of scholarship, reportage and memoir,
offers striking details about daily life in a country reminiscent
of George Orwell's 1984." -- The New York Times Book Review
(Editor's Choice)
"The book has the feel of a particularly fascinating college class
taught by an elbow-patched luminary. The syllabus ranges from labor
camps to nuclear diplomacy...offering both the academic consensus
and Lankov's take...Readers will come away with a solid
understanding of what's happening in North Korea and why. Lankov
illuminates large patches of that North Korea-shaped black hole."
--The Washington Post
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