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Title: North Korea: Another Country by Bruce Cumings ISBN: 1-56584-940-X Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: November, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (7 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Rather Disappointing...
Comment: I give "North Korea: Another Country" three stars but grudgingly so. I couldn't give it two because I'm a big softy so I gave it three. Here's why:
The book had many detractors, unfortunately the biggest one being its author. His Left-wing bias permeates the book and it suffers as a result. Prof Cumings demonstrated what a great liberal he is by spouting the usual anti-U.S. rhetoric of being happy when the other side "puts us in our place" (p. xiii, Preface). He hates the Bush Administration and makes sure you're reminded of it every twenty to twenty-five pages throughout the entire book. He dislikes Republicans, conservatives, etc. and brings up our "illegal war" in Iraq more than once. He is dismissive of almost all U.S. military officials that enter the history, from MacArthur (p. 150-151) to Ricassi (p. 199).
Whether Prof Cumings meant to or not, he comes off as being a great admirer of the North Koreans. While laying out eight pages of American atrocities during the Korean War, he sums up the DPRK's in one sentence, with the lame apologist excuse that we expect communist countries to do that (p. 30-40). He seems to write with awe and wonder at how great North Korean infrastructure is, how their neo-Confucian Communism has really soaked into every facet of life and how the people love their Great and Dear Leaders. It comes off as some aged hippie dreaming of long-dead Marxist propaganda and longing for the great socialist dream.
The author editorializes more than he lays down the facts, and he skips over the nasty stuff: he apologizes for the Gulag system on p. 174-176 and on p. 151 apologizes for the DPRK's Stalinism by saying that this is the Korean "concept of freedom." Please... With barely a sentence or two Prof Cumings quickly changes subjects, as unfortunately many of his progressive comrades do.
As is readily discernible I can easily be called a conservative. Don't get me wrong: I don't want to read Right-leaning garbage about how the Third Reich was just misunderstood and how Adolf just needed a hug. But neither do I want to read stuff like this. I want history, I want facts, and I want them presented accurately and excitingly. The book "Flyboys" comes to mind readily. No social commentary necessary.
For the beginning student of North Korea, this might not be too bad. Neither is it too good. It did inform me somewhat but I was left generally disappointed. I have rarely said this but I will probably not seek to read this author's works again...
Rating: 2
Summary: Surprisingly slanted, rarely insightful.
Comment: Cumings is amazing for his audacity, if nothing else. He uses his wife's research, his personal bias and his emotional "connection" with North Korea to create a stream-of-consciousness mess that's as much editorial as it is historical. His displeasure with South Korea (and America, though I'm with him on many of those points) is evident from the beginning - but what becomes clear as the book spirals on is that he's as out of touch with the South as he claims the rest of the world is with the North. He offers "current" examples from the 80s and offers no evidence to back up many of his decidedly irregular interpretations of history (making it seem, in many cases, that the whole world is out to get Kim Jong-Il). Despite all of the facts contained in the book, the author's almost coercive interpretation of them to the reader means it's difficult to take the book seriously. Not an entirely worthless read, but be prepared for a fairly hefty dose of the author's opinion along with the facts presented.
Rating: 5
Summary: Modest realism based on huge historical studies
Comment: Prof. Cumings, who has been very famous for so-called revisionist historical studies on the Korean War, esp. 'The Origins of the Korean War I & II, has been one of the most reliable Korean watchers in the world. The reality of the North Korea has been hidden in a veil of secrecy, so that discours on the country would be very dubious or biased, partly because information on the country has been extremely limited and partly because there have been a lot of political intrigues such as explosions of airplanes and kidnappings by he state agency. It cannot be denied that the Kim Jong Il Regime is responsible for those criminals. Prof. Cumings, however, claimes that unless we overcome too much simple dichotomy between Good and Evil, we would remain far away from resolving the historically profound problem. Prof. Cumings insists that we must be sachlich (Weber). Such cool-headed insight must be drived from his excellent historical studies. A brilliant and insightful work.
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Title: Crisis on the Korean Peninsula : How to Deal With a Nuclear North Korea by Michael O'Hanlon, Mike M. Mochizuki ISBN: 0071431551 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 29 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies by Victor D. Cha, David C. Kang ISBN: 0231131283 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Inside North Korea by Norbert Vollertsen ISBN: 1893554872 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: May, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Pyongyang: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital by Chris Springer ISBN: 9630081040 Publisher: Saranda Books Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Kim Jong-Il : North Korea's Dear Leader by Michael Breen ISBN: 0470821310 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 23 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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