Sunday, February 19, 2006
Recommended Reading---North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power
I highly recommend Tim Beal's insightful analysis, North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power (2005). As you may know, the relationship between North Korea and the U.S. was improving in the 1990s, with South Korea's President, Kim Dae Jung, even receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his work related to the Sunshine Policy. Beal's important book illustrates the almost immediate reversal of U.S. policy as George W. Bush took office, which escalated tensions as quickly as it unraveled years of relationship building. Bush's hostile policies are discussed in a way that you would find surprising from a U.S. publisher; therefore, you will not be surprised that the publisher, Pluto Press, is based in London. Beal teaches at Victoria University in New Zealand, where the view of the Unites States' curious/dangerous/violent tendencies seems particularly accurate.
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4 comments:
thanks for the recommendation - will definitely have to read it - a rare opportunity to read something without a US bias!!!
Kimberly,
It's really a good book. You're right about the U.S. bias, esepcially with things related to North Korea.
And I see that you have The Spirit Catches You as one of your favorites...that is a powerful, eye-opening book! I'm teaching it in one of my classes.
(btw, you have been tagged...with the 5 weird things meme)
oh see...all that fuss i made about being the nerd who wasn't picked to be tagged, and then you go ahead and tag me and i already had forgotten! i'll work on that tonight and probably post it on my blog soon!
If you want a book on what North Korea is like, I would recommend Aquariums of Pyongyang, its the story of a TEN YEAR OLD boy who was sent to a gulag along with the rest of his family because of something his grand father was accused of saying about the government.
But if your moral compass is so disfunctional because of your (to be fair justifiable) dislike of Bush then I'm sure you'll enjoy this book
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