Andre Schmid

This peculiar book studies everyday life in North Korea after the Korean war, 1953-1965. The author uses Korean newspapers and periodicals from this era as his sources. The book gives a nice account of state socialism on the level of ordinary families and workers. It is easy to see how some people might have been enthusiastic communists. The book illustrates both the real and illusory progress that communist societies made in these decades. The author deliberately minimizes discussions of show more party politics and the rise of the Kim dynasty until the concluding chapter because he wants to focus on the grassroot level. I don't think this makes the book uninteresting, but it's an odd choice. I would have found the book more enlightening if it had also included a top-down policy perspective. But perhaps that wasn't possible due to the limitations of the source material. show less

A unique perspective on history in a rarely visited period of Korean modern history. Media studies provide a vivid a popular cultural pov on massive changes that ended a centuries-old dynastic tradition and ushered Korea into the modern age.