North Korea Confidential
Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors
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Narrated by:
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Derek Perkins
About this listen
**Named one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist**
Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors.
North Korea is one of the most troubled societies on earth. The country's 24 million people live under a violent dictatorship led by a single family, which relentlessly pursues the development of nuclear arms, which periodically incites risky military clashes with the larger, richer, liberal South, and which forces each and every person to play a role in the "theater state" even as it pays little more than lip service to the wellbeing of the overwhelming majority.
With this profoundly anachronistic system eventually failed in the 1990s, it triggered a famine that decimated the countryside and obliterated the lives of many hundreds of thousands of people. However, it also changed the lives of those who survived forever.
A lawless form of marketization came to replace the iron rice bowl of work in state companies, and the Orwellian mind control of the Korean Workers' Party was replaced for many by dreams of trade and profit. A new North Korea Society was born from the horrors of the era—one that is more susceptible to outside information than ever before with the advent of k-pop and video-carrying USB sticks. This is the North Korean society that is described in this book.
In seven fascinating chapters, the authors explore what life is actually like in modern North Korea today for the ordinary "man and woman on the street." They interview experts and tap a broad variety of sources to bring a startling new insider's view of North Korean society - from members of Pyongyang's ruling families to defectors from different periods and regions, to diplomats and NGOs with years of experience in the country, to cross-border traders from neighboring China, and textual accounts appearing in English, Korean and Chinese sources. The resulting stories reveal the horror as well as the innovation and humor which abound in this fascinating country.
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John Hooper's marvelously entertaining and perceptive new book is ideal for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Looking at the facts that lie behind and often belie the stereotypes, his revealing book sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life: football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger yet none for a hangover.
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Mi piace molto!
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India
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Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative. Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India’s political, economic and social complexities.
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An Epic Book by Award-Winning Author
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The weekly column Ask a North Korean, published by NK News, invites readers from around the world to pose questions to North Korean defectors. By way of these fascinating interviews, the North Koreans themselves provide authentic firsthand testimonies about what is happening inside the "Hermit Kingdom." This book sheds critical light on all aspects of North Korean politics and society and shows that even in the world's most authoritarian regime, life goes on in ways that are very different from what you may think.
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Mark Galeotti is the go-to expert on organized crime in Russia, consulted by governments and police around the world. Now, Western listeners can explore the fascinating history of the vory v zakone, a group that has survived and thrived amid the changes brought on by Stalinism, the Cold War, the Afghan War, and the end of the Soviet experiment.
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Great
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People are weird
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One of the least understood countries in the world, North Korea has long been known for its repressive regime. Yet it is far from being an impenetrable black box. Media flows covertly into the country, and fault lines are appearing in the government's sealed informational borders. Drawing on deeply personal interviews with North Korean defectors from all walks of life, ranging from propaganda artists to diplomats, Jieun Baek tells the story of North Korea's information underground.
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Worst narration on Audible
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Interesting dive into Russia today
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The Almost Nearly Perfect People
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Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than 10 years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely audiobook, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.
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A mandatory read, now more than ever
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The definitive account of Germany's malign transformation under Hitler's total rule and the implacable march to war. This magnificent second volume of Richard J. Evans's three-volume history of Nazi Germany was hailed by Benjamin Schwartz of The Atlantic Monthly as "the definitive English-language account... gripping and precise." It chronicles the incredible story of Germany's radical reshaping under Nazi rule.
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Great book, annoying narrator
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In megacities like Mumbai, where half the population live in slums, the extraordinary riches of India’s new dynasties echo the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of yesterday. James Crabtree’s The Billionaire Raj takes listeners on a personal journey to meet these reclusive billionaires, fugitive tycoons, and shadowy political power brokers. Crabtree dramatizes the battle between crony capitalists and economic reformers, revealing a tense struggle between equality and privilege playing out against a combustible backdrop of aspiration, class, and caste.
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Engaging, authors politics could be reduced
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In the next decade and a half, China and India will become two of the world's indispensable powers - whether they rise peacefully or not. During that time, Asia will surpass the combined strength of North America and Europe in economic might, population size, and military spending. Both India and China will have vetoes over many international decisions, from climate change to global trade, human rights, and business standards.
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Good book, could be better
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What listeners say about North Korea Confidential
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Danielle Sichta
- 06-05-24
not a defector story, very great knowledge
pretty much all my books, except two,are defector stories. the others, which are a study, are a very rare books of complete stories about Kim Jung ill. it was 💯 propaganda and not able to get anymore. this was a book permitted when Obama was ok with NK propaganda coming here, however THIS BOOK is not a defector story. this is a huge educational study of the country and very a big look at actual statistics. 5/5!!!!
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- Anonymous User
- 04-08-23
What's everyday life like in North Korea?
This book mainly focuses on the everyday life of North Koreans and the written and unwritten laws that run the country. The authors have tried to be as objective as possible.
It is a good read for anyone who wants to learn about North Korea and has no prior knowledge of the country.
Derek Perkins's performance, as always, is 10/10.
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- mace98
- 11-18-23
Great all around
Great insight into dprk. Narration is a good pace and the content is super interesting. Thanks.
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- Not Happy
- 12-03-23
Incredibly Insightful
I have read many books over the years covering North Korea and this is far and apart the most well researched, constructed and presented one. I highly recommend this to anyone that want to better understand North Korean history, culture and society.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-17-23
Really interesting
Detailed description of everyday life, debunking certain myths and confirming other commonly held ideas about NK. Also puts things in a context alongside SK
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-03-21
Interesting portrait of North Korea marred by awful pronunciation
Interesting take on the modern North Korean society and economy that provides a more nuanced picture of the country than many sources. The narrator is generally good, but his pronunciation of Korean terms is laughably awful. I’m living in South Korea now and could barely understand what he was saying, ridiculous rising tones on random syllables, like he’s trying to read Korean words with some ‘40s era Hollywood stereotypical “east Asian” accent. Even basic terms like “Kim Jong Il” are mispronounced with strange intonations and rising stresses. It’s distracting and takes away from an otherwise good narration, especially when a 15 minute primer on the pronunciation of Korean transliterations prior to recording would probably have cleared up the more glaring issues. Otherwise a refreshing and informative take on aspects of the country rarely discussed in the west.
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- Bradley
- 05-18-20
intresting ,but the final analysis is flawed
Good book has some interesting facts,but the authors' final argument is that the government of Pyongyang will reform and embrace a market economy, but if that were the case the DPRK would of done that already.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-08-24
Very informative
Although this book is about 9 years old now the information about how North Korean society has changed after the famine is still relevant and gives a good picture of how the country has evolved in the 21st century
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