100 Best North Korea Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Barbara Demick, Karen White, et al

5.0

Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population.

Taking us into a landscape most of us have never before seen, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick brings to life what it means to

Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee.

Hyeonseo Lee

She includes great details that show everyday life in North Korea. [source]

2

The Girl with Seven Names: Escape From North Korea

Hyeonseo Lee

4.8

With this compelling and unforgettable memoir based on her acclaimed TED Talk, which has over 10 million views, Hyeonseo Lee becomes one of the first female defectors from North Korea to share her story; like I Am Malala and Infidel, this is a narrative of sacrifice, survival, and extraordinary courage.

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by the secretive

3

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom

Yeonmi Park

4.8

Human rights activist Park, who fled North Korea with her mother in 2007 at age 13 and eventually made it to South Korea two years later after a harrowing ordeal, recognized that in order to be "completely free," she had to confront the truth of her past. It is an ugly, shameful story of being sold with her mother into slave marriages by Chinese brokers, and although she at first tried to hide the

4

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

Blaine Harden

4.8

A New York Times bestseller, the shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived.

North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin's Soviet gulags and twelve times

5

Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

Pierre Rigoulot

4.7

An account of the brutish conditions in North Korea. The Aquariums of Pyongyang is a heartbreaking story of survival. It is to be understood that the story is not unique in that there are thousands of families in North Korea being persecuted and starved even today. That there are still operating concentration camps as well as the implementation of the 3-generation rule, wherein everyone in the fam

Recommended by Andrei Lankov.

6

Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite

Suki Kim

4.7

A haunting memoir of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign

Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without not

Recommended by Andrew Chen.

7

Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea

Jang Jin-sung

4.6

In this rare insider's view into contemporary North Korea, a high-ranking counterintelligence agent describes his life as a former poet laureate to Kim Jong-il and his breathtaking escape to freedom.

"The General will now enter the room."

Everyone turns to stone. Not moving my head, I direct my eyes to a point halfway up the archway where Kim Jong-il's face will soon appear.

As North Korea's State Po

8

A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

Masaji Ishikawa

4.6

The harrowing true story of one man’s life in—and subsequent escape from—North Korea, one of the world’s most brutal totalitarian regimes.

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the

9

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

Guy Delisle, Helge Dascher

4.6

Famously referred to as one of the "Axis of Evil" countries, North Korea remains one of the most secretive and mysterious nations in the world today. In early 2001 cartoonist Guy Delisle became one of the few Westerners to be allowed access to the fortress-like country. While living in the nation's capital for two months on a work visa for a French film animation company, Delisle observed what he

Recommended by Sung J. Woo.

Sung J. Woo

Well, this is a comic book really, or a graphic novel if you want to make it sound more serious. Although it’s non-fiction, actually. It’s by a French guy, which is surprising. He went to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, to supervise an animation and he was there for two months getting to know the country. So this book is really a collection of his observations and how he saw the country and how strange it was to be there. The thing about the comic medium is that it’s perfect for representing the completely unreal state of that nation. This is a country unlike anywhere else and the comic book is more apt than any other form. There is a huge amount of propaganda in North Korea against South Korea, where I’m from. They say everyone’s spy, the living conditions are terrible and how horrible it is. But in South Korea there is the exact flip side of that. When I was growing up they said it’s terrible in North Korea, everyone’s a spy and the living conditions are horrible. [source]

10

The Orphan Master's Son

Adam Johnson

4.5

An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer "stolen" to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is gi

11

The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia

Andrei Lankov

4.5

Andrei Lankov has gone where few outsiders have ever been. A native of the former Soviet Union, he lived as an exchange student in North Korea in the 1980s. He has studied it for his entire career, using his fluency in Korean and personal contacts to build a rich, nuanced understanding. In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this op

12

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty

Bradley K. Martin

4.5

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader offers in-depth portraits of North Korea's two ruthless and bizarrely Orwellian leaders, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Lifting North Korea's curtain of self-imposed isolation, this book will take readers inside a society, that to a Westerner, will appear to be from another planet. Subsisting on a diet short on food grains and long on lies, North Koreans

Recommended by Andrei Lankov.

13

North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

Daniel Tudor, James Pearson

4.5

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

Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee.

Hyeonseo Lee

Some of the information is revelatory, especially about black market trade with China – foreign films and books have been smuggled in. [source]

14

A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power

Paul Fischer

4.5

An Amazon Best of The Year Nonfiction Selection

Library Journal Top Ten Book of the Year!

The Extraordinary True Story of Kim Jong-Il’s kidnapping of the golden couple of South Korean Cinema, The Movies They Were Forced to Make, and Their Daring Escape.

Before becoming the world’s most notorious dictator, Kim Jong-Il ran North Korea’s Ministry for Propaganda and all its film studios. Underwhelmed by

15

A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea

Eunsun Kim

4.4

Eunsun Kim was born in North Korea, one of the most secretive and oppressive countries in the modern world. As a child Eunsun loved her country…despite her school field trips to public executions, daily self-criticism sessions, and the increasing gnaw of hunger as the country-wide famine escalated.

By the time she was eleven years old, Eunsun's father and grandparents had died of starvation, and Eu

16

The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un

Anna Fifield

4.4

The behind-the-scenes story of the rise and reign of the world's strangest and most elusive tyrant, Kim Jong Un, by the journalist with the best connections and insights into the bizarrely dangerous world of North Korea.

Since his birth in 1984, Kim Jong Un has been swaddled in myth and propaganda, from the plainly silly--he could supposedly drive a car at the age of three--to the grimly bloody sto

Recommended by Demetri Sevastopulo, Marcel Dirsus, and Patrick Chovanec.

Demetri Sevastopulo

Anna has long written great stuff on North Korea. Check out her book on Kim Jong Un https://t.co/geJMplr29j [source]

Marcel Dirsus

Truly fascinating book, can only recommend it https://t.co/y6kXaVR32K [source]

Patrick Chovanec

I'm part of the way through @annafifield's book and it's fascinating. Lots of pieces that I've heard bits of, but never put together to form the full mosaic. I highly recommend it. https://t.co/ax2CQEeu1u [source]

17

Falling Stars (Falling Stars, #1)

Sungju Lee and Susan Elizabeth McClelland

4.4

Christopher Mason leads the biggest rock band on the charts. He's hot, he's famous and everything a rock star can be. When he meets fellow lead singer, Mia Ryder, she's energetic, fun, and laid-back. Mia is everything Chris isn't and he isn't going to stand by while her vagina powered band ride the coattails of his fan base.

But Chris's demons have grown so powerful he's about to lose everything, i

18

The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea

Bandi, Deborah Smith

4.4

The Accusation is a deeply moving and eye-opening work of fiction that paints a powerful portrait of life under the North Korean regime. Set during the period of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il’s leadership, the seven stories that make up The Accusation give voice to people living under this most bizarre and horrifying of dictatorships. The characters of these compelling stories come from a wide varie

19

Under the Same Sky: From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America

Joseph Kim

4.4

A searing story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by activists and Christian missionaries, and success in the United States thanks to newfound faith and courage.

Inside the hidden and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim lived a young boy’s normal life until he was five. Then disaster struck: the first wave of the Great Famine, a long, terrible

20

Pachinko

Min Jin Lee

4.4

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision

Recommended by Emma Watson and Gail Kelly.

Gail Kelly

Former CEO/ Westpac

Member of the Group of 30, and former CEO of Westpac will be spending her summer months reading a memoir, a novel and historical non-fiction. Lab Girl—Hope Jahren Pachinko—Min Jin Lee The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics—Daniel James Brown [source]

21

This is Paradise!

Hyok Kang

4.4

Hyok Kang was eighteen when he escaped from North Korea, a country locked away from the outside world. This personal, illustrated account of school days in a rigidly communist institution and everyday life with his family and community provides a rare glimpse of this secretive nation.
His shocking and moving portrayal bears witness to this spirited young boy's resilience and survival in a society

22

The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future

Victor Cha

4.4

“A meaty, fast-paced portrait of North Korean society, economy, politics and foreign policy.” -Foreign Affairs

The definitive account of North Korea, its veiled past and uncertain future, from the former Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council

In The Impossible State, seasoned international-policy expert and lauded scholar Victor Cha pulls back the curtain on this controversial a

Recommended by Murtaza Mohammad Hussain.

Murtaza Mohammad Hussain

@GleamingRazor Love this book [source]

23

Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home

Laura Ling and Lisa Ling

4.3

Somewhere Inside is the electrifying, never-before-told story of Laura Ling’s capture by the North Koreans in March 2009, and the efforts of her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, to secure Laura’s release by former President Bill Clinton. This riveting true account of the first ever trial of an American citizen in North Korea’s highest court carries readers deep inside the world’s most secretive natio

24

Stars Between the Sun and Moon: One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom

Lucia Jang

4.3

An extraordinary memoir by a North Korean woman who defied the government to keep her family alive.

Born in the 1970s, Lucia Jang grew up in a common, rural North Korean household—her parents worked hard, she bowed to a photo of Kim Il-Sung every night, and the family scraped by on rationed rice and a small garden. However, there is nothing common about Jang. She is a woman of great emotional depth

25

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters

B.R. Myers

4.3

Understanding North Korea through its propaganda

What do the North Koreans really believe? How do they see themselves and the world around them?

Here B.R. Myers, a North Korea analyst and a contributing editor of The Atlantic, presents the first full-length study of the North Korean worldview. Drawing on extensive research into the regime’s domestic propaganda, including films, romance novels and o

26

Long Road Home: Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor

Yong Kim, Suk-Young Kim

4.3

Kim Yong shares his harrowing account of life in a labor camp--a singularly despairing form of torture carried out by the secret state. Although it is known that gulags exist in North Korea, little information is available about their organization and conduct, for prisoners rarely escape both incarceration and the country alive. Long Road Home shares the remarkable story of one such survivor, a fo

27

The Tears of My Soul

Hyun Hee Kim

4.3

When Korean Air Lines flight 858 exploded in 1987, killing 115 passengers, international law-enforcement officials immediately started searching for the hardened North Korean terrorists who could have committed such a crime. What they found was Kim Hyun Hee, an idealistic young woman who had been transformed by her country into an obedient killing machine. The Tears of My Soul is her poignant, sho

28

The Invitation-Only Zone: The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project

Robert S. Boynton

4.3

For decades, North Korea denied any part in the disappearance of dozens of Japanese citizens from Japan’s coastal towns and cities in the late 1970s. But in 2002, with his country on the brink of collapse, Kim Jong-il admitted to the kidnapping of thirteen people and returned five of them in hopes of receiving Japanese aid. As part of a global espionage project, the regime had attempted to reeduca

Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee.

Hyeonseo Lee

A frightening portrait of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens, and efforts to use them to train spies. [source]

29

My Holiday in North Korea: The Funniest/Worst Place on Earth

Wendy E. Simmons

4.3

Most people want out of North Korea. Wendy Simmons wanted in.

In My Holiday in North Korea: The Funniest/Worst Place on Earth, Wendy shares a glimpse of North Korea as it’s never been seen before. Even though it’s the scariest place on Earth, somehow Wendy forgot to check her sense of humor at the border.

But Wendy’s initial amusement and bewilderment soon turned to frustration and growing paranoia.

30

The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and The Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom

Blaine Harden

4.3

From the New York Times bestselling author of Escape From Camp 14, Blaine Harden tells the riveting story of Kim Il Sung's rise to power, and the brave North Korean fighter pilot who escaped the prison state and delivered the first MiG-15 into American hands

In The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, New York Times bestselling author Blaine Harden tells the riveting story of how Kim Il Sung grabbed

31

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War

David Halberstam

4.3

"In a grand gesture of reclamation and remembrance, Mr. Halberstam has brought the war back home."---The New York Times

David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book about the Vietnam conflict. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivaled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another pivotal moment in our histor

Recommended by Bill Rasmussen.

Bill Rasmussen

One that I would recommend. [source]

32

Only Beautiful, Please: A British Diplomat in North Korea

John Everard

4.3

Coverage of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) all too often focuses solely on nuclear proliferation, military parades, and the personality cult of its leaders. As the British ambassador to North Korea, John Everard had the rare experience of living there from 2006, when the DPRK conducted its first nuclear test, to 2008. While stationed in Pyongyang, Everard's travels around the nat

33

The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea

Charles Robert Jenkins

4.3

In January of 1965, twenty-four-year-old U.S. Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins abandoned his post in South Korea, walked across the DMZ, and surrendered to communist North Korean soldiers standing sentry along the world's most heavily militarized border. He believed his action would get him back to the States and a short jail sentence. Instead he found himself in another sort of prison, where

34

Star of the North

D. B. John

4.3

A propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely alliance

Star of the North opens in 1998, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twelve years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, an

35

North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea

Andrei Lankov

4.3

The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea for over 60 years. Most of that period has found the country suffering under mature Stalinism characterized by manipulation, brutality and tight social control. Nevertheless, some citizens of Kim Jong Il's regime manage to transcend his tyranny in their daily existence. This book describes that difficult but f existence and the world that the North Koreans hav

36

Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad

Melanie Kirkpatrick

4.2

From the world’s most repressive state comes rare good news: the escape to freedom of a small number of its people. It is a crime to leave North Korea. Yet increasing numbers of North Koreans dare to flee. They go first to neighboring China, which rejects them as criminals, then on to Southeast Asia or Mongolia, and finally to South Korea, the United States, and other free countries. They travel a

37

North Korea's Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society

Jieun Baek

4.2

The story of North Korea's information underground and how it inspires people to seek better lives beyond their country’s borders

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 information

38

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

Graham Allison

4.2

CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES ARE HEADING TOWARD A WAR NEITHER WANTS. The reason is Thucydides’s Trap, a deadly pattern of structural stress that results when a rising power challenges a ruling one. This phenomenon is as old as history itself. About the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece, the historian Thucydides explained: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in

Recommended by Fareed Zakaria, Kin Kariisa, and Will MacAskill.

Fareed Zakaria

A very smart and important book. [source]

Kin Kariisa

It was such a memorable and humbling moment meeting Prof. Allison Graham, professor of government at Harvard, on the sidelines of Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity here in Jeju Island, South Korea. His book Destined for War is a fascinating read. https://t.co/ZB3HhBHgLY [source]

Will MacAskill

The last 70 years are a fairly unusual state. We don’t really know why they’ve been so unusually peaceful. This could all change in the 21st century. [source]

39

North Korea Undercover: Inside the World's Most Secret State

John Sweeney

4.2

North Korea is like no other tyranny on earth. It is Orwell's 1984 made reality.

The regime controls the flow of information to its citizens, pouring relentless propaganda through omnipresent loud speakers. Free speech is an illusion: one word out of line and the gulag awaits. State spies are everywhere, ready to punish disloyalty and the slightest sign of discontent.

You must bow to Kim Il Sung, th

40

The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Revised and Updated Edition)

Don Oberdorfer

4.2

Don Oberdorfer has written a gripping narrative history of Korea's travails and triumphs over the past three decades. The Two Koreas places the tensions between North and South within a historical context, with a special emphasis on the involvement of outside powers.

41

Escaping North Korea PB

Mike Kim

4.2

The first of its kind, this book provides a unique inside look into the hidden world of ordinary North Koreans. Mike Kim, who worked with refugees on the Chinese border for four years, recounts their experiences of enduring famine, sex-trafficking, and torture, as well as the inspirational stories of those who overcame tremendous adversity to escape the repressive regime of their homeland and make

42

Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman

Soon Ok Lee

4.2

43

Made in North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life in the DPRK

Nick Bonner

4.2

North Korea uncensored and unfiltered – ordinary life in the world's most secretive nation, captured in never-before-seen ephemera.

Made in North Korea uncovers the fascinating and surprisingly beautiful graphic culture of North Korea - from packaging to hotel brochures, luggage tags to tickets for the world-famous mass games. From his base in Beijing, Bonner has been running tours into North Korea

44

North Korea Journal

Michael Palin

4.2

THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT DOCUMENTARY

A glimpse of life inside the world’s most secretive country, as told by Britain’s best-loved travel writer.

In May 2018, former Monty Python stalwart and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin spent two weeks in the notoriously secretive Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a cut-off land without internet or phone signal, where the countryside has barely moved beyo

45

North Korea: State of Paranoia: A Modern History

Paul French

4.2

North Korea is a country that continues to make headlines—arousing curiosity and fear in equal measure. The world’s most secretive nuclear power, it is a nation that still has Gulag-style prison camps, no internet, and bans its people from talking to foreigners without official approval. In this remarkable and eye-opening book, bestselling author Paul French takes the reader inside the world’s mos

Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee.

Hyeonseo Lee

An excellent introduction to the history and politics of North Korea, including its complex relations with South Korea, Japan and the USA. [source]

46

All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

4.2

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. Wh

Recommended by Jason Goldman.

Jason Goldman

All The Light We Cannot See is the best book I've read in a while. I tend to speed read and here I savored every word; the writing is just effortlessly beautiful. I hope it's made it onto high school WWII syllabi by now. [source]

47

Not Forgotten: The True Story of My Imprisonment in North Korea

Kenneth Bae, Wayne Campbell

4.2

For the first time, Kenneth Bae tells the full story surrounding his arrest and imprisonment in North Korea.

Not Forgotten is a modern story of intrigue, suspense, and heart. Driven by his passion to help the people of North Korea, Bae moves to neighboring China to lead guided tours into the secretive nation. Six years later, after eighteen successful excursions in and out of the country, Ken is su

48

The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

Bob Drury

4.2

November 1950, the Korean Peninsula: After General MacArthur ignores Mao’s warnings and pushes his UN forces deep into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge that will need to be held

49

Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il

Michael Malice

4.2

No country is as misunderstood as North Korea, and no modern tyrant has remained more mysterious than the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il. Now, celebrity ghostwriter Michael Malice pulls back the curtain to expose the life story of the "Incarnation of Love and Morality." Taken directly from books spirited out of Pyongyang, DEAR READER is a carefully reconstructed first-person account of the man behind th

50

How I Became a North Korean

Krys Lee

4.2

"Lee takes us into urgent and emotional novelistic terrain: the desperate and tenuous realms defectors are forced to inhabit after escaping North Korea." -Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master's Son

"The more confusing and horrible our world becomes, the more critical the role of fiction in communicating both the facts and the meaning of other people's lives. Krys Lee joins writers like Anth

51

The World Is Bigger Now: An American Journalist's Release from Captivity in North Korea . . . A Remarkable Story of Faith, Family, and Forgiveness

Euna Lee, Lisa Dickey

4.1

For the first time, Euna Lee—the young wife, mother, and film editor detained in North Korea—tells a harrowing, but ultimately inspiring, story of survival and faith in one of the most isolated parts of the world.

On March 17, 2009, Lee and her Current TV colleague Laura Ling were working on a documentary about the desperate lives of North Koreans fleeing their homeland for a chance at freedom when

52

A Corpse in the Koryo (Inspector O, #1)

James Church

4.1

Against the backdrop of a totalitarian North Korea , one man unwillingly uncovers the truth behind series of murders, and wagers his life in the process.

Sit on a quiet hillside at dawn among the wildflowers; take a picture of a car coming up a deserted highway from the south. Simple orders for Inspector O, until he realizes they have led him far, far off his department's turf and into a maelst

Critical Acclaim for The Corpse in the Koryo

"This is a fine, intelligent, and exciting story that takes us into the netherworld of contemporary North Korean communism. It evokes the gray milieu without ever overstepping its mark, allowing us to see it from the inside rather than the outside, wherein the humanity of all the characters, both good and evil, is apparent. Inspector O is a particularly wonderful creation, a true mensch attempting to hold on to his humanity in a world where humanism is under constant attack. Subtlety is the method, and the result is fantastic work that should mark the beginning of a brilliant career for James Church."
---Olen Steinhauer, author of Liberation Movements

"For over fifty years Americans have tried to understand the world of North Korea. James Church does a better job of describing the isolated, impoverished, corrupt, and out- of-touch life in the North than anything I have seen. This novel is a must-read for anyone who would understand how precarious the dictatorship is."
---Newt Gingrich, author of Winning Back the Future and Never Call Retreat

"A gripping story of mystery and intrigue. The laconic Inspector O follows in the traditions of Inspector Arkady Renko, operating in a world of complexity and danger we're meeting here for the first time."
---Don Oberdorfer, author of Tet!

"Church's debut thriller breaks new ground. O is an original. This is an expert take on a complex, brutal, and mystifying society. Immerse yourself in it."
---Marshall Browne, author of Eye of the Abyss and the Inspector Anders series

"The Corpse in the Koryo is a spellbinder. Bloody and chilling, yet subtle in its psychological detail, with an amazing understanding of North Korea."
---Ezra F. Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University Asia Center

"The (pseudonymous) author, a veteran intelligence officer, has intimate knowledge of Asian life and politics, and it shows: He gives the North Korea setting a feeling of palpable reality, depicting the nature of daily life under a totalitarian government not just with broad sociopolitical descriptions but also with specific everyday details. . . . There is also a little of Martin Cruz Smith's early Arkady Renko novels here. The writing is superb, too, well above the level usually associated with a first novel, richly layered and visually evocative."
---Booklist (starred review)

53

Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo

Jack Cheevers

4.1

In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission: to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was mad

54

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Michael A. Singer

4.1

Preview Summary

Who are you? When you start to explore this question, you find out how elusive it really is. Are you a physical body? A collection of experiences and memories? A partner in a relationship? Each time you consider these aspects of yourself, you realize that there is much more to you than any of these can define.

In The Untethered Soul—now a New York Times bestseller—spiritual teacher Michael Singer

Recommended by Deepak Chopra, James Altucher, Ray Kurzweil, and 3 others.

Deepak Chopra

Founder/The Chopra Foundation

In the book The Untethered Soul, Michael A. Singer takes you step-by-step through the process of Gyana, the yoga of the Intellect, to the Source. Moreover, he does it with elegant simplicity. Read this book carefully, and you will get more than a glimpse of eternity. [source]

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

Michael moved to an empty patch of forest, set up his trailer, and started to meditate in the early 70s. He surrendered to whatever happened in his life. Well...what ended up happening is that he created a multi-billion dollar company. His book is about the spiritual beauty of surrender. And how that can go hand in hand with financial success. I was so astonished by the book that I contacted him and flew down to Florida and stayed several days in his “compound” and interviewed him about his success. I re-read the book at least once every few months. [source]

Ray Kurzweil

Investor & Author

East is East and West is West, but Michael A. Singer bridges these two great traditions in a radiant treatise on how to succeed in life from our spiritual quest to our everyday tribulations. Freud said that life was composed of love and work. With great eloquence, wit, and compelling logic, Singer’s brilliant book completes this thought by showing them to be two poles of the same selfless devotion. [source]

55

Eating with the Enemy: How I Waged Peace with North Korea from My BBQ Shack in Hackensack

Robert Egan, Kurt Pitzer

4.1

There was only one chair in the room. Fluorescent tubes on the ceiling hummed with blue light. The woman smiled and explained in a soothing voice that there were some “procedures” they had to go through.

“We’re just going to put you under for a few minutes,” she said. One of the officials told me to turn around..

“Do I have a choice?” I lowered my pants, exposing most of my left butt cheek. The wom

56

In the Shadow of the Sun

Anne Sibley O'Brien

4.1

North Korea is known as the most repressive country on Earth, with a dictatorial leader, a starving population, and harsh punishment for rebellion.

Not the best place for a family vacation.

Yet that's exactly where Mia Andrews finds herself, on a tour with her aid-worker father and fractious older brother, Simon. Mia was adopted from South Korea as a baby, and the trip raises tough questions about w

57

The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom

Ralph Hassig, Kongdan Oh

4.1

This unique book provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of life in North Korea today. Drawing on decades of experience, noted experts Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh explore a world few outsiders can imagine. In vivid detail, the authors describe how the secretive and authoritarian government of Kim Jong-il shapes every aspect of its citizens' lives, how the command socialist economy has utt

58

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (The Hundred-Year-Old Man, #1)

Jonas Jonasso

4.1

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health. A big celebration is in the works for his 100th birthday, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his alcohol consumption), so he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a

59

The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel

Jeffrey Lewis

4.1

“A brilliantly conceived page-turner.”—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Command and Control

“I couldn’t put the book down, reading most of it in the course of one increasingly intense evening. If fear of nuclear war is going to keep you up at night, at least it can be a page-turner.”— New Scientist

America lost 1.4 million citizens in the North Korean attacks of March 2020. This is t

60

In the Absence of Sun: A Korean American Woman's Promise to Reunite Three Lost Generations of Her Family

Helie Lee

4.1

A breathtaking true story of a rescue mission undertaken by a young woman and her family in one of the most repressive countries in the world.

Helie Lee often had heard her grandmother speak of an uncle, lost decades ago when he was a child during the family’s daring escape from North Korea. As an adult, he was still living there under horrid conditions. When her grandmother began to ail, Helie bec

61

See You Again in Pyongyang: A Journey into Kim Jong Un's North Korea

Travis Jeppesen

4.1

From ballistic missile tests to stranger-than-fiction stories of purges and assassinations, news from North Korea never fails to dominate the global headlines. But what is life there actually like?

62

Becoming Kim Jong Un: A Former CIA Officer's Insights into North Korea's Enigmatic Young Dictator

Jung H. Pak

4.1

A groundbreaking account of the rise of North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un, from his nuclear ambitions to his summits with President Donald J. Trump--from a former CIA analyst considered one of the leading American experts on the North Korean leader inside and outside the U.S. government.

When Kim Jong Un became the leader of North Korea following his father's death in 2011, predictions about his i

63

Korea: The Impossible Country: South Korea's Amazing Rise from the Ashes: The Inside Story of an Economic, Political and Cultural Phenomenon

Daniel Tudor

4.1

In just fifty years, South Korea has transformed itself from a failed state, ruined and partitioned by war and decades of colonial rule, into an economic powerhouse and a democracy that serves as a model for other countries.

How was it able to achieve this with no natural resources and a tradition of authoritarian rule? Who are the Koreans and how did they accomplish this second Asian miracle? Thro

64

On Desperate Ground: The Epic Story of Chosin Reservoir--The Greatest Battle of the Korean War

Hampton Sides

4.1

"On Desperate Ground is first-rate narrative history. Hampton Sides' characters are richly drawn, his background history engrossing, and his battle scenes bone-chillingly realistic--a great read."
--Daniel James Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice , a chronicle of the extraord

65

A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom

Felix Abt

4.1

Business in North Korea: a paradoxical and fascinating situation is interpreted by a true insider.

In 2002, the Swiss-Swedish power company ABB appointed Felix Abt its country director for North Korea. The Swiss Entrepreneur lived and worked in North Korea for seven years, one of the few foreign businessmen there. After the experience, Abt felt compelled to write A Capitalist in North Korea to desc

Cover unavailable

66

The Island of Sea Women

Lisa See

4.1

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger

67

Your Republic Is Calling You

Young-ha Kim, Chi-Young Kim

4.1

A foreign film importer, Gi-yeong is a family man with a wife and daughter. An aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi, he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Suddenly he receives a mysterious email, a directive seemingly from the home office. He has one day to return to headquarters. He hasn't heard from anyone in over ten years. Why is he bein

68

The Target (Will Robie, #3)

David Baldacci

4.1

The President knows it's a perilous, high-risk assignment. If he gives the order, he has the opportunity to take down a global menace, once and for all. If the mission fails, he would face certain impeachment, and the threats against the nation would multiply. So the president turns to the one team that can pull off the impossible: Will Robie and his partner, Jessica Reel.

Together, Robie and Reel'

69

War Trash

Ha Jin

4.1

War Trash, the extraordinary new novel by the National Book Award–winning author of Waiting, is Ha Jin’s most ambitious work to date: a powerful, unflinching story that opens a window on an unknown aspect of a little-known war—the experiences of Chinese POWs held by Americans during the Korean conflict—and paints an intimate portrait of conformity and dissent against a sweeping canvas of confronta

Recommended by Bruce Cumings and Harry Wu.

Bruce Cumings

Ha Jin’s novel is obviously based on either his experience or his father’s experience of the Korean War. There are some very stark and striking descriptions. He didn’t have access to South Korea, but he has this wonderful ability to treat everybody fairly and to listen to the songs of women guerrillas that were captured by South Korean prison camps and enjoy listening to them. He does the same thing with North Korean and Chinese soldiers and the civilians who were caught up in the battle. [source]

Harry Wu

It’s written by a young Chinese author who came to the United States. He wrote this book in his second language and still won lots of awards for it, which is very impressive. I think this is a really good book to show the West more about what is going on in China. People think that it’s all about economic growth but there is so much more to our history than that. [source]

70

Jia

Hyejin Kim

4.1

The gentle daughter of a dancer who died at her birth and a father who was "disappeared" for owning foreign books, Jia grows up in a North Korea mountain gulag where her grandparents have been sent as punishment for their son's supposed treason. When her grandfather manages to smuggle her out of the gulag, Jia's journey takes her first to an orphanage in Pyongyang and then to a dance school where

71

The Patriot Threat (Cotton Malone, #10)

Steve Berry

4.0

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution is why Americans pay income taxes. But what if there were problems associated with that amendment? Secrets that call into question decades of tax collecting? In fact, there is a surprising truth to this hidden possibility.

Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired

72

Hidden Moon (Inspector O, #2)

James Church

4.0

In A Corpse in the Koryo, James Church introduced readers to one of the most unique detectives to appear on page in years — the elusive Inspector O. The stunning mystery was named one of the best mystery/thrillers of 2006 by the Chicago Tribune for its beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a terrain Church knows by heart.

And now the Inspector is back. In Hidden Moon, Inspector O retu

73

North Korea: Another Country

Bruce Cumings

4.0

Depicted as an insular and forbidding police state with an “insane” dictator at its helm, North Korea—charter member of Bush’s “Axis of Evil”—is a country the U.S. loves to hate. Now the CIA says it possesses nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well as long-range missiles capable of delivering them to America’s West Coast.

But, as Bruce Cumings demonstrates in this provocative, lively rea

74

The Persian Gamble: A Marcus Ryker Series Political and Military Action Thriller: (book 2)

Joel C. Rosenberg

4.0

The instant New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestseller!

Over 100,000 copies sold!

"Joel C. Rosenberg continues to mix his unique blend of prophetic fiction and nonstop action unlike anyone else working today." --The Real Book Spy on The Persian Gamble.

"The plot is intriguing. The pace just keeps accelerating. A must read!" --Porter Goss, former director of the Central Intelligence A

75

Rocketbone's Guide to North Korea

J.R. JaBone

4.0

76

These Are The Generations

Eric Foley

4.0

The Story Of How One North Korean family living out the Great Commission for more than 50 years.

77

Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea

Sheila Miyoshi Jager

4.0

Sixty years after North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the Korean War has not yet ended. Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents the first comprehensive history of this misunderstood war, one that risks involving the world’s superpowers—again. Her sweeping narrative ranges from the middle of the Second World War—when Korean independence was fiercely debated between Roosevelt, Stal

78

The Wilder Shores of Marx: Journeys in a Vanishing World

Anthony Daniels

4.0

What is life like in a totalitarian regime? It is a question which has always fascinated Theodore Dalrymple - whose father was a strict if slightly inconsistent Communist.

The Wilder Shores of Marx sees the writer visit five countries which still labour under systems inspired by the writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin and other luminaries of the left.

79

The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War

H. W. Brands

4.0

From master storyteller and historian H. W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the riveting story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur squared off to decide America's future in the aftermath of World War II.

At the height of the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman committed a gaffe that sent shock waves around the world. When asked by a reporter about t

80

King of Spies: The Dark Reign of America's Spymaster in Korea

Blaine Harden

4.0

From the New York Times bestselling author of Escape from Camp 14, the shocking, gripping account of the most powerful American spy you’ve never heard of, whose role at the center of the Korean War—which gave rise to the North Korean regime—is essential to understanding the most intractable foreign policy conflict of our time.

In 1946, master sergeant Donald Nichols was repairing jeeps on the sleep

81

So Far from the Bamboo Grove

Yoko Kawashima Watkins

4.0

Prequel to My Brother, My Sister, and I.

Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and they want to punish the Japanese, who have occupied their nation for m

82

This Kind of War: The Classic Military History of the Korean War

T. R. Fehrenbach

4.0

Updated with maps, photographs, and battlefield diagrams, this special fiftieth anniversary edition of the classic history of the Korean War is a dramatic and hard-hitting account of the conflict written from the perspective of those who fought it. Partly drawn from official records, operations journals, and histories, it is based largely on the compelling personal narratives of the small-unit com

83

Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Sook Nyul Choi

4.0

It is 1945, and courageous ten-year-old Sookan and her family must endure the cruelties of the Japanese military occupying Korea. Police captain Narita does his best to destroy everything of value to the family, but he cannot break their spirit. Sookan's father is with the resistance movement in Manchuria and her older brothers have been sent away to labor camps. Her mother is forced to supervise

84

So etwas wie Glück: Acht Jahre auf der Flucht - mein langer Weg aus Nordkorea in die Freiheit

Choi Yeong Ok, Fabian Kretschmer

4.0

Die unfassbare Geschichte einer dramatischen Flucht.

Ende der Neunziger, zur Zeit der großen Hungersnöte in Nordkorea, flieht Choi Yeong Ok nach China – in der Hoffnung, nach wenigen Monaten von dort mit Geld zurückzukehren. Unter Tränen gibt sie ihre beiden Töchter bei Nachbarn ab und verschwindet mitten in der Nacht aus ihrem Dorf – sollte sie erwischt werden, würde sie öffentlich hingerichtet.

85

Illusive Utopia: Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea

Suk-Young Kim

4.0

"North Korea is not just a security or human rights problem (although it is those things) but a real society. This book gets us closer to understanding North Korea beyond the usual headlines, and does so in a richly detailed, well-researched, and theoretically contextualized way."
---Charles K. Armstrong, Director, Center for Korean Research, Columbia University

"One of this book's strengths is how

86

All Woman and Springtime

Brandon W. Jones

4.0

Before she met Il-sun in an orphanage, Gi was a hollow husk of a girl, broken from growing up in one of North Korea’s forced-labor camps. A mathematical genius, she learned to cope with pain by retreating into a realm of numbers and calculations, an escape from both the past and the present. Gi becomes enamored of the brash and radiant Il-sun, a friend she describes as “all woman and springtime.”

87

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History

Bruce Cumings Ph.D.

4.0

Korea has endured a "fractured, shattered twentieth century," and this updated edition brings Bruce Cumings's leading history of the modern era into the present. The small country, overshadowed in the imperial era, crammed against great powers during the Cold War, and divided and decimated by the Korean War, has recently seen the first real hints of reunification. But positive movements forward ar

88

Lonely Planet Korea

Lonely Planet, Damian Harper, et al.

4.0

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet's Korea is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the graceful Changdeokgung palace and horticultural idyll of Huwon, hike the dramatic volcanic landscape of Jeju-do and get dirty at the Boryeong Mud Festival - all with your trusted travel c

89

Out of North Korea

Alana Terry

4.0

A single photograph could cost his life ...

Ian McAllister has searched the world over, hunting for that all-elusive perfect photograph.

He finds it on a tourist trip to North Korea when he stumbles upon a young street kid foraging for roots.

Unaware that this single act will brand him a spy and cost his freedom, Ian takes the shot.

Now he must pay the penalty.

A true-to-life novel about an Americ

90

Snow Hunters

Paul Yoon

4.0

In this elegant, haunting, and highly anticipated debut novel from 5 Under 35 National Book Foundation honoree Paul Yoon, a North Korean war refugee confronts the wreckage of his past. With spare, evocative prose, Snow Hunters traces the extraordinary journey of Yohan, who defects from his country at the end of the war, leaving his friends and family behind to seek a new life in a port town on the

91

Dying for Rights: Putting North Korea's Human Rights Abuses on the Record

Sandra Fahy

4.0

North Korea's human rights violations are unparalleled in the contemporary world. In Dying for Rights, Sandra Fahy provides the definitive account of the abuses committed by the North Korean state, domestically and internationally, from its founding to the present.

Dying for Rights scrutinizes North Korea's treatment of its own people as well as foreign nationals, how violations committed by the st

92

When Spring Comes to the DMZ

Uk-Bae Lee

4.0

Korea's demilitarized zone has become an amazing accidental nature preserve that gives hope for a brighter future for a divided land.

Travel into the natural beauty of the DMZ, where salmon, spotted seals, and mountain goats freely follow the seasons and raise their families in this 2.5-mile-wide, 150-mile-long corridor where no human may tread. But the vivid seasonal flora and fauna are framed by

93

Fortune Smiles

NA

4.0

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed and bestselling novel The Orphan Master's Son, Adam Johnson is one of America's most provocative and powerful authors. In Fortune Smiles - his first book since Orphan Master - he continues to give voice to characters rarely heard from, while offering something we all seek from fiction: a new way of looking at our world.

In six masterly stories, Johnson

Cover unavailable

94

Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence

James R. Clapper, Trey Brown

4.0

The former Director of National Intelligence speaks out

When he stepped down in January 2017 as the fourth United States Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper had been President Obama's senior intelligence advisor for six and a half years, a period that included such critical events as the discovery of Osama bin Laden, the leaks of Edward Snowden, the Benghazi attack, and Russia's influe

95

The Korean War: A History

Bruce Cumings

4.0

A BRACING ACCOUNT OF A WAR THAT IS EITHER MISUNDERSTOOD, FORGOTTEN, OR WILLFULLY IGNORED

For Americans, it was a discrete conflict lasting from 1950 to 1953. But for the Asian world the Korean War was a generations-long struggle that still haunts contemporary events. With access to new evidence and secret materials from both here and abroad, including an archive of captured North Korean documents,

96

Fear: Trump in the White House

Bob Woodward

4.0

With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and docume

97

Sources of Korean Tradition: From Early Times Through the Sixteenth Century

Peter H. Lee

4.0

Drawn from Peter H. Lee's Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, Volume I, this abridged introductory collection offers students and general readers primary readings in the social, intellectual, and religious traditions of Korea from ancient times through the sixteenth century. Sources of Korean Tradition is arranged according to the major epochs of Korean history, including sections on: Korean cultur

98

Inside North Korea

Oliver Wainwright, Julius Wiedemann

4.0

Pastel Dreams
The powerful architecture of North Korea

Erased by bombing during the Korean War, North Korea’s trophy capital of Pyongyang was entirely rebuilt from scratch from 1953, in line with the vision of the nation’s founder, Kim Il-sung. Designed as an imposing stage set, it is a place of grand axial boulevards linking gargantuan monuments, lined with stately piles of distinctly Korean flavor

99

Restricted Nations: North Korea

P. Todd Nettleton

4.0

Those inside North Korea are forced to worship their government leader as a god. While many in the country suffer in darkness under a cruel regime, a small light is burning. That light is the piercing light of Jesus Christ’s message of hope. A few North Korean believers are brave enough to return to the nation that once imprisoned them to share the gospel message with those inside dying. Learn the

100

The Hidden History of the Korean War: 1950–1951 (A Nonconformist History of Our Times, #2)

I. F. Stone

4.0

In 1945 US troops arrived in Korea for what would become America’s longest-lasting conflict. While history books claim without equivocation that the war lasted from 1950 to 1953, those who have actually served there know better. By closely analyzing US intelligence before June 25, 1950 (the war’s official start), and the actions of key players like John Foster Dulles, General Douglas MacArthur, an

Recommended by Bruce Cumings.

Bruce Cumings

This book is very interesting. I F Stone was a famous iconoclastic investigative reporter. His method was to read a whole bunch of newspapers every day, clip them, and then read what the government was saying publicly through government reports, speeches and the like, and then try to figure out what was going on. And he got many things right about the Korean War using that method. In the early 1950s he was condemning the carpet bombing which the U.S. did in North Korea. This was an enemy that had almost no defence and no air power. I don’t think many people understand that North Korea suffered the same kind of fire-bombing that the British and Americans did in World War II against Japan and Germany – and yet North Korea was a small country. [source]