Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty | 
|  | | | Title: | Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty | | Author: | Bradley K. Martin | | Publisher: | St. Martin's Griffin | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 10 January, 2006 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0312323220 / 9780312323226 | | List Price: | $19.95 | | You Save: | $6.38 | | Amazon Price: | $13.57 | |
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Product Description
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 have been indoctrinated from birth to follow unquestioningly a father-son team of megalomaniacs.
To North Koreans, the Kims are more than just leaders. Kim Il-Sung is the country's leading novelist, philosopher, historian, educator, designer, literary critic, architect, general, farmer, and ping-pong trainer. Radios are made so they can only be tuned to the official state frequency. "Newspapers" are filled with endless columns of Kim speeches and propaganda. And instead of Christmas, North Koreans celebrate Kim's birthday--and he presents each child a present, just like Santa.
The regime that the Kim Dynasty has built remains technically at war with the United States nearly a half century after the armistice that halted actual fighting in the Korean War. This fascinating and complete history takes full advantage of a great deal of source material that has only recently become available (some from archives in Moscow and Beijing), and brings the reader up to the tensions of the current day. For as this book will explain, North Korea appears more and more to be the greatest threat among the Axis of Evil countries--with some defector testimony warning that Kim Jong-Il has enough chemical weapons to wipe out the entire population of South Korea.
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Customer Reviews:
• Comprehensive And Well-informed 15 July, 2007
Profiles of dictatorships are often memoirs of their victims or works of scholars with limited first-hand experience. Not so Bradley Martin's far-reaching profile of North Korea, which is probably unmatched in its variety of sources: numerous personal trips, exhaustively cross-checked defector accounts, and decades of research combine to form one of the few dense books on history and politics that might fairly qualify as a page-turner. A worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in the Asia's security situation or economic future, especially since North Korea sits at the crossroads of major powers like China, South Korea, and Japan.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1UU8WYZ3WIPKA
• Fascinating Reading 23 August, 2007
"Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" is one of those books I knew that I should read, but was not quite ready to take on 800 plus pages of non-fiction.
That is until I started reading it. The knowledge and style of writing of the author has made what I expected to be another dull tome of non-fiction both fascinating and enjoyable.
I hope that Mr. Martin is planning a sequel. I will be standing in line.
David F. Canmpbell
- Reviewed by customer ID: A33JTPHDA4E00T
• A Detailed Look At North Korea's Evolution From "worker's Paradise" To Living Hell 30 November, 2007
"Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" is a comprehensive and compelling story of North Korea and the North Koreans. Martin does a marvelous job of balancing the historical details that chronicle North Korea's creation and subsequent evolution under the father and son Kim regime with the journalistic aspects involving his own travels to North Korea and his interviews with defectors. For a book of non-fiction almost 900 pages in length it is as amazingly captivating as it is educational.
Martin had a difficult task in compiling this work, as data from North Korea is not only lacking but official sources are full of incorrect or exaggerated propaganda. Martin does an excellent job of collecting information, filtering it as objectively as he can, and sharing that analysis with us. A critic of the regime, he still paints a balanced and nuanced picture of the leaders of the country, avoiding oversimplifications in "good" and "evil" terms. His argument that human rights concerns should take as much or greater priority as the nuclear weapons issue, and that information is the greatest weapon in the United States' arsenal are well taken. Martin does a great job of providing alternative viewpoints, explaining his methodology, and arguing why his methods and analysis are appropriate (particularly with regard to using defector testimony). While there is obviously concern that defectors' testimony could be biased or coerced, as Martin points out, the sheer number of defectors points to the fact that all is not well in the Kims' worker's paradise and lends credibility to defectors' tales.
This book is a fine mix of historical research and journalistic rigor, and as a review on the front cover reads, is likely *the book* to read if you want to understand where North Korea came from, where it is now, and where it's going. I for one was simply overwhelmed by the degree of cultish socialization in North Korean society, the Orwellian surveillance and suppression of dissent, and the cruelty, paranoia, and cunning intelligence of the Kims. Having traveled in South Korea and toured the DMZ, I felt the amazing paradox and frustration embodied in one nation divided into about as diametrically opposite of halves as could be possible. Martin gives reasons for why outside powers might prefer to keep the status quo, but after visiting Korea and especially after reading this book, I look forward to the day the dictatorial regime in North Korea ends and the peninsula can be peacefully reunited.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2UN4S3N7VYLEV
• Wonderfully Detailed And Well-written From Start To Finish. 02 March, 2008
One of the most comprehensive and detailed books ever written about North Korea. I found that while the book was great to read on its own, it helped to have the background knowledge of the development of the South behind you to really understand a lot of what has driven the North Koreans from potentially prosperous into a maddeningly disastrous state. Martin's obvious heartfelt interest for the North Koreans comes through with his writing, as does the fact that he really did his homework.
One thing of note is that if you're going to read the book in conjunction, read Cummings' "Koreas Place in the Sun", Obderdorfer's "The Two Koreas", and Becker's "Rogue Regime. While much of the information is similar, each offers smaller details that definitely added to the enjoyment of Martin's benchmark of a book for North Korea watchers.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2JPJ7HT1G3AJJ
• Under The Loving Care Of The Fatherly Leader: North Korea And The Kim Dynasty 23 April, 2008
This book provides exceptional insight into the isolated country of North Korea. With his objective approach, Bradley combines factual data, interviews with North Koreans and descriptions of his own personal accounts to show the world a detailed look into this mysterious country. A must read!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3SCDMJ54HTHTC
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