Blaine Harden; New York Times–bestselling author of Escape From Camp 14; tells the riveting story of Kim Il Sung’s rise to power and the young North Korean fighter pilot who dared to defy him. Harden's latest book; King of Spies; will be available from Viking in Fall 2017. In the aftermath of World War II; Kim Il Sung plunged North Korea into war against the United States while the youngest fighter pilot in his air force was playing a high-risk game of deception—and escape. As Kim ascended from Soviet puppet to godlike ruler; No Kum Sok pretended to love his Great Leader. That is; until he swiped a Soviet MiG-15 and delivered it to the Americans; not knowing they were offering a $100;000 bounty for the warplane (the equivalent of nearly one million dollars today). The theft—just weeks after the Korean War ended in July 1953—electrified the world and incited Kim’s bloody vengeance. During the Korean War the United States brutally carpet bombed the North; killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and giving the Kim dynasty; as Harden reveals; the fact-based narrative it would use to this day to sell paranoia and hatred of Americans. Drawing on documents from Chinese and Russian archives about the roles of Mao and Stalin in Kim’s shadowy rise; as well as from never-before-released U.S. intelligence and interrogation files; Harden gives us a heart-pounding adventure and an entirely new way to understand the world’s longest-lasting totalitarian state.
#2018803 in Books 2011-06-28 2011-06-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.71 x .38 x 5.06l; .26 #File Name: 0143106422144 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Stewart CohenImportant historical document1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Interesting Addition to American Slave NarrativesBy Michael J. DittmanJohn Thompson was born into slavery in Maryland in 1812. He learned to read (covertly); saw horrific things and suffered terrible abuse. He escaped; made his way to the American Northeast; married; then went to sea for two years to escape slave catchers.However; as its blurb suggests; the real important/interest of John Thompson's narrative isn't the story he tells about American Slavery. There are; I would suggest; narratives available that better illustrate America's Peculiar Institution. The reason why Thompson's narrative is important is the way in which he frames his story. There's no better way to put it than William Andrews does in the introduction - it's a slave's Pilgrim's Progress. In this way; the truth of the book; that is to say its verifiable facts; figures; and dates are much less important than the universal truths that Thompson reveals about man; faith and the search for all sorts of freedom.
