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literaryaddictjose's review against another edition
2.0
Recently, after having to write an academic research paper on denuclearization on the Korean peninsula, I became increasingly fascinated with learning more about North Korea. I made several purchases ranging from academic analysis to personal memoirs on the subject. Cha's The Impossible State falls on the side of academic analysis, his valuable experience having served on the National Security Council in the Bush administration and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C being very clear.
Because of Cha's expertise and personal involvement on the issue of North Korea, the text is rich with knowledge and foreign policy expertise. The book has an extensive amount of information on the history of the DPRK, significantly explores how its relationships have developed with other countries in the region, and the details that the Kim family through three generations of authoritarian rule. He also takes a lot of time considering North Korean culture, elite politics, and philosophical discussions on the state ideology of Juche which is often overlooked in public discourse.
Having said that, I have two significant reasons for why I ended up being somewhat disappointed with the read: editing and defensiveness.
Last month, I read Demick's Nothing to Envy. Not only did it beautifully share the stories of North Korean defectors, down to the personal details that truly brought to life the experience of ordinary citizens in the Hermit Kingdom, but it magnificently wove in cultural and political information for the reader. I learned so much about life in North Korea and how the leadership operates, while also experiencing the genuine humanity of the people who live there. Nothing in Cha's book is unique, there isn't that much of a reason for why I would recommend you this text over something else - not even his expertise. Because although that experience is valuable, the editor did not do a good job of condensing the knowledge down to a digestible amount, if that was their responsibility. For instance, the average paragraph length is 2/3rds of a page or more because the author takes so much time to say everything. And he repeats his points a lot. This did not need to be as long as it was.
Furthermore, the length of the text is an issue because of how much time is spent delivering personal experiences that seem to be overly apologetic about Bush administration foreign policy. I do not believe that an author needs to hide their biases completely, but I thought sometimes it took away from the main subject of the chapter to relay seemingly unrelated experiences Cha had in the Bush administration or anecdotes about how Bush handled foreign policy moments. I'm not sure if this was the place to do that and it conflated that initial organization problem I had that the book was too long and was poorly edited down.
Ultimately, my primary point is that this is not necessary reading on North Korea. This is a valuable perspective and I appreciate having read it because the subject matter is personally interesting. However, I do not think it is a particularly significant contribution to a scholarship and would likely not be my first recommendation on the subject.
Because of Cha's expertise and personal involvement on the issue of North Korea, the text is rich with knowledge and foreign policy expertise. The book has an extensive amount of information on the history of the DPRK, significantly explores how its relationships have developed with other countries in the region, and the details that the Kim family through three generations of authoritarian rule. He also takes a lot of time considering North Korean culture, elite politics, and philosophical discussions on the state ideology of Juche which is often overlooked in public discourse.
Having said that, I have two significant reasons for why I ended up being somewhat disappointed with the read: editing and defensiveness.
Last month, I read Demick's Nothing to Envy. Not only did it beautifully share the stories of North Korean defectors, down to the personal details that truly brought to life the experience of ordinary citizens in the Hermit Kingdom, but it magnificently wove in cultural and political information for the reader. I learned so much about life in North Korea and how the leadership operates, while also experiencing the genuine humanity of the people who live there. Nothing in Cha's book is unique, there isn't that much of a reason for why I would recommend you this text over something else - not even his expertise. Because although that experience is valuable, the editor did not do a good job of condensing the knowledge down to a digestible amount, if that was their responsibility. For instance, the average paragraph length is 2/3rds of a page or more because the author takes so much time to say everything. And he repeats his points a lot. This did not need to be as long as it was.
Furthermore, the length of the text is an issue because of how much time is spent delivering personal experiences that seem to be overly apologetic about Bush administration foreign policy. I do not believe that an author needs to hide their biases completely, but I thought sometimes it took away from the main subject of the chapter to relay seemingly unrelated experiences Cha had in the Bush administration or anecdotes about how Bush handled foreign policy moments. I'm not sure if this was the place to do that and it conflated that initial organization problem I had that the book was too long and was poorly edited down.
Ultimately, my primary point is that this is not necessary reading on North Korea. This is a valuable perspective and I appreciate having read it because the subject matter is personally interesting. However, I do not think it is a particularly significant contribution to a scholarship and would likely not be my first recommendation on the subject.