Library:Nothing to Envy
| Nothing to Envy | |
|---|---|
| Author | Barbara Demick |
| First published | 2009 |
| ISBN | 978-0-385-52390-5 unverified |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Politics & Elections Culture, Religion & Society History |
| Tactics | Propaganda Technique |
Nothing to Envy is a 2009 book by Barbara Demick.
Summary
Barbara Demick, a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, reconstructed the lives of six North Koreans from the city of Chongjin who later defected to South Korea.
Life inside the propaganda state
Through their stories, Demick shows how North Korea's propaganda shaped every part of daily life: portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in every home, constant loudspeaker broadcasts, and the official message that North Koreans had "nothing to envy" in the world.
When reality breaks through
The book follows them through the famine of the 1990s, when the gap between propaganda and starvation became impossible to ignore, and describes how each came to doubt and finally flee the system. It won the Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction in 2010.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
A human account of what living inside a closed information system feels like, and of how people begin to see through it.
Related entries
- Nobody died in Tiananmen Square
- Xinjiang camps are voluntary vocational schools
- Library:How to Be a Dictator