(Part 2) Best historical asian biographies according to redditors
We found 677 Reddit comments discussing the best historical asian biographies. We ranked the 199 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
I wrote a 30 page paper on John Rabe and other foreigners involved in the organization of the Nanking Safety Zone for my undergraduate history thesis a few years ago :D
It's worth nothing that Iris Chang's depiction in The Rape of Nanking has been criticized by historians for being overly sensationalized - not so much in the sense that her overall depiction is incorrect, but more that her conclusions are not fully supported by what evidence she has and she overreaches in her analysis of the motivations and psychology of the Japanese.
If anyone is interested in further secondary (and primary) sources on the material I can dig up my bibliography. For example the wartime diary of Minnie Vautrin (an American missionary who worked with Rabe in organizing and running the Safety Zone) is fascinating, especially considering that she commited suicide after returning the US in 1940. The entire diary is available online (along with an unbelievable wealth of other primary sources, letters and so forth) as part of Yale's Nanking Massacre Project. John Rabe also kept a diary but it's not available online afaik.
edit: I wrote a really detailed comment on John Rabe and some of the other foreigners in Nanking during the invasion a year or two ago in a similar thread but Reddit's search is too crappy for me to find it again to link to :(
Little known fact: because Mao had fallen out with the Soviets by the time of his death, the Chinese could not get the embalming know-how from the USSR. Instead, the Chinese tried to get the knowledge secondhand from the Vietnamese.
Basically, nobody knew what the fuck they were doing, and the hours and days immediately following Mao's death were a clusterfuck for all involved. The ordeal is detailed in the opening chapter of The Private Life of Chairman Mao.
I saw Mao's (alleged) corpse in person in 2008. It's either a poorly embalmed corpse, or a poorly done wax sculpture. Either way, it looks like shit.
Also, your entire family will be sent to a concentration camp if you escape (or try to). I've always wondered why North Korean athletes don't try to seek asylum during international sporting events, I'm assuming this is why.
Also, obligatory North Korean reading list for those who are interested:
I read the doctor's book, The Private Life of Chairman Mao. Highly recommended.
They seem to all have have identical stories about just how fucked up it is.
If things were truly "neutral" or "okay" they wouldn't be so negative about it. Not only that, but others here have commented on how nonchalant they are about death, etc. You wouldn't be like that unless you were exposed to all the terrible things NK defectors are constantly talking about.
I don't know why people think there's some massive anti-NK conspiracy. I'm sure there is plenty of inaccuracies in NK defector accounts (that's just how humans are in general) but there is no way that this isn't a similar situation to the Holocaust going on right now in NK.
I really get angry when I watch a lot of these "tourist" videos and they're like, "Things aren't so bad here!". It's because the NK government is only letting you see the 5% of the country that isn't falling apart.
https://www.amazon.com/Order-Live-Korean-Journey-Freedom/dp/014310974X
Just read that book and others like it if you need more "proof".
"Tiger and flies anti corruption campaign" that purged those standing in the way of power consolidation. Nabbing a few influential generals (some killed themselves) was probably the most important as controlling the military directly allows for making coups next to impossible.
Xi was originally put into power as a compromise between factions (they thought he was going to be a status quo leader) because one side wanted someone that was brought up in the Communist Youth League , and the other faction thought it was unwise to have 2 leaders in a row with this type of pedigree.
This is a very simple explanation as I don't feel like typing the book it would take to explain everything in minute detail, but at least it will give you something to start your search off.
https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2018/07/synopsis-rise-xi-jinping-china-global-power/
This book is an ok read on this:
https://www.amazon.ca/CEO-China-Rise-Xi-Jinping/dp/178453322X
>
Britain had invested a lot of money in developing Iran's oil fields, and in return was promised a share in its profits.
That's not at all the arrangement that was actually in place. For one thing the Brits prevented Iran from checking the books to see how much oil was being pumped and kept two sets of books to cheat Iran
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Oil-Memoirs-Persian-Prince/dp/0679440550
Eh, you're misunderstanding the mentality of the VC. They couldn't be baited into defending civilians because they actually didn't give a fuck about them. Civilians were just camouflage who could be intimidated into providing cover, shelter, and supplies.
For US units, the Vietnam war was a tale of two militaries: one for the elite units who enjoyed a lot of success by training for ambush hunting and using stealth to track and kill VC, and one for the regular line units who received very little effective training and even less effective leadership, and thus weren't really prepared for the war they were being asked to engage in.
Read most of the accounts from Army Rangers, Army Green Berets, Navy SEALS, and Marine Force Recon units from Vietnam, and you get a very different picture of the war. Those guys were playing the VC's game and were much better at it than the VC were. Army/Marine high command was full of officers who were brought up in WWII and Korea and refused to adjust doctrine to match the reality on the ground. This was compounded by a few early battles of the Vietnam war where the VC went force on force with Army line units and the Army line units inflicted staggering losses on the North Vietnamese guerillas. That led to a vindication of the belief among the leadership that the war could be won through conventional means, even though relatively low ranking special forces commanders were already vocally expressing their disagreement. So the special forces and small elite units were allowed to play their "games", while division commanders and above thought they were doing the real work, when in reality they were just feeding unprepared troops into the meat grinder.
This is a pretty hardcore book to read, but I recommend it because it talks about the training and mission preparation Army Rangers in Vietnam did, and how shocked they were at the lack of training and lack of discipline in regular Army troops when they ran across them in the field. https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Rangers-Don-Ericson/dp/0804102880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478359082&sr=8-1&keywords=charlie+rangers
Luckily for the US military, if a captain or Lt. Colonel has a novel idea now, there's a much higher chance of it being listened to compared to back then.
A couple of things to start us off...
[Note, as always: I do not necessarily endorse all of the contents of the materials linked to here. I merely offer them up as interesting.]
💖
17 years ago a friend, colleague, mentor and veteran passed. And I cried.
Lynda Van Devanter Buckley
May 27, 1947 – November 15, 2002
https://youtu.be/2kgqlSqosNw
https://www.amazon.com/Home-before-Morning-Story-Vietnam/dp/1558492984
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/23/us/lynda-van-devanter-nurse-who-became-chronicler-of-her-wartime-pain-dies-at-55.html
you obviously haven't read this Winnie the Pooh book
Good for you on choosing to dedicate your life to this goal. May I make a suggestion? Research stoicism. Hope will fail you and leave you worse off than ever before. Stoic determination in the face of uncountable odds will carry you through. Check out Marcus Aurelius book 'Meditations' or the works if Seneca or Epictetus. Start here: https://dailystoic.com/stoic-reading-list/ I would also recommend reading about how stoicism can help in your daily life by reading about James Stockdale and his experiences in the Vietnam war here: https://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Philosophical-Fighter-Pilot-Reprint/dp/0817993924
Good luck to you! Live bravely.
Here's my suggested reading list:
The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters
The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea
Escaping North Korea
This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood
White Tigers: My Secret War in North Korea (Memories of War)
The Tears of my Soul: An autobiography of the bomber of Korean Air Flight 858
The Great North Korean Famine: How and why it happened, and why it will happen again and again.
While I don't know if this persons story is true or not, I recommend that people take Defectors stories with a grain of salt and not the bullshit that i've heard before "duur questioning defectors is bad!".
It's a proven fact that Defectors are often fed narratives to tell the media by activists, this is how you get stories like "there were dead people floating in rivers everywhere!" from a defector from say Pyongyang in 2005, when dead people in a river would have only happened in a specific place (Chongjin) at a specific time (mid 1990s) and that's not confirmed, even then I've heard aid workers and coordinators dispute claims like this.
It also goes a bit further than this, I've read claims from several North Korea experts that defectors often "sell tailor made stories" to the media. This is probably a pretty good way of making cash for DPRK refugees who have a hard time living in South Korea due to stigma/Racism (DPRK refugees are shit on constantly and are often targeted for scams ((Often by other smarter Refugees)) because they don't really understand how Capitalism works).
Yeonmi Park is a good example. Her story is bullshit, she has been called out by North Korea experts, aid workers AND OTHER DEFECTORS FROM THE SAME AREA AT THE SAME TIME numerous times and she constantly changes it to suit an audience, yet her story is still presented as absolute truth in the western media. Oh also just ignore that she works in PR for a free market think tank.
1990s North Korea in a specific area (North Hamgyong) is not modern North Korea. Writing books like "The lives of North Koreans" and then presenting the stories only of people from North Hamgyong in the mid 1990s like that is how North Korea is today is disingenuous and designed as propaganda. It would be like if you wrote "The lives of the Chinese people" and then wrote specifically stories from the Great Leap Forward in the worst effected areas, or "The lives of the Americans" and focused entirely on the dust bowl during the depression or "The lives of Australians" and focused on aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. It's bullshit and should be called out as such.
Anyway, This is very old news, I knew of this guys story from over a decade ago and his story has been widely publicized for years, in fact there is a documentary on it from the mid 2000s. Just goes to further my thoughts that there is a very specific anti-North Korea agenda in the media for some reason.
If you want a more fleshed out narrative about what North Korea is actually like that cuts through all the bullshit.
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399
Honestly, this question is really just asking "hey, could you retell the main narrative of Japanese history for 1000 years?" It's kind of like asking "What's the relationship between the Pope and European Kings and Queens?" and it should probably be in popular questions. I mean honestly just read any textbook, since this relationship is the central political question at any point from 1200 onwards. It's not in popular questions and this would make a crappy /r/askhistorians post though, so I'll go ahead and link-filled summarize:
It depends on what time period you're talking about. Since you explicitly asked for shogun/emperor, I'll start with the first shogunate. Established in Kamakura (symbolically, far away in the traditional lands of the Minamoto clan instead of in Kyoto where the Emperor was) in 1192 as a result of the Gempei war, it stripped the emperor of most of his temporal power. Even at that point, though, the operative power was not in the Emperor himself, but rather his courtiers (see the fujiwara clan), as the Emperor himself spent most his time fulfilling the many Shinto-Daoist rituals that were cosmologically needed to keep the realm in working order (a lot of waving stuff around, purifying stuff, burning stuff, etc.) The war was really between to rival warrior families who were desperately trying to marry into the courtiers and eventually the Imperial family itself. One won, the other lost, and the winner set up an alternate power structure. From here on, power fluctuated between a few sources. At some points, Emperors would 'retire' to become monks, leave their sons to do the ritual crap, while they exercised some measure of power
from the monastery (no small irony there). In this period, around 1340, after another short war/power struggle, the Ashikaga family deposed the Kamakura shogunate and set up their own shogunate within Kyoto itself. Depending on who was shogun and who was cloistered, real power fluctuated. Sometimes even abbots of powerful temples would get in the mix. In terms of actual family ties, all 3 groups were closely linked and regularly intermarried. For a really good monograph on this interesting period, I'd see Gates of Power by Adolphson.
By the late 1400s, though, that system was breaking down altogether. Local Samurai basically acted on their own perogatives on their own land. At this point, the Sengoku Jidai (age of country at war), there are people claiming this and that in terms of rulership, and all of it is meaningless. The only thing that mattered was military strength and personal loyalty, which could be broken at the drop of a hat if the benefits were seen to outweigh the consequence. For this period, the history shelf is littered with colorful picture books about the HONORABLE SAMURAI WARRIOR and all kinds of nonsense (it is also when Shogun: Total War (and its re-make) is set). One trustworthy monograph on the ending throes, that I'd say also captures the essence of the period, would be Japonius Tyrannus by Jeroen Lamers.
The Tokugawa Shogunate, set up by the eventual victor in 1600 onwards, sought to solidify sole control. During the wars, the great temples had been almost completely obliterated, so they were out. The Shogunate removed the other threat to their power, the Imperial Court, by taking over administration and funding of the Imperial Household (and thus removing the powerful courtiers that traditionally surrounded the Emperor together). In order to leave the Emperor to his important ritual business, they very kindly removed from his household the burden of managing any land--making them completely dependent and unable to cultivate their own powerbase. While the Emperor was still seen as the ultimate source of both political and cultural legitimacy, temporal power was seen to have been devolved entirely to the Tokugawa family (who did still regularly marry daughters off to Emperors). With the Royal Baby in our thoughts, I'd say it's similar to how the UK runs now; the Emperor is around, popular, and beloved, but not even a figurehead in terms of running things. A good window into how things ran in the middle of the period would be The Dog Shogun by Beatrice Bodart-Bailey.
This is, until the "Opening of Japan" leads to everyone going nuts. For the Boshin war and what follows, I did write a post about that here just a few days ago. One thing I didn't link to in that is a book about all the neat intellectual history, which really touches on your question in terms of how intellectuals built up a sense of legitimacy for the Imperial Restoration and how that leads up to the revolution, so I'll link it here: Before the Nation by Susan Burns.
Someone needs to make sure every young Chinese students finds out they are not allowed to read http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0231147465?pc_redir=1406819869&robot_redir=1
Its from the memoirs of his personal physician, Mao had very poor personal hygiene and the doctor had to regularly treat him for venereal diseases spread by sleeping with multiple partners
http://www.amazon.com/The-Private-Life-Chairman-Mao/dp/0679764437
I love these kinds of things! Unfortunately I don't have many examples because they're hard to find, but I just read a book called This is Paradise! My North Korean Childhood by Hyok Kang, which is a true story about day to day life in North Korea. It was really interesting. It also goes into the guys culture shock when he went to China, and then South Korea.
The Red Book is pure propaganda and just a collection of his sayings. Not really worth reading.
I'd recommend this biography as it goes into detail about how Mao's study of Western (and particularly German) political philosophy led him to despise Confucianism and traditional Chinese culture and how he thought it had held China back. It was a view held in common by many intellectuals at the time, and was one of the key themes of the May the 4th student movement in 1919.
Yup, he was a very stoic guy, his book is pretty great.
https://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Philosophical-Fighter-Pilot-Reprint/dp/0817993924
Euny Hong wrote "The Birth of Korean Cool".
You should read it and it will give you a very clear idea about what areas and sources you can explore.
Yeah his doctor's book The Private Life of Chairman Mao is really explicit about this.
Yeah I'm actually reading this right now. The invasion of Nanking occurred towards the end of 1937.
If you ever want to read a book about the Cambodian genocide that will stay with you the rest of your life, When Broken Glass Floats is harrowing.
I also admire the accomplishments of Subotai. We could probably be best friends.
I've been entirely fascinated by this time period, because it's had such an impact on the world. I always think of the "what-ifs" had the Mongols had not laid low they Chinese dynasties, as well as not decimated the Middle East.
I've read several books (and continue to do so) about the Mongols and especially Subotai (or Subedei) and I'm just left in amazement in how they could do what they did. I'm constantly looking for more literature on the Chinese of the period to find out more of the Mongol campaigns there, and see how advanced they were compared to other civilizations of the time period. Some books on the Song Dynasty's technology just blows me away. I'm hoping to find more on Subotai's campaigns in China.
Also, if you haven't read it, I suggest checking out Subotai the Valiant Now it's not completely focused on him but more on the campaigns themselves, but still a very good read.
What part of They Weren't Allowed To Industrialize did you not get?
In Iran, the oil was being ROBBED thanks to colonial-era contracts (in which, for example, BP could take as much oil as it wanted but didn't have to show Iran the books. Read this http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Oil-Memoirs-Persian-Prince/dp/0679440550) Iran got NOTHING for it until the 1960s even though Iranian oil kept the British navy afloat, which allowed Britain to have that empire. Today Iran is a major automaker -- and under sanctions for trying to develop nuclear technology to develop its economy while its oil dwindles.
Nor was this limited to oil. In the 1890s for example the British and a corrupt Iranian monarch made a secret trade deal according to which in return for kickbacks to the King, the entire tobacco business in Iran would be the conceded to the British. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Protest When this became public knowledge, it led to the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, which was crushed by the colonial powers. In 1907 Iran tried to regain access to its sovereignty and resources, and even hired an American named Morgan Shuster to manage the country's economic affairs -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morgan_Shuster - but he was forced out of office by the Russian and British powers who had divided Iran between themselves, and Iran's attempts at creating a democracy with a Constitutional monarchy like Europe were ended when these powers backed the return of another corrupt King and even shelled Iran's Parliament building. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908_bombardment_of_the_Majlis
Furthermore, not all nations in the Mideast HAVE oil, and many only came into existence on the drawing boards of colonial powers for THEIR benefit (such as Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia etc -- all left over from the fall of the Ottoman empire after WWI) Most of these nations are led by corrupt leaders who were placed there by the same colonial powers, and who get rich while their country is exploited and kept backwards. Saudi Arabia is a perfect example. The people are bought off with govt payments from the sale of oil, but Saudi Arabia produces nothing else except raw oil.
The whole point of colonialism is to PREVENT the colonized nation from being anything more than the producer of raw materials, and consumers of finished goods made by the colonialists. When colonized nations try to create their own industry, they get attacked. For example in India, the Brits had a monopoly on all the cotton and wool to be sent to British textile firms where they would be turned into garments and sold back to the Indians. This meant that India wasn't allowed to maintain their own textile industry. That was the whole point of why Mahatma Gandhi started his own weaving wheel, which is now the central symbol of India's flag. The British also had obtained a monopoly on the sea salt business. People in India weren't even allowed to make their own salt (rather a big deal in a tropical country especially.) Which is why Gandhi went on a famous trek to the ocean in 1930...
Don't even get me started on the Chinese experience with Western FORCED opium-peddling which was used to maintain a favorable balance of trade in favor of the Brits and Americans who were exploiting China.
So before jumping to conclusions, learn your goddamn history.
In her book,In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom , Yeonmi Park talks about how spot-on Orwell was with the concept of Doublethink and how it applied to North Korean indoctrination. She says she was raised to believe Kim Jong Il could read her mind so she was afraid of questioning things she knew were false.
I posted a link to this before, it's my favourite essay from this book by Stockdale. It details his thoughts on Stoicism and how it helped him survive a Vietnamese POW camp for 7 years, it's a really interesting read in my opinion.
When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Disco's Out...Murder's In!: The True Story of Frank the Shank and L.A.'s Deadliest Punk Rock Gang
Not a biography but:
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
>Mikulski and the rest of the Senate may be surprised to learn that they were repeating 60-year-old justifications of Chinese medicine put forward by Chairman Mao. Unlike Mikulski, however, Mao was under no illusion that Chinese medicine—a key component of naturopathic education—actually worked. In The Private Life of Chairman Mao, Li Zhisui, one of Mao’s personal physicians, recounts a conversation they had on the subject. Trained as an M.D. in Western medicine, Li admitted to being baffled by ancient Chinese medical books, especially their theories relating to the five elements. It turns out his employer also found them implausible.
>”Even though I believe we should promote Chinese medicine,” Mao told him, “I personally do not believe in it. I don’t take Chinese medicine
Https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-origins-mao-invented-it-but-didnt-believe-in-it.html
The political impact of kpop is so fascinating to me. Have you read The Birth of Korean Cool? Its not perfect, but still its really interesting.
I got to a computer...here are what I was thinking of. I've never read them. Looks like it's articles and stories he compiled of working with and talking to people involved during these times.
http://www.amazon.com/Once-There-Was-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143104799/ref=sr_1_31?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371571988&sr=1-31&keywords=john+steinbeck
http://www.amazon.com/Bombs-Away-Bomber-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143105914/ref=sr_1_40?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371572015&sr=1-40&keywords=john+steinbeck
http://www.amazon.com/Steinbeck-Vietnam-Dispatches-War-John/dp/0813932572/ref=sr_1_25?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371571988&sr=1-25&keywords=john+steinbeck
Awsome book on the subject, Kim Yong's - Long Road Home: http://www.amazon.com/Long-Road-Home-Testimony-Survivor/dp/0231147465
One of very few people to have ever escape forced labour camps under Kim Jong-il and write about it. Just excrutiating living conditions.
See: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, Nothing to Envy, and This is Paradise.
I am assuming you can't read Japanese.
Reading Materials:
Chronicles of Oda Nobunaga. Primary source record by one of his vassals.
Description of Japan Primary source by Jesuit Luis Frois comparing Japan and Europe.
Japonius Tyrannus by Jeroen Lamers on Oda Nobunaga
Hideyoshi (Harvard East Asian Monographs) on Hideyoshi and Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu (Tuttle Classics) on Tokugawa Ieyasu. These are outdated but I'd recommend anyone else other than Stephen Turnbull.
Speaking of Turnbull, everyone else please look in The Samurai Sourcebook and Samurai Commanders. The only reason I'm putting Turnbull on the list is there seem to be no other English sources. Just remember Turnbull takes propaganda, fiction, and rumor at face value (interestingly he says Sadler did, but Sadler's book is oooooold) and from time to time have outright mistakes. If he talks tactics, ninjas, backroom politics, or conversations without citing a primary or Japanese secondary source, use the information with caution. Also IIRC most of his general numbers (ie numbers he produce without saying which primary source they're from) is can be traced back to Meiji Imperial Army book which is not accurate.
I might get back to you with the others if I get around to it, but as the request is large and I'm super busy lately I'll just leave you with a roundabout translation/paraphrase of Frois' description of Nobunaga:
>He is of average height, slender, little mustache, and has a high voice. He likes war and is constantly focused on training for war. He is very proud and very strict in delivering justice. If someone dishonours him he will without a doubt get revenge, but sometimes he displays a human and merciful side. He sleeps little and gets up early. He is not greedy, is decisive and very experienced at warfare. He [can be] incredibly impetuous and frantic but is not always so. He barely listens to the advice of his vassals, and all greatly respect him. He doesn't drink, eats little, is incredibly frank to others, and is arrogant about his own opinion. He looks down on all the other princes of Japan, and speaks to them as if they're subordinates. Everyone obeys him like an absolute monarch. Even when the fortunes of war are against him, he's calm and great at enduring hardship. He has great reason and judgement, and treats any kind of rites to God, the Buddha, pagan divination or superstition with disdain. In name at first he acts as if he belongs to Hokke Sect (Nichren Buddhism), but after attaining greatness he looks down on all idols. In a few points he follows Zen Buddhism and does not believe in the immortality of the soul or rewards and punishments in the afterlife. His house is incredibly clean, and he is incredibly meticulous in everything. He hates protracting in conversations and long preludes, and talks friendly even with lowly servants. He likes famous tea bowls, horses, swords, falconry, and really likes sumo wrestling. No one is allowed to wear weapons before him. He has a slight depressed look. Even when he meets difficulty he is fearless. Everyone obeys his every word.
The diary entries of John Rabe (Schindler of the East) might be of interest to you. Here's an excerpt:
"We are sorry to trouble you again but the sufferings and needs of the 200 000 civilians for whom we are trying to care make it urgent that we try to secure action from your military authorities to stop the present disorder among Japanese soldiers wandering through the Safety Zone... The second man in our Housing Commission had to see two women in his family at 23 Hankow Road raped last night at supper time by Japanese soldiers. Our associate food commissioner, Mr. Sone, has to convey trucks with rice and leave 2,500 people in families at his Nanking Theological Seminary to look after themselves. Yesterday, in broad daylight, several women at the Seminary were raped right in the middle of a large room filled with men, women, and children! We 22 Occidentals cannot feed 200,000 Chinese civilians and protect them night and day. That is the duty of the Japanese authorities ..."
THE GOOD MAN OF NANKING: The Diaries of John Rabe
Here's a good source:
https://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399
Non-communist, but still refutes a lot of propaganda.
They also have a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ACapitalistInNorthKorea/?fref=ts
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399
Not a diplomat, but this book account by a western business man in nk gives a pretty good account of things if you're interested about life in nk and some of the interpersonal relations between nk bureaucrats.
I haven't ready Linderer's work, but I did read Miller's accounts in "Six Silent Men" (book 2), and found it to be plausible and enjoyable. From what I understand, there is a discrepancy in how Linderer's account of a contact went vs the radio transmissions on record? A brief googling didn't provide much clarity.
Rotundo and Ericson's accounts in "Charlie Rangers" were also particularly good, if you're into it, and there are no scandals I am aware of surrounding them...
What kind of depth and detail are you looking for? A sure bet to start with is surely the Cambridge History of Japan series.
I enjoyed this book, but the price is wicked high apparently and I had the luxury of interlibrary loans. Oda Nobunaga isn't as popular in English-language literature because he's overshadowed by the Tokugawa shogunate that came after and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, unfortunately, and there's actually a great deal of Japanese and Chinese literature on the subject that never gets translated. Luckily, most works about Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi will involve Oda Nobunaga, so you an always go that route.
Eyes of the Tailless Animals and Long Road Home may interest you as well. There are a couple of books about the original Gulags in the Soviet Union (what Kim Il-Sung modeled the NK gulags after) that are excellent reads. Let me know if you want those.
The private life of chairman Mao.
Checked out my shelf, I didn't want to recommend the ones that I started years ago and never finished. Some are of people escaping war or religion, others are of people traveling and helping third world communities. My poor descriptions don't give the books justice.
When Broken Glass Floats First person account of surviving the Khmer Rouge
The Road of Lost Innocence Woman who escaped sex slavery in Cambodia returns to create a charity to help exploited women and children.
In the Land of Invisible Women British born female Muslim doctor is denied a visa to remain in the US and goes to Saudi Arabia to work. She writes about the culture shock.
Land of a Thousand Hill Woman arrives in Africa in 1949 and spends 50 years in Rwanda. She writes about her friendship with Dian Fossey and the buildup to the genocide. She gets evacuated and returns at the age of 82 to rebuild her home and help orphans.
Left to Tell Young woman returns home to Rwanda to visit family just before the death of the president. She writes about surviving the genocide by spending months hiding in a bathroom with other women.
I Shall Not Hate Palestinian doctor write about his life in the Gaza strip and how he worked in Israeli hospitals. Says that anger is different than hate and even with all he's been through, believes both sides need to talk and unite.
Wine to Water Bartender creates events to raise money and awareness to the world's fresh water crisis, but upon traveling to Sudan, realizes it'll take more than just money. He makes it his mission to travel to remote areas to hire and teach locals how to repair and maintain wells.
Find Me Unafraid American spends a semester abroad in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, and falls in love with a local. Together, they create a free school for young girls and work on programs to bring other services to the area.
Little Princes Man volunteers at orphanage in Nepal and learns that most children were taken from their families and abandoned. He makes it his duty to reunite as many as he can.
Between two Worlds Journalist is falsely accused of espionage and is forced to spend 8 years in a prison in Tehran.
In Order to Live Young girl and mother escape North Korea and get sold into sex slavery in China before being able to escape and search for family in South Korea.
Troublemaker Leah Remini's experience of growing up in Scientology and leaving as an adult.
About Jonestown-
A Thousand Lives Author has reviewed declassified documents and puts together a story about the lives of the people there and about the few who survived.
Seductive Poison Written by a high level member who escaped just before the massacre.
About the FLDS-
Stolen Innocence Forced to marry her cousin at age 14, she later escapes and plays a key role in the trial against Warren Jeffs
Church of Lies A 'brutal and unflinching look' at the abuse in the community. She escapes and tries to rescue other young girls.
The Witness Wore Red This woman was the 19th wife of the prophet.
Escape Married to a high member, she escapes with her 8 kids.
Prophet's Prey Written by a private investigator who spent 7 years helping members and trying to bring down Warren Jeffs. Also a documentary. Worth a watch if the subjects interests you.
Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam. New York: Warner Books, 1983.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1558492984
Genghis Khan without a doubt!
Why? Because he had Subutai and Jebe. It is a pity that historians have not focused on the instruments behind Genghis Khan's success. AFAIK, there is only one book dealing with Subutai's achievements: Subotai the Valiant
I don't really need to read the collective ignorance of people, thank you, I am very familiar with my own country's history.
>Before 1979, although Iran owned the company, there was a 50/50 agreement on proceeds, but Iran could not even take a look at the books...
No, that was before 1953 that Iran could not check BP's books.
Here's a book you should read whch discusses that specific point
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Oil-Memoirs-Persian-Prince/dp/0679440550
and no the fact that Iran generated more tax from non-oil than oil does not prove the opposite, because it supports my point that in reality Iran ias less and less reliant on oil
Furthermore like the UN report stated and I quoted, Iran's economy was not doing so well during that time period when it was massively improving living standards and was actually subject to sanctions
If you're suggesting that Iran must have had some savings after overthrowing the Shah that it was using to develop, well that's not correct either and in fact the Shah's regime was facing dire economic conditions in the late 1970s and Iran had to cancel weapons purchases too like 2 Spruance Class Destroyers canceled in 1976
>with someone who behaves like this,
You mean someone who doesn't just make up crap?
Not saying more can't be done, but this video is a re-upload. The original (edit: I'm assuming it's the original), on "One Young World"'s YouTube channel, has 4million views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufhKWfPSQOw).
Also, according to her wikipedia page, that particular speech "received 50 million views in two days on YouTube and social media, with a current total of more than 80 million."
Anyway, not trying to downplay what you were saying, more can/should always be done, but it's not like hers is/has been a completely unheard voice in the darkness.
Edit: here's another interview she did in 2015.
Edit2: here's a book (memoir) she wrote, also in 2015. (amazon link)
Edit3: here she is talking to the Oslo Freedom Forum in Aug 2018.
Okay, I'll stop now.
If "Soon" is in a few hundred years. Technological balances change during timescales like that you know.
So uh this existed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Poland_(1025–1385) And sure, there were internal power struggles -that doesn't mean it didn't exist as entity, or that it couldn't martial forces against an outside threat. Nobody traces the foundation of Poland to the foundation of what, the commonwealth? The traditional date is 966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Legnica
That's the forces of the Kingdom of Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, and crusader knights facing down against the Mongols.
As for Georgia, they were martialing for a crusade, and were a lot stronger at the time than they are nowadays. The sources say a hundred thousand knights, which is certainly an exaggeration, but 50,000 - 100,000 martialed men, including mercenaries and their Cuman allies, isn't beyond the scope of imagination. This isn't from an old book either, it's according to this book :
http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khans-Greatest-General-Subotai/dp/0806137347
Feel free to quote any sources better than a history professor and prolific author, feel free! Hell, you can look some about that very attack up in the Google Books preview of that book and check out the sources for yourself!
Sure, maybe they didn't have exactly the same styles as Europe - but feel plate and heavy calvary they certainly did have, and given that the Muslim forces were still easily contesting European ones at the time I don't think being part of the same "Technological sphere" is exactly high praise.
Oh, so they couldn't sustain sieges which were thousands of miles from their homeland? Gee, I'm sure that has a ton of relevance for their general aptitude for it, and especially for a pitched field battle!
Europe was maybe ahead of China with access to superior metal resources - but Georgia, Khwarizmi, and the other Islamic principalities? You ever hear of Damascus steel, kind of top of the line back then? It ain't from London. Europe wouldn't be solidly ahead of the Islamic world for centuries yet, and only decisively ahead by the 1600s. The Mongols trumped Islamic forces right up until the Mamluks, with rudimentary gunpowder weapons, beat them after they were well past their own height of ability and political unity.
>It concerns me when you argue that those that have come to realizations are deemed insane.
There are two things I can say about this. First, Asian cultures, especially of Buddha's time, were much more tolerant of idiosyncratic perceptions. And second, yes, they were insane by our own standards.
Imagine walking up to someone and asking that person if they were a deva, and they say no, or a demon, and they say no, or a human, and again, they say no. Firstly, you'd probably never ask if someone were a deva, right? You likely don't believe in such a thing and don't take it seriously. Secondly, if you received a negative answer to a "are you a human" from an entity that looks decidedly human, wouldn't you think that person were insane or at least if not 100% insane, then at least not playing with a full deck of cards, so to speak?
Have you read a lot of hagiographies? I recommend a thick red book called "The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History." When you read it, assuming of course you do or already have, don't disconnect yourself from what you read. Instead always imagine yourself in the midst of the described events and ask yourself how you'd react and what you'd think.
I've read many hagiographies. I can say from myself that for sure many many so-called "saints" were absolutely insane from a modern/Western/physicalist POV. There is no doubt whatsoever about that.
I don't even need to go to a hagiography. Just talking with the Buddhists who rub shoulders with serious practitioners, I hear tales about what happened that in polite company would absolutely be taken as instances of insanity, psychotic breaks, you name it. Things like mind reading, are just the mildest forms of that. People tend to share such things with me because they know I'm not going to mentally crush them the way someone like you would. I am accepting of weirdness and so I hear lots of strange things. People subconsciously know I won't be hostile to a strange phenomenon just because it's strange, solely on that grounds, and they know I won't dismiss it out of hand just because it's not customary.
When you read about some of the deeds Maha Mogallana got famous for, tell me you don't think either the Suttas are joking, or Maha Mogallana was an insane lunatic. I mean, who can make a building shake by kicking it with a toe? Only people in straight jackets and only in their own minds.
>They do not strive for radically different perceptions
They do. Meditative absorptions and superknowledges are all radically different perceptions. Seeing the whole universe as if it were a nut in the palm of your hand is a radically different perception. Exercising any kind of unusual psychic power is a radically different perception.
https://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399
This is a really great book on the subject.
Here's one example of an SEZ there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rason_Special_Economic_Zone
http://38north.org/2015/11/sez112315/ this lists a bunch.
There's also the Kaesŏng Industrial Region which is a partnership with South Korea specifically but it's currently shut down because of the tensions.
The DPRK is state-capitalist, not even in the bullshit sense than people use to brush off the USSR, but in the literal sense like how Japan was during the Empire or South Korea was under Rhee and to a lesser extent Park. They also formally abandoned communism a while back which even China hasn't done in favor of Juche and a definition of socialism that has more in common with Bernie Sanders', Tony Blair's or Hitlers' than Lenin's.
The only thing that really separates them from the west is their insistence on having nuclear arms. Even the bizarre cult stuff isn't really different from the shit that goes on in Turkmenistan (the great leader there required his face to be on clocks among other shit) and that's a strong US ally.
It really is hard to write a book on Xi Jinping's leadership because it really is so so recent, and with a state like China where almost every act of governance is entirely opaque real time analysis is hard.
That being said I've heard good things about CEO, China: The Rise of Xi Jinping although I haven't personally read it Kerry Brown knows what he's talking about.
If you are interested in life in North Korea, and views of defectors/refugees, I highly recommend "In Order to Live" by Yeomni Park. Fantastic but heartbreaking book.
An Army nurse who served in Viet Nam wrote [Home Before Morning] (http://www.amazon.com/Home-Before-Morning-Story-Vietnam/dp/1558492984) - a great and very moving book. I read it years ago, and some scenes are still with me -
I recommend this one too: https://www.amazon.com/Order-Live-Korean-Journey-Freedom/dp/014310974X
It's not about camps, but it's still awful to see how's the regular life of people. This is the author, after she escaped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufhKWfPSQOw
Are there set dances to these tunes, like I imagine, or is it just a free for all dance style?
Also, if you havent read it yet. Heard a ton about it. Sounds fascinating and is on my long list of reads. https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Korean-Cool-Conquering-Through/dp/1250045118
according to a really informative and entertaining book I picked up, korean entertainment firms acknowledge the fact that geniuses that can sing and dance in perfect sync like Michael Jackson only surface once in a hundred years, and that members of the Beetles can't meet in the garage and start their own band in korea, because everyone is busy studying, and preparing for their futures instead of practicing guitare. So that's why they train potential idols since elementary school, grooming them for the stage for 10 years! Imagine the risks and dedication involved for such a long-term investment. There are different things to respect for everything. It follows the korean belief that success should be a result of hard work and selfless dedication, not birthright or genetics. BTW the stage is really where these artists shine. You get choreography and moves you never seen in music videos. Personally, I prefer dance practice videos like this over the official music vids any day because they show the work they put into making a simple stage into a living storytelling arena.
I just finished In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park. She is a North Korean defector and it's about her escape from North Korea and how she came to be and advocate for North Korean refugees. It's a good read, and as you can imagine, it's very sad and troubling. The good news is that it actually has a good ending.
The long comeback:
So I've looked into Jung Changs "Mao: The Unknown Story," and its a hit-piece. Much of it has not or can not be verified by anyone besides Jung Chang since most of the book is based on interviews with Chinese people... who were hostile to Mao from the beginning. Much of it has been contradicted the Soviet's records, and has been discredited by Sinologists generally. A much better biography is Mao: The Unknow Story. From what I read Pantsov's biography is neither a hit piece nor apologetics and it uses a ton of Russian/USSR archival information that is still restricted to the general public. I'm going to start reading that.
You are going to have take this book's word for it.
The Nyingma School... by Dudjom Rinpoche.
Is this it?
i'd recommend this book. it is written by someone who left DPRK while still a kid.
There's a good book from a defector who was at one point moving through the party ranks before his family history caught up to him (he was an orphan whose parentage wasn't initially known).
I think this is it... but I'm not entirely sure. Read it for sophomore year in college.
Anyways, the guy ends up imprisoned, and when he's given some level of leniency and sent to a "nicer" camp, he basically still sees it as a sign of the benevolence of the great Kim Jong-Il. It's a pretty interesting look into the mental state of a North Korean who grew up in that environment.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I was speaking from a Nyingma perspective. I'm not sure if there is Charya Tantra in Sarma, although I think there would be. One thing for sure, though, is that "Outer" and "Inner" Tantra is totally a Nyingma classification. I read about it in The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History by Dudjom Rinpoche. Charya Tantra is also called Ubhaya Tantra, does that ring any bells?
Thanks! The Amazon review points me towards this other biography - do you know anything about it?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Private-Life-Chairman-Mao/dp/0679764437
This is a good source to brush up with.
I recommend "Charlie Rangers" because it tells of the Vietnam experience of a couple of US Army Rangers, who were actually trained to do counter-insurgency jungle fighting, and had great results in Vietnam. They specifically mention multiple times that they were shocked at the poor training of regular infantry troops operating in the jungle. They considered some of the practices they saw to be suicidally stupid. By contrast, the Rangers were beating the VC at their own game of stalk and ambush.
https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Rangers-Don-Ericson/dp/0804102880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506532215&sr=8-1&keywords=charlie+rangers