University of Michigan Selects The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why it Matters for World Politics Course

For years, North Korea watchers who speak no Korean have been confidently telling the world what motivates Kim Jong-Il. But in The Cleanest Race, B.R. Myers, a North Korea analyst and contributing editor of the Atlantic Monthly, presents the first full-length study of the North Korean worldview. In a lavishly illustrated work that draws on extensive research into the regime’s domestic propaganda, including films, romance novels and other artifacts of the personality cult, Myers analyzes each of the country’s official myths in turn—from the notion of Koreans’ unique moral purity, to the myth of an America quaking in terror of “the Iron General.” And in a groundbreaking historical section, Myers also traces the origins of this official culture back to the Japanese fascist thought in which North Korea’s first ideologues were schooled. 

University of Michigan has adopted the book for its Introduction to World Politics course this fall. 

“Electrifying… finely argued and brilliantly written… The illustrations in this book are an education in themselves.”—Christopher Hitchens

“Provocative… A fascinating analysis.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times

 B.R. Myers Discusses North Korea On National Public Radio:

On Point: “Bill Clinton’s North Korea Mission”

—August 5, 2009 Click here for interview.

On Point: “North Korea: Behind the Curtain”

—June 8, 2009 Click here for interview

Morning Edition: “North Korean Launch Grabs World’s Attention”

—April 6, 2009 Click here for interview

To order an examination copy, click here.

James Madison University Adopts Historiography Book Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret MacMillan

In Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History, the acclaimed author of Paris 1919 and Nixon and Mao reveals lessons and insights from a lifetime of writing and teaching history, about how we live our lives as individuals and nations.

Dangerous Games has been selected at James Madison University for course Twentieth Century World History.

“Reminds readers that history matters…. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the importance of correctly understanding the past.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“MacMillan deftly maneuvers through time [in this] wide-ranging and provocative testament to transparency as the best historical education.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

For more information on the book or author, click here.

To read an excerpt, click here.

To order an examination copy, click here.

Inventing Japan Adopted at University of Southern California

Notable author Ian Buruma, who has written widely on Japan, here offers an admirably succinct, tightly constructed history of Japan’s transformation from feudal state to host of the 1964 Olympics, with special focus on World War II.

Inventing Japan: 1853-1964 by Ian Buruma has been selected by the  University of Southern California’s East Asian Studies Center for a course on East Asian Societies.

“Buruma makes intriguing comparisons between Japan’s development and that of European states, particularly Germany… [The book] will help students make sense of the world within which [Japan's political] traditions emerged. Highly recommended.”—Choice (American Library Association)

For more information on the book and the author, click here.

To read an excerpt, click here.

Order an exam copy here.