Asian Trips - The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea
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Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.1334
EAN: 9780520253339
ISBN: 0520253337
Label: University of California Press
Manufacturer: University of California Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 232
Publication Date: 2008-03-25
Publisher: University of California Press
Studio: University of California Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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In January of 1965, twenty-four-year-old U.S. Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins abandoned his post in South Korea, walked across the DMZ, and surrendered to communist North Korean soldiers standing sentry along the world's most heavily militarized border. He believed his action would get him back to the States and a short jail sentence. Instead he found himself in another sort of prison, where for forty years he suffered under one of the most brutal and repressive regimes the world has known. This fast-paced, harrowing tale, told plainly and simply by Jenkins (with journalist Jim Frederick), takes the reader behind the North Korean curtain and reveals the inner workings of its isolated society while offering a powerful testament to the human spirit.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Comment: Despite how you may view Jenkins' actions, if you have any interest at all in North Korea, this is a must read. In general, if you want to experience a story that is truly stranger than fiction, pick this book up.
The overall style feel just like Jenkins is dictating the book to you himself. The language is very clear and down to earth, much like Jenkins himself. You get a really impressive look at his life inside of North Korea, as well as how he views his actions. The average westerner who has never spent any time in a commie country or third world country might be taken aback by the conditions under which he lived, but by North Korean standards, he did live a rather priveleged life.
This is an incredibly fast read, and comes highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look at North Korean life!
Comment: Jenkins produces a fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day workings of the North Korean government, especially in terms of the lives of "average" citizens. He writes in an engaging, down-to-earth style that makes for fast reading while still answering all of the questions that the average reader would want to know about why an American soldier would cross the DMZ one day and what his life would be like as a result. It's an engrossing story that's very much worth your time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A look through the keyhole of a prison
Comment: Charles Robert Jenkins is a man who is modestly interesting in spite of himself, although his is not a very appealing personality. He grows up in an impoverished family in North Carolina. Poorly educated, he joins the Army as a teenager and ultimately defects to North Korea, for reasons which, even now, he seems unable to really articulate. Unable to leave, he makes a kind of life for himself, a life which is a kind of testimony to the rigors of existence in North Korea. I say "kind of," since Jenkins and the other American deserters to not suffer nearly as much as ordinary North Koreans, especially during the "Arduous March" starvation period of the early nineties. An unreflective man, prone to drink, buffeted by events, he emerges from North Korea only because he is married to a Japanese abductee. Today, he evidently lives happily in his wife's hometown in Japan. You won't learn much about North Korean society from this slender book; Jenkins is not much of an observer. Or perhaps he is holding back. It is impossible to tell. In any case, his account of the narrow life he led adds only a small bit of detail to what's known about this closed society.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lives up to Billing - Should be a Movie
Comment: This is an excellent book for people interested in Americans' perceptions of North Korea. This would make for an excellent movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: He made his choice
Comment: Boo hoo. Jenkins wants everyone to think he was some innocent victim. He made the decision to switch to the other side, no one pushed him into doing it. Once he got to North Korea he found out their utopian propaganda was all Bravo Sierra. If he hadn't been so gullible in the first place he wouldn't have to be making excuses now. He may not have enjoyed rock star treatment while he was their "guest", but you can be certain his quality of life was much better than the average native-born citizen. He was a useful propaganda tool, starring in NK movies as the "Evil American". Maybe not treason, but close to it. I haven't read this book (and won't), but I served on the DMZ so I'd say that qualifies me to give my "review".
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