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The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950 (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University) Illustrated Edition, Kindle Edition
by Charles K. Armstrong (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars (15)
Edition: Illustrated
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North Korea, despite a shattered economy and a populace suffering from widespread hunger, has outlived repeated forecasts of its imminent demise. Charles K. Armstrong contends that a major source of North Korea's strength and resiliency, as well as of its flaws and shortcomings, lies in the poorly understood origins of its system of government. He examines the genesis of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) both as an important yet rarely studied example of a communist state and as part of modern Korean history.
North Korea is one of the last redoubts of "unreformed" Marxism-Leninism in the world. Yet it is not a Soviet satellite in the East European manner, nor is its government the result of a local revolution, as in Cuba and Vietnam. Instead, the DPRK represents a unique "indigenization" of Soviet Stalinism, Armstrong finds. The system that formed under the umbrella of the Soviet occupation quickly developed into a nationalist regime as programs initiated from above merged with distinctive local conditions. Armstrong's account is based on long-classified documents captured by U.S. forces during the Korean War. This enormous archive of over 1.6 million pages provides unprecedented insight into the making of the Pyongyang regime and fuels the author's argument that the North Korean state is likely to remain viable for some years to come.
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In a world where the kind of Marxist-inspired, state-directed development embodied by Soviet Russia has long since been discredited as ineffective, the North Korean economy and state management continue to resist the forces of the North Korean people. Armstrong wants to explain this rather counterintuitive longevity of a state whose like can be found nowhere else in the world except in Cuba.... This work will be indispensable for anyone hoping to understand the postwar history of Korea and East Asia.
-- "Choice"
Charles K. Armstrong's The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950 is a pioneering work.... This eye-catching book offers a wealth of factual information on the genesis of the North Korean state. It introduces a unique comprehensive perspective for the analysis of postcolonial Korean modernization, communist state formation, and creation of new imagined national and social identities and communities in the North. It is a new classic in Korean studies and a must-read for all aspiring students of Korean history and Korean affairs.
--Alexandre Y. Mansourov "Journal of Asian Studies"
Charles K. Armstrong takes advantage of new archival materials to rethink the history and character of North Korea. In considering the critical years of North Korea's development prior to the outbreak of the Korean War, Armstrong's The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950, delivers some surprising, heterodox conclusions.
--John Feffer "Korean Quarterly"
This book provides a wealth of factual information and historical background that increases the reader's understanding of North Korea's communist history and present idiosyncrasies.
--Jeffrey J. Kuebler "Military Review"
Armstrong has carefully gone over all of the newly available documents on the founding of the North Korean regime to ask why Pyongyang, in spite of the appalling suffering of its people, remains one of the last holdouts of 'unreformed' Marxism-Leninism.
-- "Foreign Affairs"
About the Author
Charles K. Armstrong is the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences, Department of History, at Columbia University. He is the author of Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992andThe North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950, both from Cornell, and The Koreas, editor of Korean Society: Civil Society, Democracy and the State, and coeditor of Korea at the Center: Dynamics of Regionalism in Northeast Asia.
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Dillon
5.0 out of 5 stars A Completely Unique Perspective
Reviewed in the United States on 2 February 2026
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
This is a book which has no peer. As far as I know there is no firm analysis of the North Korean perspective of the interwar period like this, using actual records from Pyongyang seized in the Korean War. Fascinating!
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Nerdus Maximus
5.0 out of 5 stars Solid, detailed, and thorough.
Reviewed in the United States on 3 June 2007
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
When the history of North Korea is discussed, the focus is usually on the division of the peninsula, the installation of a pro-Soviet regime, and the application of communism. But Charles K. Armstrong went far beyond this approach in this work.
Armstrong went through several aspects of North Korean society, touching upon even art, to show how the government's authority and ideology touched upon every aspect of daily life and every imaginable segment of society. To his credit, he highlights the communists' significant overturning of traditional Korean classes, as the communists placed the peasantry on top.
A sound work free of political bias which examines what the North Koreans did between August 14, 1945 and June 25, 1950, in their attempt to revolutionize their half of the peninsula.
8 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect overview of North Korea’s Revolution
Reviewed in the United States on 17 October 2019
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
The book covers all important factors that were involved in North Korea. The relationship between the Soviet Union and North Korea is explained in great detail. The book allows the reader to understand where and how Kim Il Sung stood in the brink of the revolution
3 people found this helpful
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Ron DiGiovanni
5.0 out of 5 stars Knowing Sadness
Reviewed in the United States on 15 July 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A great read for the understanding of what might have been.
When you read this work, you begin to comprehend what America was trying to prevent in Vietnam. You also realize that if the NVA and Vietcong had not prevailed. we'd be dealing with two North Koreas today.
Ron DiGiovanni
Easton, PA
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