The Great Successor
The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un
Published on 13. June 2019
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-5293-8721-6 (ISBN)
Description
'Superb . . . a detailed account of a regime and a personality that are normally shrouded in mystery' Financial Times, Books of the Year
'Packed with the fascinating and frequently bizarre anecdotal detail' The Times
'Superb...a model of investigative diligence and rigour' New Statesman
'Astonishing and insightful - the inside story of the mercurial man now making headlines, and history. Essential reading' Lyse Doucet
'By far the most complete insight into the Hermit Kingdom I have ever seen' Christina Lamb
'An important and rigorous piece of journalism written with clarity and urgency' Sunday Times
'Fascinating' Mail on Sunday
The Great Successor is an irreverent yet insightful quest to understand the life of Kim Jong Un, one of the world's most secretive dictators. Kim's life is swathed in myth and propaganda, from the plainly silly--he supposedly ate so much Swiss cheese that his ankles gave way--to the grimly bloody stories of the ways his enemies and rival family members have perished at his command.
One of the most knowledgeable journalists on modern Korea, Anna Fifield has exclusive access to Kim's aunt and uncle who posed as his parents while he was growing up in Switzerland, members of the entourage that accompanied Dennis Rodman on his quasi-ambassadorial visits with Kim, and the Japanese sushi chef whom Kim befriended and who was the first outsider to identify him as the inevitable successor to his father as supreme ruler. She has been able to create a captivating portrait of the oddest and most isolated political regime in the world, one that is broken yet able to summon a US president for peace talks, bankrupt yet in possession of nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Un; ridiculous but deadly, and a man of our times.
'Packed with the fascinating and frequently bizarre anecdotal detail' The Times
'Superb...a model of investigative diligence and rigour' New Statesman
'Astonishing and insightful - the inside story of the mercurial man now making headlines, and history. Essential reading' Lyse Doucet
'By far the most complete insight into the Hermit Kingdom I have ever seen' Christina Lamb
'An important and rigorous piece of journalism written with clarity and urgency' Sunday Times
'Fascinating' Mail on Sunday
The Great Successor is an irreverent yet insightful quest to understand the life of Kim Jong Un, one of the world's most secretive dictators. Kim's life is swathed in myth and propaganda, from the plainly silly--he supposedly ate so much Swiss cheese that his ankles gave way--to the grimly bloody stories of the ways his enemies and rival family members have perished at his command.
One of the most knowledgeable journalists on modern Korea, Anna Fifield has exclusive access to Kim's aunt and uncle who posed as his parents while he was growing up in Switzerland, members of the entourage that accompanied Dennis Rodman on his quasi-ambassadorial visits with Kim, and the Japanese sushi chef whom Kim befriended and who was the first outsider to identify him as the inevitable successor to his father as supreme ruler. She has been able to create a captivating portrait of the oddest and most isolated political regime in the world, one that is broken yet able to summon a US president for peace talks, bankrupt yet in possession of nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Un; ridiculous but deadly, and a man of our times.
Reviews / Votes
An important and rigorous piece of journalism written with clarity and urgency * Sunday Times * Astonishing and insightful - the inside story of the mercurial man now making headlines, and history. Essential reading * Lyse Doucet * Packed with the fascinating and frequently bizarre anecdotal detail -- Richard Lloyd Parry * The Times * By far the most complete insight into the Hermit Kingdom I have ever seen. Full of fascinating details * Christina Lamb * Superb . . . a detailed account of a regime and a personality that are normally shrouded in mystery * Financial Times * Fascinating * Mail on Sunday * Anna Fifield's excellent account, based on years of reporting from Korea, dispenses with the overfamiliar anecdotes about this ghastly spoiled-brat-turned-dictator * Evening Standard * Anna Fifield owns the North Korea story today in a way that few other journalists, myself included, have ever been able to claim mastery over this most elusive subject. -- Barbara Demick, author of the bestseller * Nothing to Envy * Excellent . . . an illuminating insight into the life and thinking of North Korea's ruthless leader * Evening Standard, Book of the Week * Elegantly written and exhaustively researched * Guardian * superb...a model of investigative diligence and rigour * New Statesman * Those anticipating James Bond villain stories will not be disappointed * Spectator * The Great Successor brims with important and exclusive information about the Kim family -- Andrei Lankov * Financial Times * an authoritative, revealing and spry account of the world's most isolated political regime * Sunday Business Post * A hard-earned, comprehensive portrait . . . essential reading * Irish Independent * Fascinating * Hot Press * Anna Fifield disentangles the propaganda that surrounds Kim and presents a clear-eyed portrait of a secretive dictator. * The Sunday Business Post * Astonishing and insightful - the inside story of the mercurial man now making headlines, and history. Essential reading * Lyse Doucet *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Murray Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5293-8721-6 (9781529387216)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anna Fifield is the Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post. She previously covered Japan and the Koreas for the Post, and was the Seoul correspondent for the Financial Times. She has reported from more than 20 countries and has visited North Korea a dozen times, becoming one of the most authoritative journalists on this impenetrable country. She was a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University, studying how change happens in closed societies. In 2018, she received the Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford University for her outstanding reporting on Asia.