Sunday, June 27, 2010

Reviewed this week: New books on North Korea, Islam and more

A quick weekend round-up:

Three books on North Korea are reviewed in the New York Review of Books: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom by Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh, and The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves-and Why It Matters by B.R. Myers.

Two books about Islam are taken up in the New York Times: FAITH AND POWER: Religion and Politics in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis and MUHAMMAD AND THE BELIEVERS: At the Origins of Islam by Fred M. Donner.

THE ICARUS SYNDROME: A History of American Hubris by Peter Beinart is reviewed in the Boston Globe.

HISTORY AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT by Hugh Trevor-Roper is taken up in the Washington Post.