North Korea’s Mundane Revolution: Socialist Living and the Rise of Kim Il Sung, 1953–1965 - A book talk by Andre Schmid

Join the Center for East Asian Studies for a talk and Q&A session with Andre Schmid about his book North Korea's Mundane Revolution, 1953-1965: Socialist Living and the Rise of Kim Il Sung. Light refreshments will start at 3 p.m.

The book deals with the crucial years after the Korean War, a period that, when remembered today, recounts a grand epic of revolution centering on the ascent of Kim Il Sung to absolute power. Often overshadowed in this storyline, however, are the myriad ways the Korean population participated in party-state projects to rebuild their lives and country after the devastation of the war. North Korea's Mundane Revolution traces the origins of the country's long-term durability in the questions that Korean women and men raised about the modern individual, housing, family life, and consumption.

Andre Schmid is a professor of Korean and East Asian History who has taught at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, for over 25 years. He is the author of Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919 and, more recently, North Korea's Mundane Revolution, 1953-1965: Socialist Living and the Rise of Kim Il Sung.