In the original dustsheet. Red cloth binding with white title on the spine.

F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

A New York Times bestseller, the shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived. Blaine Harden’s latest book, King of Spies, will be available from Viking in Fall 2017.

North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped. But Shin Donghyuk did.

In Escape from Camp 14, acclaimed journalist Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk and through the lens of Shin’s life unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence-he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his own family. Through Harden’s harrowing narrative of Shin’s life and remarkable escape, he offers an unequaled inside account of one of the world’s darkest nations and a riveting tale of endurance, courage, and survival.

Review: This book is one of those that will be remembered for a long time by those that read it. Some books telling tales of extreme survival or hardship are remarkable and deserving of being read but are not as memorable as others. Some are just so remarkable though that it is hard to imagine that they can be forgotten. Escape From Camp 14 is one of those. The events / feelings / methods / turmoil described in this book are among the most bizarre / barbaric / inhumane and saddening that I have ever read about. Most of us have read, heard or watched things about the Nazi POW camps of World War II. The atrocities that were carried out are considered as some of the worst in history and most of the world is under the impression that these acts are no longer carried out. Surely there are no prison camps anymore! Surely people are not treated like animals by the government in this modern day! Surely people are no longer executed by the authorities for petty offences! That sort of thing just doesn’t happen… Does it? Well, sadly, it appears that it does.

Recent events in North Korea have brought its strange and secretive behaviour to people’s attention and hopefully as a result more people will read books like this one. More should be done to help the millions of innocent people that are born in North Korean prison camps only to live a live of slavery, brain washing, torture, starvation and a complete lack of emotional, physical and psychological wellbeing. Shin Dong-Hyuk was one of these people. He was born in prison camp 14 and was to live out his life as a prisoner to pay for the sins of his ancestors. He went to a `school’ in the camp where the pupils are repeatedly reminded of how insignificant they are; how they need to cleanse themselves of their sins by working hard; are encouraged to inform their teachers / guards of any `crimes’ / suspicious behaviour carried out by their family or other pupils. They are beaten, ridiculed, starved and even killed for minor offenses. Even suspicion of having done, said or thought something could get you severe punishment. Not much education is actually carried out and children come out of school illiterate and believing the world is flat. Brainwashing is the main purpose of school. Once school life has finished the working life begins. This is pretty much the same as school life with punishment handed out for not working hard enough, stealing food, talking… This list could go on for a long, long time.

Executions and torture are carried out without any justice system. Someone caught stealing a few grains of corn could be shot; someone thought to be plotting escape would be hanged or put in front of a firing squad. These `crimes’ may even have been reported by a family member or colleague. Little remorse is experienced by prisoners for turning informant, and little sadness is felt for losing someone you knew. This is because of the way people are brainwashed as children. It truly is horrific that this sort of thing happens… now!

Shin managed to escape though and although no longer suffering the horrors of camp 14 he went on to suffer different problems. How does someone like Shin start to live in the world that most of us know when they have been brainwashed into believing lies, taught to trust nobody, lived the life of a slave, and have no concept of things that we all take for granted? I could go on and on talking about this book but will just recommend that you read it instead. It really is an unbelievable eye opener.

The Author: Blaine Harden is a reporter for PBS’s FRONTLINE and a contributor to the Economist, and has served as The Washington Post’s bureau chief in East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. He is the author of Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent and A River Lost: The Life and Death of the Columbia. He lives in Seattle, Washington.