The author’s now celebrated quest, through narrative and photography, to capture today’s built and natural environment and way of life along the Min Tong Line (Demilitarized Zone – DMZ) separating the two Koreas, is both a stunning literary and photographic achievement. Supported by 150 colour photographs, the book by one of Korea’s renowned photographers who is also a well-known peace activist, takes the reader from Chulwon in the east to Kosung in the west, interweaving profoundly felt philosophical reflections on a wide variety of political, social and other issues, with detailed observations about the places he visits, including their myths and legends. The sense of yearning for the reunification of his divided country pervades the text. Life on the Edge of the DMZ provides the Western reader with a rare and dynamic connection to an often forgotten aspect of life, albeit ‘behind the scenes’, in contemporary Korea, and will have wide relevance at many levels in the study of modern Korea.

The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea for over 60 years. Most of that period has found the country suffering under mature Stalinism characterized by manipulation, brutality and tight social control. Nevertheless, some citizens of Kim Jong Il's regime manage to transcend his tyranny in their daily existence. This book describes that difficult but f existence and the world that the North Koreans have created for themselves in the face of oppression. Many features of this world are unique and even bizarre. But they have been created by the citizens to reflect their own ideas and values, in sharp contrast to the world forced upon them by a totalitarian system. Opening chapters introduce the political system and the extent to which it permeates citizens' daily lives, from the personal status badges they wear to the nationalized distribution of the food they eat. Chapters discussing the schools, the economic system, and family life dispel the myth of the workers' paradise that North Korea attempts to perpetuate. In these chapters the intricacies of daily life in a totalitarian dictatorship are seen through the eyes of defectors whose anecdotes constitute an important portion of the material. The closing chapter treats at length the significant changes that have taken place in North Korea over the last decade, concluding that these changes will lead to the quiet but inevitable death of North Korean Stalinism. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

East Asian literatures are famous for celebrating the beauties of nature and depicting people as intimately connected with the natural world. But in fact, because the region has a long history of transforming and exploiting nature, much of the fiction and poetry in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages portrays people as damaging everything from small woodlands to the entire planet. These texts seldom talk about environmental crises straightforwardly. Instead, like much creative writing on degraded ecosystems, they highlight what Karen Laura Thornber calls ecoambiguity—the complex, contradictory interactions between people and the nonhuman environment. Ecoambiguity is the first book in any language to analyze Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese literary treatments of damaged ecosystems. Thornber closely examines East Asian creative portrayals of inconsistent human attitudes, behaviors, and information concerning the environment and takes up texts by East Asians who have been translated and celebrated around the world, including Gao Xingjian, Ishimure Michiko, Jiang Rong, and Ko Un, as well as fiction and poetry by authors little known even in their homelands. Ecoambiguity addresses such environmental crises as deforesting, damming, pollution, overpopulation, species eradication, climate change, and nuclear apocalypse. This book opens new portals of inquiry in both East Asian literatures and ecocriticism (literature and environment studies), as well as in comparative and world literature.

Throughout history, the functions and roles of borders have been continuously changing. They can only be understood in their context, shaped as they are by history, politics and power, as well as cultural and social issues. Borders are therefore complex spatial and social phenomena which are not static or invariable, but which are instead highly dynamic. This comprehensive volume brings together a multidisciplinary team of leading scholars to provide an authoritative, state-of-the-art review of all aspects of borders and border research. It is truly global in scope and, besides embracing the more traditional strands of the field including geopolitics, migration and territorial identities, it also takes in recently emerging topics such as the role of borders in a seemingly borderless world; creating neighbourhoods, and border enforcement in the post-9/11 era.

Examines "Burned Bridge," the intersection between two sister cities in East and West Germany, and reveals how the daily adjustments of anxious residents shaped the barrier that divided them.

In the ongoing debate about evolution, science and faith face off. But the truth is both sides are right and wrong. In one corner: Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Jerry Coyne. They insist evolution happens by blind random accident. Their devout adherence to Neo-Darwinism omits the latest science, glossing over crucial questions and fascinating details. In the other corner: Intelligent Design advocates like William Dembski, Stephen Meyer, and Michael Behe. Many defy scientific consensus, maintaining that evolution is a fraud and rejecting common ancestry outright. There is a third way. Evolution 2.0 proves that, while evolution is not a hoax, neither is it random nor accidental. Changes are targeted, adaptive, and aware. You'll discover: How organisms re-engineer their genetic destiny in real time Amazing systems living things use to re-design themselves Every cell is armed with machinery for editing its own DNA The five amazing tools organisms use to alter their genetics 70 years of scientific discoveries—of which the public has heard virtually nothing! Perry Marshall approached evolution with skepticism for religious reasons. As an engineer, he rejected the concept of organisms randomly evolving. But an epiphany—that DNA is code, much like data in our digital age—sparked a 10-year journey of in-depth research into more than 70 years of under-reported evolutionary science. This led to a new understanding of evolution—an evolution 2.0 that not only furthers technology and medicine, but fuels our sense of wonder at life itself. This book will open your eyes and transform your thinking about evolution and God. You'll gain a deeper appreciation for our place in the universe. You'll see the world around you as you've never seen it before. Evolution 2.0 pinpoints the central mystery of biology, offering a multimillion dollar technology prize at naturalcode.org to the first person who can solve it.

"Grandfather returns each year to the demilitarized zone, the barrier--and accidental nature preserve--that separates families that live in North and South Korea."--Provided by publisher.