For some Americans, when they think of the Republic of Korea (popularly called South Korea), they think of the Korean War fought so long ago. Many younger Americans, when they think of South Korea, think of K-pop, the big corporations Samsung, Hyundai, LG and Kia, and the cars these corporations have produced over the decades. But this is only one small aspect of a country with a rich history and culture few Americans know. Many Americans have not heard of, for example, the ancient City of Gyeongju with its surviving relics and monuments that were part of a once great kingdom. Then there is the Korean alphabet known as hangul, which was an invention to help facilitate all Koreans to be able to read and write in their language. My book is an exploration of some of these palaces, temples, churches and famous places in South Korea. More than that, my photographic memoir also looks at the things that make Korea what it is, and the dynamism behind the Korean people who have in their own way greatly contributed to our world.

Gyeongju, now a mid-sized modern city in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), was 1,400 years ago the capital of the Silla Kingdom. From 57 BCE to 935 CE, Gyeongju was the cultural, religious and administrative capital of a unified Korean state and the first true capital of Korea up to that time. In that ancient period, Gyeongju was three to five times larger than it is today. Filled with palaces, Buddhist temples and monuments, only a few remnants remain of the Silla Kingdom today. Nevertheless, those few historic sites are an impressive window into what the Silla era was like. The author visited these beautiful places to understand something about this part of Korean history. This work examines the five significant places in Gyeongju that bespeak of this city’s rich cultural and historic past as the former capital of ancient Korea.

Seoul has been the capital of Korea since 1392, and today is one of the world's largest metropolitan centers. Amid its modern skyscrapers and ultra-futuristic infrastructure are echos of its ancient past. For centuries, Seoul's three best known Buddhist temple complexes have been in so many ways a separate world from the rest of the city. Buddhist monks and nuns have lived in, slept and recited Buddhist mantras in some of the most beautiful temples ever built. Despite centuries and war on the Korean peninsula, these Buddhist temples have withstood the test of time and can be seen both by the Buddhist faithful as well as visitors. Mr. Nardini's book explores these three of Seoul's best known Buddhist temple complexes; Bongwonsa, Jogyesa and Bongeunsa. His book depicts these great centers of Buddhist learning in South Korea that seem aloof from one of the world's greatest cities and yet all three are very much a part of it.

“I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.” - Yeonmi Park "One of the most harrowing stories I have ever heard - and one of the most inspiring." - The Bookseller “Park's remarkable and inspiring story shines a light on a country whose inhabitants live in misery beyond comprehension. Park's important memoir showcases the strength of the human spirit and one young woman's incredible determination to never be hungry again.” —Publishers Weekly In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom. Park confronts her past with a startling resilience. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Indeed, today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. Park’s testimony is heartbreaking and unimaginable, but never without hope. This is the human spirit at its most indomitable.

The story of a young girl's escape from North Korea, based on the life of the authors' mother, Soo Park.

One day she was Kim Ji-yun, growing up in Seoul, Korea. The next day she was Catherine Jeanne Robinson, living with her new American family in Salt Lake City, Utah. Twenty years later, Katy Robinson returned to Seoul in search of her birth mother -- and found herself an American outsider in her native land. What transpired in this world -- at once familiar and strange, comforting and sad -- left Katy conflicted, shattered, exhilarated, and moved in ways she never imagined. A Single Square Picture is a personal odyssey that ascends to the universal, a story that will resonate with anyone who has ever questioned their place in the world -- and had the courage to find the answers.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world’s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships – and the story of one woman’s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom.