An analysis of North Korea throughout the past 15 years as reflected by the lives of six everyday citizens traces their struggles for survival under totalitarian governance, including coverage of the death of Kim Il Sung, the rise of Kim Jong Il and the famine that has killed countless people.

An eye-opening account of life inside North Korea&;a closed world of increasing global importance&;hailed as a &;tour de force of meticulous reporting&; (The New York Review of Books)
 
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST &; NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST
 
In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years&;a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population.
 
Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today&;an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

Praise for Nothing to Envy

&;Provocative . . . offers extensive evidence of the author&;s deep knowledge of this country while keeping its sights firmly on individual stories and human details.&;&;The New York Times

&;Deeply moving . . . The personal stories are related with novelistic detail.&;&;The Wall Street Journal

&;A tour de force of meticulous reporting.&;&;The New York Review of Books

&;Excellent . . . humanizes a downtrodden, long-suffering people whose individual lives, hopes and dreams are so little known abroad.&;&;San Francisco Chronicle

&;The narrow boundaries of our knowledge have expanded radically with the publication of Nothing to Envy. . . . Elegantly structured and written, [it] is a groundbreaking work of literary nonfiction.&;&;John Delury, Slate

&;At times a page-turner, at others an intimate study in totalitarian psychology.&;&;The Philadelphia Inquirer

Follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years, a chaotic period that saw the rise to power of Kim Jong Il and the devastation of a famine that killed one-fifth of the population, illustrating what it means to live under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.