MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
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A different perspective on Korea
CARLOS MARTINEZ recommends a revealing new book on the recent history of the south-east Asian country
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom
by Stephen Gowans
(Baraka Books, £18.80)
THE LATEST book by Canadian anti-imperialist writer Stephen Gowans provides a readable and insightful overview of modern Korean history, helpfully exploding all the most pervasive myths that cloud popular understanding of the subject.
Gowans highlights the fact that the division of Korea after WWII was engineered by the US as a means of impeding the spread of socialism in Asia. Communism was an extremely popular ideology in postwar Korea as a result of the Soviet Union’s decisive role in the victory over fascism, consistent Soviet support for Korean independence, the rising Chinese communist movement and the general intersection of aims between communism and anti-imperialist nationalism.
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