Fyodor Tertitskiy, "Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung" (Hurst UP, 2025)

New Books in Biography & Memoir · Jun 12, 2025 · 29m

The Kims, of North Korea, are perhaps the 21st century’s most successful family dictatorship–if only due to sheer longevity, having run North Korea for the almost eight decades since the country’s post-war founding. Kim Il-Sung led North Korea for over half that time, from its founding in 1948 to Kim’s death in 1994.

But who was Kim Il-Sung? How did someone who spent most of his early years in nearby Manchuria end up running North Korea? And how was Kim able to not just secure his own position, but also the position of his son (and then, in turn, his grandson)?

Kim is the subject of Fyodor…