On more than one occasion during my trips abroad, I came to the realization that I had been blessed to have been born in Brooklyn, New York in the United States of America. And while my country has its share of issues that plague the nation, I do enjoy a level of freedom many people around the world would die to have. Because I was born here, it is far to easy to take for granted the rights and privileges that I enjoy as an American citizen both here at home and when I travel outside the country. I’ve always been fond of personal stories of triumph for they remind me that outside of the borders of the place I call home, many people do not have the luxuries or lifestyle that I do. In fact, in many nations in this world, there is next to nothing for millions of men, women and children.
North Korea, for many years, has been viewed by Americans as a nation cut off from the western world and run by a brutal family dictatorship that has stretched over several generations. Famine, despair and oppression have caused thousand of citizens, soldiers and high-level officials to defect to South Korea in search of a better life. The path to defection is highly dangerous and for those that are caught, it is almost certainly, a painful and slow death. Each survivor that does make it to South Korea has their own story of defection, some so extreme that it will bring tears to the eyes of the listener. This story by Jang Jin-Sung, a former poet of the United Front Department, is an inside look into the life of a young man working in a high position in the government who along with a friend, makes the ultimate decision to defect, leaving his friends and family behind in North Korea. Even before setting out on their journey, the two realize that their decision will have long-lasting ramifications. In fact, Sung, to this day, is considered an enemy of the State in North Korea. But what they would experience was beyond anything they could have imagined and makes Sung’s survival and story, all the more surreal.
Determined to seek asylum in South Korea, the duo makes their frantic escape from Pyongyang, but as the reader soon learns, not every face encountered can be trusted and even those who speak the same language, may be of no help at all. Harsh climates, blizzards, freezing temperatures and extreme hunger, nearly push the two over the edge as they struggle to maintain their sanity and physical well-being. Stuck in a foreign land in China, unable to speak the native language, they must seek out fellow defectors and immigrants from their homeland if they wish to survive. And as we learn, some of these people had hearts of gold, whether they knew it or not, and every move made was a matter of life and death for the two defectors. The native Chinese citizens also play a part in their story and through them, we are able to see the stark contrast between the two nation and their governments. And as we see through Sung’s eyes, a cloak of deception exists in North Korea, forcing everyone to buy into the myth of the Dear Leader.
While his story is one of success and triumph, it is not without tragedy and some of the parts of his story are nothing short of heartbreaking. And it will be unimaginable for those used to living in a western culture, for anyone to live in the manner in which they did in North Korea. But Sung’s story is a reminder that those of us who were blessed to have been born in other nations that we should never take our liberties and freedom for granted for there are many others out their that are envious and risking death to have the same. Sung’s memoir is one more attempt to lift the veil off the destructive, brutal and murderous facade of the Dear Leader.
ISBN-10: 1476766568
ISBN-13: 978-1476766560
This book is not by any means, an investigative report into Scarpa’s activities. For the full story on his crimes, relationship with the FBI and its aftermath, the best book that comes to mind is Peter Lance’s ‘
On January 19, 2013, Hans J. Massaquoi, the former editor of Ebony magazine and writer for Jet magazine, died at his home in Jacksonville, Florida at the age of 
Recently, I re-watched President Kennedy’s peace speech at American University on June 10, 1963. The speech is considered to be one of Kennedy’s shining moments. In the speech, he called for a new vision of peace in the face of the escalating conflict in Vietnam and continuing aggression with the Soviet Union and its Cuban ally, Fidel Castro. Researchers into Kennedy’s administration and his murder have often said that this is the speech that served as the final straw for those surrounding him wishing to have him removed from office. Tragically, several months later, after this speech, that’s exactly what happened as he was murdered in broad daylight on the streets of Dallas, Texas. Two days later, his alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald was also murdered raising more questions that have yet to be answered to this very day.
The 20th Century was filled with some of the most earth-shattering events the world has ever seen. The home video shot by Abraham Zapruder that recorded the assassination of John F. Kennedy stands as one of the most important pieces of motion picture ever captured. During that film, as former Firs Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy reaches to the trunk of the car to retrieve a portion of JFK’s skull, a secret service agent can be seen leaping on the trunk of the car as the motorcade sped down the Stemmons Freeway en route to Parkland Hospital. The agent, Clint Hill stands out in the film as only one of two agents to make any major movement to help the fatally wounded Kennedy and Gov. John Connally. Hill would go on to serve three more presidents and today is a best-selling author with several books published about his time working in the United States Secret Service.
In New York City history, the Italian-American mafia has always captured the public spotlight in regards to organized crime headlines. The five families, filled with larger than life characters, captivated the American public becoming glorified in films and music. But at one time in New York City, in a small neighborhood known as Hell’s Kitchen, the Irish mafia controlled the streets. T.J. English takes us back in time to when Hell’s Kitchen was one of the most dangerous parts of New York City. Today the area has changed substantially. The faces have changed and the area once known to harden criminals, has seen a surge in gay and lesbian residents. The bars are still there but the area has become a focal point for New York City nightlife. The violence is long gone but some of the remnants from the past will always remain.
The Holocaust remains one of the most regretful moments in the history of mankind. The Final Solution, engineered by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi government, resulted in the deaths of over six millions Jewish men, women and children. The many concentration camps became factories of genocide and symbols of the Third Reich’s relentless efforts to remove all Jewish citizens from Germany and the occupied territories of the Reich. As Hitler made his rise to power, many Jews fled Germany fearing the worst under the rule of the tyrannical dictator from neighboring Austria. Others were forced to seek refuge in Germany and survive in any way possible. But still there were other Jews who found help among non-Jewish Germans and were able to hide themselves right in Berlin, under the eyes and ears of the N.S.D.A.P.
On October 3, 1995, I was in my sophomore year at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn, New York. Not long after the lunch periods had ended, our classes were interrupted as the teachers informed us that the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial was scheduled to be read. We stopped class and turned on the television to witness what we all knew was a historic event. When the verdict was read and Simpson was found not guilty, the school erupted in cheers and howls. None of us wanted to see Simpson convicted of murder and to many African-Americans, he was proof that you could in fact make it to be someone in America if you were a person of color. After the acquittal of the police officers involved in the beating of motorist Rodney King, racial tensions had peaked across the nation and the Simpson trial would showcase the issue of race to the fullest. The images of Marcia Clark, Robert Shapiro, Christopher Darden, Johnnie Cochran and Det. Mark Fuhrman have permanently been burned into the memory of nearly every American who watched the gripping trial from start to finish.
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth changed the course of United History. The murder of Abraham Lincoln marked the first time a sitting U.S. President had been slain by an assassin. Tragically, Lincoln would not be the last to be assassinated. John F. Kennedy would meet his tragic fate on the streets of Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Lincoln’s murder has become fodder for conspiracy theorist intent on proving that a web of deceit surrounded Lincoln paving the way for the tyrannical Booth to execute his plan. But just how much of a conspiracy was there? And did it involve members of the Confederacy? Was Edward Stanton complicit in pulling back Lincoln’s security detail? And was Mary Surratt rightfully convicted? Edward Steers, through painstaking research answers those questions and more in what is the definitive examination of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
FREETHINKING BIBLIOPHILE 
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