Katie Stallard. Dancing on bones : history and power in China, Russia and North Korea [Book review]

Abstract

History is vulnerable to exploitation. Memory is liable to fabrication. What is remembered, and what is forgotten, are results of careful historical curation, emphasis, and erasure. In Dancing on Bones, political analyst Katie Stallard overviews how authoritarian administrations manipulate history to rationalize their rule and, in turn, remain in power. Three case studies of China, North Korea, and Russia are offered to reveal the ways in which these countries’ regimes co-opt, distort, and alter the past to advance their political needs and interests.