August, 1982 -- Reel one: a sense of destiny. A photograph on the blue house lawn ; Director Shin and Madame Choi ; Shrimp among whales ; A double rainbow over Mount Paekdu ; Kim Jong Il's first loves ; Fathers and sons ; Inside the Pyongyang picture show ; A three-second kiss ; Repulse bay -- Reel two: guests of the dear leader. The hermit kingdom ; Accused ; Musicals, movies, and ideological studies ; Taken ; The others ; Escape from Chestnut Valley ; Shin Sang-Ok died here ; The torture position ; Division 39 ; The hunger strike ; Director Shin is coming -- Intermission: the people's actress Woo in-Hee -- Reel three: produced by Kim Jong-Il. Together ; The tape recorder ; Lights, camera ; Out of the North ; Like a European movie ; The press conference ; Same bed, different dreams ; A full shooting schedule ; The rubber monster -- Vienna ; From Kim to Kim ; The stars and stripes -- 2013

"A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, [this book] offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it remains today"--Amazon.com