"A Distant Mirror, Accelerating Quickly"

My op-ed on why literature is necessary for our full comprehension of history is up at the Korea Times:

Imagine a country is occupied by American forces after a war. Imagine these forces are greeted with tremendous euphoria when they first enter the capital. They are cheered and covered with garlands. An occupation government is established. It proceeds to reorganize the society. But it makes several serious mistakes, and within months the mood of the population has changed...

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