Photographer Charlie Crane and writer Nick Bonner of Koryo Tours have teamed for a new book, Welcome to Pyongyang, which compiles photos and commentary from three trips they took to the North Korean capital. “Pyongyang” comes out in the U.S. next week, but The Guardian and Budget Travel both have sneak-peak slideshows. The pair’s commentary accompanies the Guardian presentation, and Budget Traveler has an excerpt from the book’s introduction. 

Bonner writes:

What we present in this book is Pyongyang on its own terms. Charlie Crane and I have accepted, even embraced, the limitations placed upon photography. We hope the result is as interesting and revealing as any undercover photo-essay. I make no apologies for presenting it this way. Visiting Pyongyang is a unique and rewarding experience, and I urge anyone who has the opportunity to see it for themselves.

The slideshows reinforce my impression of the city. They reveal a clean, orderly and creepy place, with residents cowed and isolated. At least one critic—an unnamed writer in The Standard Weekend—takes issue with the book.

From the Standard Weekend:

There’s no argument that Crane did a great job, professionally, with Welcome to Pyongyang—the British Journal of Photography chose his North Korean work for its 2006 photographic award. There’s also no doubt that the book offers a rare glimpse into an isolated city - less than 2,000 Western tourists visit there a year. But if Bonner wanted to convey a sense of humanity, the collection’s stiff formal treatment of Pyongyang and its people and the surreal interview text does little to expose the common heart of this secretive nation.

Related on World Hum:
* Welcome to Bizarroland
* Trains Cross Between North Korea and South Korea For First Time in 56 Years*
* Knife Tricks: A Blogger Goes to North Korea
* Dictatorship Tourism: North Korea Opens (Briefly) to U.S. Citizens