100°C: South Korea's 1987 Democracy Movement

Originally published in 2009, during a bleak era in Korean democracy, 100°C shone a ray of hope for readers across South Korea who could only otherwise imagine a dark future. In its depiction of the events leading up to the June 1987 Uprising, when a seemingly endless night turned to dawn, the work foreshadows the next wave of Korean pro-democracy protesters who would take to the street a little less than a decade after the book's publication. Told with Choi Kyu-sok’s trademark humor and evocative artistry and translated with care and precision by a team of young translators, 100°C tells the story of both the past and future of Korean democracy. Anton Hur, literary translator

100°C is a powerful reminder that ordinary people make history. When the status quo seems hopelessly entrenched, change seems distant. But, as Choi Kyu-sok makes clear, the shift from 99 to 100 degrees is unpredictable and the tipping point may be just around the corner. In that sense, while the book was commissioned for students, we all have something to learn from it—not only about the collective power of people, but also how to endure against all odds. Suzy Kim, Rutgers University

In gritty and historically accurate detail, 100°C captures the moment in South Korean history when the country’s enduring struggle for democracy finally reached the boiling point. Readers will encounter in the pages of this arresting graphic novel a primer on modern Korean history, a rumination on revolutionary politics, and a transgenerational tale of self-awakening and self-empowerment in a time of barbarism. Youngju Ryu, University of Michigan