Translation result
▶Corporations Pretending to Be Woke (by Vivek Ramaswamy; translated by Kim Tae-hoon, Korea Economic Daily) = “Woke” denotes an awareness of social-justice issues—race, gender, sexual orientation—and it has recently shaped public debate in the United States. The author, a first-generation Indian-American entrepreneur turned politician, argues that woke culture has been co-opted by elites as a tool to divide the public and protect entrenched privileges. He contends that when corporations voice positions on racism, climate change, and similar issues, they often seek public applause to distract from monopolistic power and cozy ties with government. Rather than genuinely advancing progressive aims, many companies use a progressive façade to secure deregulation, tax breaks, and other commercial advantages. He warns that allowing unelected corporations to set and enforce social-value standards corrodes democratic governance.
▶The Geography of Innovation (by Mehran Gul; translated by Hong Seok-yun, Business Books) = For decades, discussions about global innovation have revolved around the familiar hub of Silicon Valley. Business thinker Mehran Gul challenges the assumption that China only scales what Silicon Valley invents. Based on reporting from eight countries across three continents and profiles of next-generation unicorns, he offers a fresh view of how the next phase of the global economy may develop. He argues that the United States—still concentrated with capital and talent—retains the world’s strongest innovation ecosystem, while China has moved beyond imitation into original creation. Gul spotlights South Korea, which he describes as entering a second act of innovation, alongside the U.K. (Europe’s largest hub), open and globally connected Singapore, trust-driven Switzerland, Germany’s dense network of resilient small and medium enterprises, and Canada’s talent-friendly policies. In the Korean edition’s preface he names Korea a technology-leading nation pursuing a “super-gap,” stressing that any accurate map of where real innovation originates cannot omit Korea.
▶Save or Destroy (by Viet Thanh Nguyen; translated by Park Seol-young, Gimyoungsa) = The Pulitzer Prize–winning author probes a central question that runs through his work and life: what does it mean to write from the position of the Other? As a Vietnamese American who has never fully belonged to either side—and as a refugee and the child of refugees—he rigorously examines alterity in literature, ethics, solidarity, and the responsibilities of writers. He argues that a writer’s duty goes beyond speaking for others’ suffering; writers must ask who is silenced, why they are silenced, and what forces erase entire communities’ voices. For Nguyen, literary practice can create beauty from fear and tragedy and open pathways for strangers to approach one another. He calls for expansive solidarity—not a narrow solidarity that only protects those who resemble us or our communities, but a solidarity that defends people excluded and attacked within the United States’ imperial order.
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