Yet Pyongyang has a certain mystery. Because the North Korean media is government-controlled, most foreigners don’t have a clear image of what the place looks like. The city was largely destroyed during World War II and then rebuilt with guidance from planners and designers from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, who tried to fashion it into an ideal communist city. In the book’s photographs the city seems both strange and familiar. Its dense skyline and broad avenues call to mind other sprawling, modern cities like Sao Paulo and Seoul. But there’s a surreal stillness to the Pyongyang cityscapes here. These photos, compiled from official government guides and author Philipp Meuser’s own travels, show a city that’s virtually empty. There are crowds paying respects to deceased Communist leaders at official monuments, but none strolling the boulevards, gathering in the plazas, or commuting on the underground trains. And there aren’t any cluttered newsstands, flashing marquees or eye-catching billboards along the streets. In fact, there are virtually no cars and pedestrians at all. It’s as if the North Korean government built a city and nobody came.