“Original, well written, and ambitious, this volume reframes our understanding of ‘the social’ in a new way. By emphasizing the ways in which the Korean diaspora served as a mechanism for extending Japanese empire and by attending to various organizations of agricultural production and the everyday signs of difference, Hyun Ok Park develops a deeply social account of historical capitalism that supplements, and challenges, conventional sensibilities of imperialism. Essential for Asian studies, but a critical read for historical sociology.”—Michael D. Kennedy, author of Cultural Formations of Postcommunism “This is a terrific book, one that demonstrates social processes among the colonized under imperialist rule. By focusing on Koreans in Manchuria, Two Dreams in One Bed decenters the nation-state—Korea, China, or Japan—and imagines a regional history. It is a new kind of study that challenges us to recognize the historicity of our major conceptual categories, and it should help us formulate a post–Cold War East Asian studies.”—Stefan Tanaka, author of New Times in Modern Japan “Hyun Ok Park’s book is a good example of deep and insightful research. It is a pioneering study which shakes some taboos, exposes ingrained misperceptions and introduces valuable new material. The book greatly increases our understanding of the social, economic, and political history of North East Asia between the two world wars.”
Andrewi Lankov
Acta Koreana