Description
Book SynopsisWhile other studies focus on the role of diplomats and the military,
Constructing Empire demonstrates that building the Japanese empire also required civilian participation.
Trade ReviewThe narrative in these chapters is grounded in vibrant historic detail, which results in a readable, empirically rich account. -- Sherzod Muminov * Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review *
"The quality and the amount of research [Bill Sewell] has done is very impressive, and the book is sophisticated and informative."
-- Yuxin Ma * American Review of China Studies *
[Sewell] succeeds in demonstrating the complexity of Japanese society in Changchun/Xinjing. Constructing Empire’s detailed chapters will be indispensable to graduate students and faculty researching or teaching the Japanese Empire and Japanese urban history. -- Alan Thornton * Journal of Asian Studies *
This book serves as a study of an important dimension of Japanese imperialism and, at the same time, an exploration of an audacious undertaking in twentieth-century urban high modernism... [Sewell] offers an unexpected finding in the degree of continuity in the life of Japanese Changchun that might encourage us to reconsider, at the "street level", the sharpness of the great divide of imperial history conveniently marked by the Japanese conquest of 1931. -- Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka, Wellesley College * American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1 City Planning
2 Imperialist and Imperial Façades
3 Economic Development
4 Colonial Society
Conclusion
Notes; Bibliography; Index
