Assimilating Seoul: Japanese Rule and the Politics of Public Space in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945

Assimilating Seoul, the first book—length study written in English about Seoul during the colonial period, challenges conventional nationalist paradigms by revealing the intersection of Korean and Japanese history in this important capital. Through microhistories of Shinto festivals, industrial expositions, and sanitation campaigns, Todd A. Henry offers a transnational account that treats the city’s public spaces as "contact zones," showing how residents negotiated pressures to become loyal...