The Abacus and the Sword by Peter Duus (1998)

Peter Duus's "The Abacus and the Sword" presents the reader with a very thorough analysis of how the Japanese "penetrated" Korea, both economically and politically, and eventually made it part of the Japanese Empire. Duus does an excellent of presenting his argument of a multi-dimensional approach of how the Japanese dealt with Korea; however, he fails to include the Korean perspective from his book. While you will encounter many

The Book is divided into two sections. The first follows the development of the Japanese polity towards Korea, starting with the Meiji Restoration and ending with the Start of WWII. The Second half of the book focuses on the commercial or economic motivations behind Japanese interests in Korea.

While Duus makes great use of personal histories to frame the the account, he only includes those of the Japanese. There is no Korean perspective in the book. This causes the reading to give a positive bias to the Japanese actions. Even section covering the assassination of a Korean queen by Japanese officials, the negative implications on behalf of the Japanese are completely brushed aside.

If Duus would have at least acknowledged why, not just how, the Koreans felt negatively towards the Japanese, he would have presented a much more interesting analysis of history. That aside, this is most likely the best compliation of the developments in both polity and economics which arguably drove the Japanese expansion into Korea.

A must buy for those who truly want to better understand the Japanese reasons behind the annexation of Korea.