tendency to carry the discussion almost at a generic level when there is ample material in a variety of genres (films, novels, documentaries) to give it concrete shape, to put flesh on the skeleton. The other is a curious lack of reference to older literature on the subject of migration now comfortably placed in the “classic” category. I have in mind, as just one example, C. Kondapi's Indians Overseas, 1838-1949 (1951). Perhaps a sidelong glance at the experience of Asian migration and settlement in other parts of the tropi- cal world (Africa and the West Indies, for instance) might have yielded per- spectives worth exploring in the Asian context, including highlighting its special characteristics — and there are many. I left the book with the sense that the author could have paid more attention to the extensive literature on the region and the people he is writing about, especially literature published in the region itself. His strength is his mastery of the more recent secondary literature published in the West. The concept of “circulation” is used exten- sively (and rather loosely) in the book, but there is an extensive literature on this subject developed from other Third World experiences by geographers. Similarly, much has been written about the “sojourner mentality” in the Asian context on which one could usefully draw. Perhaps I cavil: these are things on my wish list, reflecting my intellectual interests, my way of reading and writing history. For the most part, the book achieves what it set out to accomplish: to introduce a topic that opens up new ways of looking at Asian history in a connected rather than a bounded way. It may not be a definitive text yet, but it is a very stimulating one, and that is achievement enough. doi:10.1093/jsh/shs076 Brij V. Lal The Australian National University brij.lal@anu.edu.au Brokers of Empire: Japanese Settler Colonialism in Korea, 1876–1945. By Jun Uchida (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2011. xvi plus 481 pp.). This book aims to “disaggregate colonial power” (12) by recovering the agency of overlooked historical actors, specifically early twentieth-century Japanese emi- grants to Korea, whom Professor Uchida dubs “brokers of empire.” In addition to being thickly descriptive, Brokers of Empire engages a number of larger questions about the functioning and meaning of colonial domination in the modern world. Through an analysis of memoirs, meeting minutes, reports, and punditry generated by Japanese emigrants to Korea, this ambitious study chronicles seven decades of turbulent colonial social history. Also utilized are Korean-language newspapers, official records, and Uchida's own interviews with repatriated Japanese settlers from Korea, conducted over fifty years after liberation. In terms of scope, depth and erudition, Brokers of Empire can be ranked alongside Louise Young's Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism and Caroline Hui-yu Ts'ai's Taiwan in Japan's Empire Building: An Institutional Reviews 1083 by guest on June 10, 2013 http://jsh.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from