The Quest for Statehood: Korean Immigrant Nationalism and U.S. Sovereignty, 1905-1945

Honorable Mention, Book Award in History of the Association for Asian American Studies.

In this book, Richard S. Kim examines the central role played by immigrants in the independence movement that sought to liberate Korea from Japanese colonization. Regarding Japanese rule as illegitimate, Koreans in and out of the Korean peninsula viewed themselves as a stateless people. Their independence activities had to be carried out from abroad, creating conditions for the emergence of a diaspo…