"Focusing on the period 1600-1900, this ground-breaking work presents Korean history as a tension between structures and agents. It examines economy, demography, and mentalities and focuses on Korean and Japanese attitudes towards each other, forged at their point of contact on the frontier. The book argues that frontier contact in the pre-modern world was at least as important for the formation of cultural perceptions and historical memory as the writings of intellectuals far away in national centres.

"It raises questions about pre-modern self-perceptions and the processes by which perceptions were formed of other peoples. The book also links local history with transnational relations and presents East Asian pre-modern history in a completely new light."--Jacket.