91ֱ

Sheila Miyoshi Jager

  • Professor of East Asian Studies
  • Chair of East Asian Studies
  • Chair of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Education

  • PhD, anthropology, University of Chicago, 1994
  • MA, Middlebury College, 1985
  • BA, Bennington College, 1984

Biography

Sheila Miyoshi Jager is a professor of East Asian studies whose research focuses on war, empire, and revolution in modern East Asia. Her courses include Cold War in Asia, Korea & East Asia: From Ancient Times to the Present, The Korean War, The Opening of Korea, 1860–1910, and The Great War & East Asia.

She is the author and editor of four books on Korea and East Asia and is currently completing a trilogy on war and revolution in 20th-century East Asia. The first volume, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023), traces Korea’s pivotal role in East Asia’s transformation from a Sino-centric Confucian order to a modern system of nation-states at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It received the (APSA) and the  (RUSI, UK). The second volume, From War to Revolution: The Great War and East Asia, tells the story of China’s, Japan’s, and Korea’s experiences of World War One. It examines how the war exacerbated the political divisions within these countries and led to future conflict. It is currently under contract with Harvard University Press.

She has also coauthored The Korean War: A Local History (with Jiyul Kim), forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

She currently serves as Director of the East Asian Studies Program and the Russian, Eastern European & Eurasian Studies (REEES) Program at 91ֱ College.

Spring 2026

Korea and East Asia: From Ancient Times to the Present — EAST 163

Korea and East Asia: From Ancient Times to the Present — HIST 181

The Great War & Asia, 1914-25 — EAST 328

The Great War & Asia, 1914-25 — HIST 328

Capstone Project — EAST 500

Fall 2026

The Great War & Asia, 1914-25 — EAST 328

The Great War & Asia, 1914-25 — HIST 328

Capstone Project — EAST 500

  • (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023). In this book, Jager argues that the contest over Korea, driven both by Korean domestic disputes and by great-power rivalry, set the course for the future of East Asia and the larger global order.
  • (W.W. Norton/Profile Books, 2013). This book offers a  military, political and cultural history of the war, seen as spanning from 1945 to the present, and its global impact told from the American, North and South Korean, Soviet/Russian, and Chinese perspectives. (It was selected for the 2013 National Book Festival and as one of the Best Books on Asia in 2013 by Foreign Affairs)
  • (Harvard University Press, 2007). This edited volume with Rana Mitter explored how the major East Asian states underwent a profound reassessment of their experiences from World War II to Vietnam following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
  • (M.E. Sharpe, 2003). This book focused on Korean nationalism and how particular gendered tropes have had a persistent and pervasive life in the fashioning of Korean modernity.

  • , Library of Congress, National Book Festival, 2013
  • ‘Ę ,’ę C-Span, 2013
  • Book Event, , U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA, 2015
  • Truth, Politics and Power with Neal Conan, ‘ĘA North Korean Update;’ę August 17, 2017
  • Neal Conan, , 2017
  • PBS, ‘Ę , ’ę 2019.

Smith Richardson Foundation International Security & Foreign Policy grant; fall, spring 2020
Senior Scholar Fulbright Fellowship, South Korea, 2014-15

 

  • The Great War and East Asia
  • The Korean War: A New History (with Jiyul Kim)

About Korea and East Asia in the following publications: Public Culture, New Literary History, Journal of Asian Studies, positions; in book reviews and commentary in New York Times Book Review, Boston Globe, Politico

Read the articles

  • “,” In Brooke L. Bower and Andrew Preston, eds., Cambridge History of America and the World, Vol. 3 (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
  • ‘Ę ,’ę Politico Magazine, February 2019
  • ’ę ,’ę Politico Magazine, February 2018
  • ‘Ę ,’ę Politico Magazine, August 9, 2017

 

Notes

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Book Published in Taiwanese

The Taiwanese edition of  (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023), by Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager, was published in September 2025.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Accepted Award in London

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager accepted the 2024 Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History from the 9th Duke of Wellington at the Royal United Services Institute in recognition of The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia as the best book in English on military history in 2024.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Gives Book Talk at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager gave a talk on April 18 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on her forthcoming book with Jiyul Kim, The Korean War: A Local History (Cambridge University Press).

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Awarded Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager has won the 2024 for her book, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia. The book examines Russia, Japan, and China's Great Power struggles surrounding Korea's opening in the late 19th century. The medal is awarded annually by the Royal United Services Institute for the best English-language writing on military history.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Receives Best Book Award

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023) The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia, received the from the International History and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Book Reviewed by International Institute for Asian Studies

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's latest book The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013) was reviewed by the (Leiden, the Netherlands).

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Book Reviewed in "Texas National Security Review"

On May 1, 2024, the , founded by University of Texas at Austin and War on the Rocks, published a roundtable review by four reviewers of Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's recent book The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023).

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Book Reviewed in The Wall Street Journal

Stephen R. Platt reviewed Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's latest book, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023), in (22 Dec 2023).

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Book Published

The Korean edition of Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book, Narratives of Nation-Building in Korea: A Genealogy of Patriotism (M.E. Sharpe, 2003; Routledge, 2016), was published by in October 2023.

 

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Cited and Quoted in "Korea JoongAng Daily"

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager was cited and quoted by in "Incheon landing was turning point for war, nation and world," a story marking the 73rd anniversary of the Inchon landing in the Korean War (September 15). Professor Jager is the author of Brothers At War: The Unending Conflict in Korea (Norton, 2013).

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Interviewed on Podcast

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager was interviewed on her new book, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia, on the podcast.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Article Published in "History Today"

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager published "Korea, the Kingmaker" based on her recent book, , in the July 2023 issue of the British magazine, History Today.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Gives a Talk at Stanford

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi University on May 11, 2023, on her new book, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern Eats Asia.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Introduced New Book at the Wilson Center

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager introduced her new book, The Other Great Game, at the through its Washington History Seminar program on Monday, May 22.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Book Published

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager published her latest book, , "A dramatic new telling of the dawn of modern East Asia, placing Korea at the center of a transformed world order wrought by imperial greed and devastating wars."

Book Review by Sheila Miyoshi Jager Published in the New York Times

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager's review of A Continent Erupts: Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945-1955 (Norton, 2022) by Ronald H. Spector was published in the .

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Lectures at OSU East Asian Studies Center

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager lectured on "The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea, Wars of Empires, and the Birth of Modern East Asia" at a marking the 50th anniversary of Ohio State University's East Asian Studies Center.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Publishes Chapter in The Cambridge History of America and the World

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager published a chapter in , a 4-volume collection published in early March by Cambridge University Press as part of their Cambridge Histories series. The four-volume reference work will cover a 500-year period in chronological order: 1500 to 1812, 1812 to 1900, 1900 to 1945, and 1945 to the present. Jager's chapter, "Competing Empires in Asia," appeared in Volume 3 (1900-1945) and discussed the history of the rivalry between the United States and Japan in Asia-Pacific that began at the start of the 20th century and ended with World War II. The entire series along with other Cambridge histories is digitally accessible through the 91ֱ College library system under "Cambridge histories."

Sheila Miyoshi Jager Publishes Dutch Edition of Book

The Dutch edition of East Asian Studies Professor Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book Brothers At War: The Unending Conflict in Korea was released on June, 23 2020 from Uitgeverij Omniboek. It joins the U.S. and UK editions, both published in 2013.

Jiyul Kim and Sheila Miyoshi Jager Publish on the Korean War

Visiting Instructor of History Jiyul Kim and Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager recently published "" in the special marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War and a series of posts on "" on The Wilson Center History & Public Policy Program's Sources & Methods site.

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