Parks M. Coble

James L. Sellers Professor of History

Contact Information:

622 Oldfather Hall
Department of History
Department of History
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Phone: (402) 472-3242
Fax: (402) 472-8839
E-mail:

Joined the Department:

August 1976

Parks Coble is the James S. Sellers Professor of History, having joined the department in August 1976. He teaches surveys of general East Asian history, covering China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and specialized courses on modern China and Japan.

Parks Coble's research field is 20th century China with special emphasis on the political history of Republican China (1911-1949), the history of Chinese business in the 20th century, and Sino-Japanese interactions. Recent publications have included a study of Chinese businessmen living in occupied China during World War II, and of the anti-Japanese movement in China in the 1930s. His current project is a study of the legacy of World War II in East Asia, a conflict which led to at least twenty million Chinese casualties. Over six decades after the end of this conflict, disagreements over its meaning are not simply academic, but often a source of conflict among the people and governments of East Asia. The rise of nationalism in post-Mao China has led to the rediscovery of this conflict as "the great patriotic war." Public focus on Japanese atrocities committed during the conflict, such as the rape of Nanjing, has even resulted in anti-Japanese outbursts in Chinese cities. This new study seeks to understand why the historical legacy of this conflict has been so problematic.

Expertise:

• East Asia
• China

Education:

B.A. 1968 University of South Carolina
M. A. 1971 University of Illinois, Urbana
Ph.D. 1975 University of Illinois, Urbana