The ianfu were women and girls forcibly recruited and abducted or lured by deception under the authority of the Japanese Imperial Military and forced to provide sex for the Japanese Imperial Army. Estimates of the number of women and girls range between 100,000 and 200,000, of which about 80 percent were Korean. This work provides a chronological treatment of the ianfu issue along with an analysis of historical, political, and cultural underpinnings related to it. The author is a professor of Japanese and has spent time as a research fellow at universities in Japan and South Korea. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)