Kang is an expert on the history of
automata. His book
Sublime Dreams of Living Machines looks at automata in the European imagination throughout history. While covering a broad history of golems, talking heads,
mechanical ducks, and so forth, Kang pursues questions regarding how automata fit the historical periods that created them. Kang is an assistant professor of Modern European history with a concentration in eighteenth and nineteenth century France, Britain, and Germany. His research focuses on
intellectual and cultural history, the history of science and technology, and global history pertaining to interactions between Europeans and East Asians in the early modern period. He has also written several essays on Korean history focusing on the transition from the late Goryeo dynasty to the early Joseon. Kang's work often explores the relationship between history and fiction. His master's thesis,
The Intrusion of History: The Novels of Milan Kundera in the Context of Czechoslovak History pursued the idea of using literature for the study of history. He also studies film, historical novels, and science fiction as history. == The Melancholy of Untold History: A Novel ==