Changing Visions of East Asia, 1943-93: Transformations and Continuities / Edition 1

by R.B. Smith, Chad Mitcham

Overview

Ralph Smith was a highly respected historian who, at the time of his death in December 2000, had nearly completed a manuscript chronicling changes in the East Asia region since 1943. This fascinating work, completed and edited by Chad Mitcham, one of Ralph Smith’s former students, himself a specialist and established author in this field, draws together the product of Professor Smith’s research at archives in Britain, France, Japan and the United States, extensive reading and international travel from 1966 to 2000. The book also incorporates a distillation of ideas and themes explored in his earlier papers, articles and books, including Ralph Smith's pioneering three volume work, An International History of the Vietnam War. It shows how both Ralph Smith’s thinking about the future course of the region and the broader context of regional prospects radically changed throughout this turbulent time.

As Ralph Smith’s last major research project, carried out from 1997 to 2000, the book has evolved from his 1997 paper ‘Visions of the Future: East Asia in 1943 and 1993’, delivered in the Huang Hsing Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the Asian Studies Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. It is a vital contribution to post-war Asian history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415381406
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/18/2006
Series:	Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia , #40
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

R.B. Smith was Professor of the International History of South-East Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he taught from 1962-2000. His works include Viet-nam and the West (1971); and the three volume: An International History of the Vietnam War (1983, 1985, 1990).

Chad J. Mitcham is a Canberra-based writer and researcher. He completed his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and is the author of China’s Economic Relations With the West and Japan, 1949-79: Grain, Trade and Diplomacy (Routledge, 2005).

Table of Contents

EDITOR’S NOTE PREFACE LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS USED IN TEXT INTRODUCTION: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS PROLOGUE: THE SEATTLE ‘SUMMIT’, NOVEMBER 1993 PART I: VISIONS OF THE FUTURE: NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1943 1. THE TOKYO CONFERENCE AND THE ‘GREATER EAST ASIA PERSPECTIVE, 1943 2. US, BRITISH AND COMMUNIST PERSPECTIVES ON EAST ASIA, 1943: TOWARDS A POST–WAR GLOBAL ECONOMY PART II: THE ‘COLD WAR’ IN EAST ASIA: 1953 AND 1963 3. A WORLD DIVIDED INTO TWO CAMPS’: NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1953 4. THE CHALLENGE TO ‘AMERICAN IMPERIALISM’: NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1963 PART III: ASIAN–PACIFIC DIMENSIONS OF TRIANGULAR DIPLOMACY AND GLOBAL FINANCE: 1973 5. NIXON’S NEW STRATEGY: THE US, CHINA AND THE FUTURE OF SOUTH–EAST ASIA, NOVEMBER 1973 6. DIRECTIONS OF GROWTH: THE US, JAPAN, AND ASIAN CAPITALISM: MAY-DECEMBER 1973 PART IV: GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION AND THE ‘ASIAN MIRACLE’: 1983-4 AND 1993 7. A ‘NEW COLD WAR’, AUTUMN 1983 8. THE REAFFIRMATION OF AMERICAN CENTRALITY (AUTUMN 1983) AND ‘THE REAL 1984’ 9. CAPITALISM MOVES AHEAD - REVOLUTIONS IN COMMUNICATIONS, FINANCE AND MILITARY AFFAIRS, 1993 EPILOGUE: VISIONS OF THE FUTURE: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

Editorial Reviews

"The book may be recommended for anyone wanting a well-informed, balanced overview of global and regional trends and influences that have shaped the character of East and South-East Asia..." -- Peter Lowe, University of Manchester, The International History Review

From the Publisher