Frederick R. Dickinson is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.
This is among the very best books on diplomatic and political
history published in the last decade or so. It is very well
written, copiously researched, and very ably argued. It is
provocative in its interpretation and very sophisticated in its
argument. No doubt it will join a handful of others on the topic of
WWI era foreign policy and will become a standard for excellent
scholarship in the genre.
*Journal of Asian History*
Basing his work on extensive archival research, Dickinson provides
a new reading of the complex debates about Japan’s diplomatic
relations that took place during the critical WWI years.
*Choice*
In scholarship, this work is very close to the best that has been
produced in European international history in the last ten or
twelve years. Dickinson’s book brings the study of Japan during the
war to the level attained by studies of the European powers and the
United States. It is an exciting monograph, effective,
non-dogmatic, and authoritative.
*Akira Iriye, Harvard University*
Dickinson has persuasively repositioned the relationship between
external events and Japanese imperialism. He has done so by
demonstrating how, during the First World War, the ideologies of
the Western combatants, first Britain vs. Germany, then Germany vs.
the United States, resonated with major political groupings in
Japan in ways that reshaped the Japanese domestic debate and
national aspirations. This admirably researched, imaginatively
conceived, and satisfyingly literate work of scholarship marks the
appearance of a very talented young historian.
*Mark R. Peattie, Hoover Institution*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |