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Outstanding Recent Books on the Far East: Selected by Eighteen Specialists on the Far East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Meribeth E. Cameron
Meribeth E. Cameron
Affiliation:
Milwaukee-Downer College
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Extract

In may, 1942, The Far Eastern Quarterly published an article on Outstanding books on the Far East published in 1941. This article indicated twelve books of unusual value published during that year and gave comments on many others which for one reason or another seemed worthy of notice. Since Pearl Harbor, American interest in Asia and the Pacific has greatly increased and American publications about the Far East have become much more numerous. However, increase in quantity has not necessarily meant increase in quality. Many of those who might normally have produced reliable popular works or thorough research studies have been called on to do special war work and have had little time or opportunity for writing, while pseudo-experts and eye-witnesses without real background have burst into print. The layman who wishes to learn about Eastern Asia, as every American should and must, sorely needs a touchstone with which to tell gold from dross in the pile of recent publications on the Far East which confronts him. The editors of The Far Eastern Quarterly have therefore felt that an attempt to select the outstanding books published since the beginning of 1942 is decidedly in order.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , August 1945 , pp. 367 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1945

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References

1 Among the specialists who took part in preparing this list are: Edwin G. Beal, Jr., T. A. Bisson, Hugh Borton, Meribeth E. Cameron, Paul H. Clyde, Kenneth Colegrove, George B. Cressey, Charles B. Fahs, L. Carrington Goodrich, Norman Dwight Harris, Arthur Hummel, Harley F. MacNair, Cyrus H. Peake, Harold S. Quigley, David Nelson Rowe, Amry Vandenbosch, Harold Vinacke.

2 Other works covering the Pacific area as a whole are: Eliot G., Mears, Pacific Ocean handbook (Stanford University: James Ladd Delkin, publisher, 1944.Google Scholar Cloth $2.00: paper $1.00. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 78) and The Pacific world. Its vast distances, its lands and the life upon them, and its peoples, edited by Fairfield Osborn (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1944, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 61). An important but technical research study is Movius, Hallam, L. Jr, Early man and pleistocene stratigraphy in southern and eastern Asia (Cambridge: Peabody Museum, 1944, $3.75).Google Scholar

3 Another new history of China is Tsui Chi's A short history of Chinese civilization (New York: Putnam's Sons, G. P., 1943, $4.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 272).Google Scholar

4 Other works on special phases of Chinese history are: Leonard, Olschki, Marco Polo's precursors (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943, $1.50);Google ScholarHenry H., Hart, Venetian adventurer, being and account of the life and times and the book of Messer Marco Polo (Stanford University: Stanford University Press, 1942, $3.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 324);Google ScholarNicholas, Trigault, The China that was: China as discovered by the Jesuits at the close of the sixteenth century, translated from the Latin by Gallagher, Louis J. (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1942, $2.25. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 410),Google Scholar which is a translation of Father Trigault's introduction to Matteo Ricci's diary; Thomas, LaFargue, China's first hundred (Pullman: Press of the State College of Washington, 1942, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 406),Google Scholar an account of the first group of Chinese students to come to the United States.

5 Other works of interest in the field of Chinese philosophy and literature are: Mousheng, Lin, Men and ideas, an informal history of Chinese political thought (New York: John Day Co., 1942, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 308);Google ScholarWitter, Bynner, The way of life according to Laotzu (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $1.00);Google ScholarSiu-chi, Huang, Hsiang-shan, Lu. A twelfth century Chinese idealist philosopher (New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1944, $1.50);Google ScholarY. C., Yang, China's religious heritage (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1943, $1.50. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 178);Google ScholarHerrymon, Maurer, The old fellow (New York: John Day Co., 1943, $2.75. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 281),Google Scholara sort of biographical novel about Laotzu; Chen, Chin-hsin Yao and Chen, Shih-hsiang, The flower drum and other Chinese songs (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $2.50);Google ScholarSian-tek, Lim, Folk tales from China (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $2.00).Google Scholar

6 Other books which discuss one aspect or another of modern China are: Lacy, Creighton, Is China a democracy? (New York: John Day Co., 1943, $1.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 398);Google ScholarWales, Nym, China builds for democracy: a story of cooperative industry (New York: Modern Age Books, 1942, $2.50;Google ScholarWales, Nym, The Chinese labor movement (New York: John Day Co., 1945, $2.75);Google ScholarTamagna, Frank, Banking and finance in China (New York: IPR, 1942, $4.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 401);Google ScholarYueh-hwa, Lin, The golden wing. A family chronicle. (New York: IPR, 1944, $1.75);Google ScholarYutang, Lin, The vigil of a nation (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $2.75);Google ScholarH. F., MacNair (ed.), Voices from unoccupied China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944, $1.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 55);Google ScholarGeorge, Hogg, l see a new China (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1944, $2.50);Google ScholarK'ai-shek, Chiang, All we are and all we have: speeches and messages since Pearl Harbor (New York: John Day Co., 1943, $1.25);Google ScholarChiang, Mayling Soong, We Chinese women: speeches and writings during the first United Nations year (New York: John Day Co., 1943, $1.25)Google Scholar; Buck, Pearl S., Dragon Seed (New York: John Day Co., 1942, $2.50)Google Scholar; Taylor, George E. and Savage, George, The phoenix and the dwarfs (New York: Macmillan Co., 1944, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 71).Google Scholar

A number of interesting biographical or autobiographical works shed light on modern China: Abend, Hallett, My life in China: 1926–1941 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 278)Google Scholar; Burke, James, My father in China (New York: Farrar and Rineharr, 1942, $3.00)Google Scholar; Chang, H. H., Chiang K'ai-shek. Asia's man of destiny (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1944, $ 3.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 197)Google Scholar; Clayton, E. H., Heaven below (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1944, $2.75)Google Scholar; Gayn, Mark J., Journey from the east: An autobiography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1944, $3.75. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 64)Google Scholar; Sues, Ilona, Sharks fins and millet (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1944, $3.00).Google Scholar

7 Other recent books on Japanese geography, industry, and agriculture are: Cams, Clayton D. and McNichols, Charles L., Japan: its resources and industries (New York: Harper & Bros., 1944, $3.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 72)Google Scholar; Grajdanzev, A. J., Statistics of Japanese agriculture (New York: IPR, 1942, $1.00)Google Scholar; Mitchell, Kate L., Japans industrial strength (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1942, $1.50)Google Scholar; Blanchard, Fessenden, The textile industries of China and Japan (New York: Textile Research Institute, 1944. $1.00).Google ScholarA valuable sociological study is Japanese peasant songs by Embree, John F. (Philadelphia: American Folklore Society, 1944, $3.00).Google Scholar

8 Other studies of Japan to-day which received approval from some of the specialists are: Eckstein, Gustav, In peace Japan breeds war (New York: Harper & Bros., 1943, $2.50)Google Scholar; Lamott, Willis, Nippon, the crime and punishment of Japan (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $2.50)Google Scholar; Steiner, Jesse F.Behind the Japanese mask (New York: Macmillan Co., 1943, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 393)Google Scholar: Timperley, H. J., Japan: a world problem (New York: John Day Co., 1942, $1.75. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 389)Google Scholar; Tolischus, Otto, Tokyo record (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943, $3.00)Google Scholar; Flcisher, Wilfred, Our enemy Japan (New York: Doubleday, 1942, $2.00)Google Scholar; Mears, Helen, Year of the Wild Boar [1935] (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1942, $2.75).Google Scholar

Other books dealing with parts of the Japanese empire are: Harrington, F. H., God, Mammon and the Japanese. Dr. Horace N. Allen and Korean-American relations, 1884–1905 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1944, $3.75. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 393)Google Scholar; Price, Willard, Japan's islands of mystery (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $3.00)Google Scholar; Grajdanzev, A. J., Formosa today (New York: IPR, 1942, $1.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 110).Google Scholar

9 Other useful works on Southeast Asia are: Mills, Lennox (ed.), Southeastern Asia and the Philippines (Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 226, March, 1943, Philadelphia: AAPSS, 1943. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 290)Google Scholar; Callis, Helmut G., Foreign capital in Southeast Asia (New York: IPR, 1942, $1.25. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 101)Google Scholar; Furnivall, J. S., Educational progress in Southeast Asia (New York: IPR, 1943, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 182).Google Scholar

10 Other books on the lands south of China are: De Terra, Hellmut and Movius, Hallam L. Jr, Research on early man in Burma (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1943, $3.00 Reviewed in FEQ, III, 184)Google Scholar; Collis, Maurice, The land of the great image (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 289)Google Scholar, an erudite and beautifully written excursion into the history of Burma in the early 17th century; Brodrick, A. H., Little China: the Annamest Lands (New York: Oxford University Press, 1942, $5.00)Google Scholar; Thompson, Virginia, Post-mortem on Malaya (New York: Macmillan Co., 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 417)Google Scholar; Power, Thomas F., Jules Ferry and the renaissance of French imperialism (New York: King's Crown Press, 1944, $2.75).Google Scholar

11 Other books on the Dutch East Indies are: Boeke, J. H., The structure of Netherlands Indian economy (New York: IPR, 1942, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 91)Google Scholar; Brock, Jan O. M., Economic development of the Netherlands Indies (New York: IPR, 1942, $2.00) Reviewed in FEQ, II, 101)Google Scholar; Vlekke, Bernard H. M., Nusantara: a history of the East Indian archipelago (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1943, $5.00)Google Scholar; van Mook, Hubertus J., The Netherlands Indies and Japan: battle on paper, 1940–1941 (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1944, $2.00)Google Scholar; Kennedy, Raymond, The ageless Indies (New York: John Day Co., 1942, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 87)Google Scholar; Du Bois, Cora, The-people of Alor. A social-psychological study of an East Indian island (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1944, $7.50. Reviewed in FEO, IV, 193).Google Scholar

12 Other books on the Philippines are: Romulo, Carlos P., l saw the fall of the Philippines (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1942, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 419)Google Scholar; Romulo, Carlos P., Mother America (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1943, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 190)Google Scholar; Porter, Catherine, Crisis in the Philippines (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1942, $1.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 107).Google Scholar

13 Recent books on the Pacific islands include: Andrews, James M.et al., Studies in the anthropology of Oceania and Asia (Cambridge: Peabody Museum, 1944, $4.50)Google Scholar; Bradley, Harold W., The American frontier in Hawaii. The pioneers, 1789–1843 (Stanford University Press, 1942, $4.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 421)Google Scholar; Coulter, John W., Fiji. Little India of the Pacific (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 420)Google Scholar; Reed, Stephen Winsor, The making of modern New Guinea (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1943, $4.00)Google Scholar; Thompson, Laura, Guam and its people (New York: IPR, 1942, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 322).Google Scholar

14 Recent books on Australia and New Zealand include: Australia and the Pacific, by members of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 70); Grattan, C. Hartley, Introducing Australia (New York: John Day Co., 1942, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, I, 414)Google Scholar; Nash, Walter, New Zealand. A working democracy (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1943, $3.50. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 396)Google Scholar; Wood, Frederick L. W., Understanding New Zealand (New York: Coward-McCann, 1944, $3.75).Google Scholar

15 Recent works on Central and Northeastern Asia include: Fisher, Raymond H., The Russian fur trade, 1550–1700 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 395)Google Scholar; Davies, R. A. and Steiger, A. J., Soviet Asia: democracy's first line of defense (New York: Dial Press, 1942, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 384)Google Scholar; Kerner, Robert J., The urge to the sea: the course of Russian history (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1942, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 319)Google Scholar; Scott, John, Behind the Urals (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1942, $2.75)Google Scholar; Gruber, Ruth, I went to the Soviet Arctic (New York: The Viking Press, 1944, $3.50)Google Scholar; Norins, Martin R., Gateway to Asia: Sinkiang, frontier of the Chinese Far West (New York: John Day Co., 1944, $2.75)Google Scholar; Mandel, William, The Soviet Far East and Central Asia (New York: IPR, 1944, $2.50)Google Scholar; Snow, Edgar, People on our side (New York: Random House, 1944, $3.50).Google Scholar

16 There were scattered votes for assorted books which illuminate the war in various ways: Brodie, Bernard, Guide to naval strategy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 188)Google Scholar; Ellinger, W. B. and Rosinski, Herbert, Sea power in the Pacific, 1936–1941 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1942, $1.00)Google Scholar; Goette, John, Japan fights for Asia (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1943, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 175)Google Scholar; Curie, Eve, Journey among warriors (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1943, $3.50)Google Scholar; Belden, Jack, Retreat with Stilwell (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 415)Google Scholar; Mowrer, E. A. and Rjachman, Marthe, Global war, an atlas of world strategy (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1942, $1.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 335)Google Scholar; Stettinius, Edward R. Jr, Lend-lease, weapon for victory (New York: Macmillan Co., 1944. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 297)Google Scholar; Chün, T'ien, Village in August (New York: Smith & Durrell, 1942, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 219), a novel about war in the Chinese countryside.Google Scholar

17 Other works concerned with modern relationships between the Occident and Asia are: Horn-beck, Stanley K., The United States and the Far East: certain fundamentals of policy (Boston: World Peace Foundation, 1942, $1.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 314)Google Scholar; Lippmann, Walter, United States foreign policy, shield of the republic (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1943, $1.50. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 263)Google Scholar; Radius, Walter A., United States shipping in transpacific trade, 1922–1938 (Stanford University: Stanford University Press, 1944, $3.50)Google Scholar; Moore, Frederick, With Japans leaders (New York: Chas. Scribner & Sons, 1942, $3.75. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 305)Google Scholar; Grew, Joseph C., Report from Tokyo: a message to the American people (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1942, $ 1.50)Google Scholar; Howard, H. P., America's role in Asia (New York: Howell, Hoskin, 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 267)Google Scholar; Taylor, George E., America in the new Pacific (New York: Macmillan Co., 1942, $1.75)Google Scholar; Falk, Edwin H., From Perry to Pearl Harbor (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 381)Google Scholar; Hubbard, G. E., British Far Eastern policy (New York: IPR, 1943, $2.50)Google Scholar; Abend, Hallett, Treaty ports (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1944, $3.00)Google Scholar; Dulles, F. R., The road to Teheran. The story of Russia and America, 1781–1943 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 401)Google Scholar; Bradley, Anita, Trans-Pacific relations of Latin America (New York: IPR, 1942, $1.00. Reviewed in FEQ, I, 414)Google Scholar; Buck, Pearl S., American Unity and Asia (New York: John Day Co., 1942, $1.25. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 296).Google Scholar

Two books about Asiatics in the United States should be mentioned: McWilliams, Carey, Prejudice. Japanese-Americans: Symbol of racial intolerance (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., $3.00)Google Scholar; Lowe, Pardee, Father and Glorious Descendant (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1943, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 177).Google Scholar

18 Other works on post-war problems are: Griffin, Eldon, Clinching the victory (Seattle: Wilber-lilla Publishers, 1943, J2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 262)Google Scholar; Greenbie, Sydney, Asia unbound (New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1943, $3.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 269)Google Scholar; Abend, Hallett, Pacific Charter: our destiny in Asia (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1942, $2.50)Google Scholar; Institute of Pacific Relations, War and peace in the Pacific (New York: IPR, 1943, $1.25)Google Scholar; Institute of Pacific Relations, Security in the Pacific (New York: IPR, 1945, $1.25)Google Scholar; Lartimore, Owen, America and Asia (Claremont: Claremont Colleges, 1943, $1.75. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 94)Google Scholar; Yutang, Lin, Between tears and laughter (New York: John Day Co., 1943, $2.50. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 388)Google Scholar; Panikkar, K. M., The future of South-east Asia (New York: Macmillan Co., 1943, $1.75. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 399)Google Scholar; Lasker, Bruno, Asia on the move (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1945, $3.00)Google Scholar; Spykman, N. J., The geography of the peace (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1944, $2.75)Google Scholar; Corbett, P. E., Post-war worlds (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1942, $2.00. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 211)Google Scholar; Lipp-mann, Walter, U. S. war aims (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1944, $1.50. Reviewed in FEQ, IV, 186).Google Scholar

19 Other recent works of this nature are: Bowker, H. F., A numismatic bibliography of the Far East: a check list of titles in European languages (New York: The American Numismatic Society, 1943, $1.00. Reviewed in FEQ, III, 94)Google Scholar; Ch'iu, K'ai-ming, with the assistance of Feng, H. Y. and Yue, Zunvair, A classification scheme for Chinese and Japanese books (Washington: American Council of Learned Societies, 1943)Google Scholar; Gerr, Stanley, A gazetteer of Japanese place names (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1943, $4.50. Reviewed in FEQ, II, 439).Google Scholar