Somebody Else's Century

From one of our foremost experts on Asia and its history comes this brilliant dissection of the relationship between East and West.   In three succinct essays, Patrick Smith investigates the East’s endeavor to adopt Western technology and all that we consider modern. He underscores a crucial distinction between modernization (the simple emulation of the West) and the true task of “becoming modern.” He examines the strategies that three prominent cultures—those of Japan, China, and India—evo