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to provide a succinct general survey of British policy in the Far East with the emphasis placed primarily towards China and Japan; South East Asia is discussed, particularly in the nineteenth century and the period after 1941, when it is more important to assess developments within the pattern of British advance and retreat in the Far East. Within that framework Peter Lowe has succeeded admirably in laying bare the flesh and bones of the subject. And, indeed, so far as the body of the book has been anatomised as a living tissue of encounters, resulting from the impact of one Western civilization upon several Asian societies, the only possible criticism might be that the need to be succinct has forced the author to cut through the nervous system of cultural and diplomatic relations rather too drastically.
However, it must be recognized that there is an awful lot of relevant data — economic as well as political — to be included in this survey. I admire Peter Lowe's skill in compressing these not insignificant details into the narrative. (I suspect that he relieved the pressure of his expositions when the text, presumably, was given as lectures by anecdotal asides to generate a feeling of the period and the place.)
Therefore it would not be appropriate in a short review such as this to raise any particular issues for discussion or criticism. The text, in fact, is supplemented by well-informed references to recent book and periodical literature where the serious university student would follow up the cryptic clues to the problems of interpretation so precisely indicated in the author's presentation. Britain in the Far East, in fact, represents that happy example of a text book which so clearly reflects a mastery of the subject obtained by meticulous research and command over sources in Western languages. The authority so evident will therefore also commend the book to the general readers of Far Eastern History whether they are located in the British metropolis or in the surviving periphery of the British formal and informal empires laid down in the nineteenth century. Again, Peter Lowe puts this perspective into a lapidary concluding remark “In essence, Britain's role in the Far East belonged to history.” All we can add in Hong Kong is the rider that here a certain instalment of that history has yet to be played out.
ALAN BIRCH
Page 362
362
BOOK REVIEWS
++
+
to provide a succinct general survey of British policy in the Far East with the emphasis placed primarily
towards China and Japan; South East Asia is discussed, particularly in the nineteenth century and the period after 1941, when it is more important to assess developments within the pattern of British advance and retreat in the Far East. Within that framework Peter Lowe has succeeded admirably in laying bare the flesh and bones of the subject. And, indeed, so far as the body of the book has been anatomised as a living tissue of encounters, resulting from the impact of one Western civilization upon several Asian societies, the only possible criticism might be that the need to be succinct has forced the author to cut through the nervous system of cultural and diplomatic relations rather too drastically.
However, it must be recognized that there is an awful lot of relevant data economic as well as political — to be included in this survey. I admire Peter Lowe's skill in compressing these not insignificant details into the narrative. (I suspect that he relieved the pressure of his expositions when the text, presumably, was given as lectures by anecdotal asides to generate a feeling of the period and the place.)
Therefore it would not be appropriate in a short review such as this to raise any particular issues for discussion or criticism. The text, in fact, is supplemented by well-informed references to recent book and periodical literature where the serious university student would follow up the cryptic clues to the problems of interpretation so precisely indicated in the author's presentation. Britain in the Far East, in fact, represents that happy example of a text book which so clearly reflects a mastery of the subject obtained by meticulous research and command over sources in Western languages. The authority so evident will therefore also commend the book to the general readers of Far Eastern History whether they are located in the British metropolis or in the surviving periphery of the British formal and informal empires laid down in the nineteenth century. Again, Peter Lowe puts this perspective into a lapidary concluding remark “In essence, Britain's role in the Far East belonged to history.” All we can add in Hong Kong is the rider that here a certain instalment of that history has yet to be played out.
ALAN BIRCH
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