This broad-based study of Western-Asian relations considers images of and actions by the United States, along with Britain and Germany, in the course of dealings with Asian nations such as China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Other case studies focus on inter-Asian relations between Japan and Korea; China and Japan; and Thailand and Vietnam. The essays encompass a wide range of recent scholarship, including cultural, economic, demographic, and intellectual approaches to military and diplomatic themes.

Western influence, primarily American, in Asia grew...

French-American relations in the interwar period were marked by tension and disagreement. The Versailles Peace Conference revealed differences that would prove troublesome, disarmament and reparations in particular. The onset of the Great Depression would exacerbate these problems and create others. The rise of Hitler stimulated the Roosevelt administration to assist where it could, but the enormous French defeat, so unexpected in Washington, brought French-American relations to the point of crisis. This is the first study to combine elements of the interwar story with the fall of France,...