The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. JansenReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 2001), pp. 183-184Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20050123 .

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Recent Books

rather than inducing positive change, and

the domestic politics that reinforced this

tendency. Much as one may sympathize with Sigal's lament, however, the hard (and

unanswered) question is, so then what?

Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution.

by amir weiner. Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 2000,416 pp. $39.50. With some

justification, Weiner contends

that World War II is the great, unexplored threshold that divides one Soviet Union from the other. Its tragic weight bore on

everyone (whether devotee, dissenter, or victim of the regime), rephrased the

meaning of the Soviet experience, and

redid the basis by which the system and different segments of society found

legitimacy. His slice of the story focuses

on the nature, process, and ontology of

the regime's prewar, wartime, and post war purges. He does this by tracing in

painstaking, revealing detail the way these phenomena unfolded in Vinnytsia, a

rural region at the western edge of pre-1939 Ukraine. Under the impact of Nazi occupa tion there, the currents and crosscurrents

of partisan warfare, nationalist insurgency, and ethnic uncertainty flowed with special

strength, as did the complex, severe process of "purification" that followed.

Asia and Pacific LUC?AN W. PYE

From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965-2000.

by lee kuan yew.

New York: HarperCollins, 2000, 729

pp. $35.00. In this second volume of his memoirs,

Lee Kuan Yew begins by telling how he and a small group of Singaporean leaders

banded together and, by "getting the basics

right," transformed a poor and polyglot

city into an astonishingly successful

modern nation. Lee tells in crisp and

polished prose how this group identified the key problems of nation-building,

analyzed what needed to be done, and

then?with uncompromising determina

tion?did it. While asserting his respect for authoritarian efficiency, Lee also

seems to have mellowed in his champi

oning of "Asian values" and criticizing of

the West's attachment to the rights of

the individual. In the second half of the

book, Lee recounts his experiences as

confidant of and counselor to world lead

ers. He hosted six American presidents in Istana, his official residence, and he

regularly visited the White House. During the Vietnam War, American presidents seemed to welcome Lee's pep talks to

"stick it out." The easy informality of his

conversations over lunch and dinner

made him a valued interlocutor who knew

how to "get it right" in world politics.

Throughout this work, Lee's analysis of

political problems displays the workings of a brilliant lawyer's mind unencumbered

by lawyer's jargon. He also demonstrates

a genius for reading human character.

His forthright evaluations of the person alities of both his Singaporean colleagues and a host of foreign leaders provide a

degree of candor rare in the memoirs of

political leaders.

The Making of Mo dem Japan, by m a r i u s

B. jansen. Cambridge: Harvard

University Press, 2000, 871 pp. $35.00. This magisterial work has all the details

one would want in a reference work, but

FOREIGN AFFAIRS March/April 2001 [183]

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1 t

the mature reflections of a lifelong Japan

scholar at Princeton make it a pleasure to read. Last year, the Japanese recog nized Jansens learning by decreeing him a "National Treasure: A Person of

Cultural Merit." (Jansen, who died just as the book was

published, is the only

foreigner ever to have been so honored.)

Nearly half of the book is devoted to the

Tokugawa period, when Japan became

an integrated feudal state and put in

place many of the fundamentals essential

for modern nation-building. Jansen answers the question of whether the

Meiji Restoration destined Japan to

authoritarianism by detailing the inter

war period, when Japan went far in the

liberal, democratic direction. At every

turn, Jansen looks behind the political

stage to examine cultural and social

developments. He avoids abstract

theorizing by recounting the experiences of specific Japanese individuals, giving the story a strong human dimension.

This authoritative work goes up to the

present and ends with Japan's current

economic problems.

Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing US.-China Relations, 1989-2000. by

david M. Lampton. Berkeley:

University of California Press, 2001,

463 pp. $35.00.

Engaging China: The Management of an

Emerging Power, edited by alastair

IAIN JOHNSTON AND ROBERT S.

Ross. New York: Routledge, 1999, 272

pp. $100.00 (paper, $29.99).

Lampton has written a thoughtful,

vividly detailed analysis of post-1989 relations between America and China

that does not belittle the problems sepa

rating the two countries. In particular, he spells out the differing perspectives and basic orientations that make for

misunderstandings. Most insightful is

his investigation of how the myths and

ideals of the two societies complicate the

relationship. He introduces a strong human dimension with his in-depth

profiles of the principal actors, while

seven guidelines for the policymakers of both countries conclude the book.

The Johnson-Ross edited volume, in

contrast, is premised on the proposition

that any emerging great power is likely to cause trouble in world politics, and

that China is one such power. Asia will

therefore have to figure out how best to

engage Beijing. In the introductory essay, Randall Schweller provides

a sophisticated

review of the history of the problems

posed by emerging new powers. Separate authors then examine the ways in which

the Koreas, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore,

Malaysia, Japan, the United States, and

major international institutions have

each separately sought to engage China.

The editors conclude the study by ana

[184] FOREIGN AFFAIRS-Volume 80 No. 2

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