Crossed Histories represents a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to "Manchuria" under Japan’s influence from the turn of the twentieth century to 1945. The contributors, who represent the fields of history, literature, film studies, sociology, and anthropology, unpack the complexity of Manchuria as an effect of the geopolitical imaginaries of various individuals and groups shaped by imperialism, colonialism, Pan-Asianism, and the present globalization.

Twenty years ago, the study of modern China in the west was heavily focused on rural China. It used the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party as its overarching narrative, and treated the communist victory of 1949 as a watershed. This review surveys several recent trends in the writing of Chinese history in the west which have challenged these models.

Rana Mitter goes back to this pivotal moment in Chinese history to uncover the origins of the painful transition from a premodern past into a modern world.

This book asks the reader to reassess the Cold War not just as superpower conflict and high diplomacy, but as social and cultural history.

Two specialists on Russian politics examine governmental stability and change in Russia from 1994 to 2003, using opinion poll results, economic and election data, Duma stenograms, memoir and biographical literature, press reports, and current-events almanacs. Rival explanations are assessed for variations in governmental stability over time and compromise over governmental composition. Bargaining, constitutional, and political-contextual explanations are examined. © 2004 by V. H. Winston and Son, Inc. All rights reserved.

Between 1895 and 1945, Japan was heavily engaged in other parts of Asia, first in neighbouring Korea and northeast Asia, later in southern China and Southeast Asia. During this period Japanese ideas on the nature of national identities in Asia changed dramatically. At first Japan discounted the significance of nationalism, but in time Japanese authorities came to see Asian nationalisms as potential allies, especially if they could be shaped to follow Japanese patterns. At the same time, the ways in which other Asians thought of Japan also changed.