Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the boundaries of American influence on East Asia. It studies the origins and development of modern thought in the United States, Japan, and China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While a strong literature on postwar modernization exists, there is a gap in the prewar origins and development of modern ideas. The book re-evaluates the influence of the United States on East Asia in the twentieth century and gives greater voice to East Asians in the development of their own ideas of modernity. It highlights diversity and inspiration in the development of modernity in both East Asia and the United States. In both the United States and East Asia, intellectuals built the foundations of modernity with a vitality and creativity that contributed directly to the postwar success of both regions.