China and Japan : Facing History

A Financial Times “Summer Books” Selection“Will become required reading.”-Times Literary Supplement“Elegantly written…with a confidence that comes from decades of deep research on the topic, illustrating how influence and power have waxed and waned between the two countries.”-Rana Mitter, Financial TimesChina and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back fifteen hundred years, but today their relationship is strained.China’s military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan’s brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound.In recent years both countries have insisted that the other side must openly address the flashpoints of the past before relations can improve. Boldly tackling the most contentious chapters in this long and tangled relationship, Ezra Vogel uses the tools of a master historian to examine key turning points in Sino-Japanese history.Gracefully pivoting from past to present, he argues that for the sake of a stable world order, these