Asia: A Short History From the Earliest Times to the Present Day
by . Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1926. 8vo. xx+ 436 pp. Illustrated. $3.00. An Atlantic Monthly Press Publication.
A HISTORY of Asia as a unity is the feature of this new volume by a recognized authority on the Orient. It is not merely a narrative of events, but the story of Asia presented ‘as the unfolding of great human movements which show a continuous convergence of purpose.’ This unity is made clearly apparent in certain periods, particularly during the migrations from Central Asia, the creation and continuance of the empire of the Mongols, and the recent development of widespread Oriental revolt against Occidental control.
In tracing these broader movements of Asia as a whole, especially in the opening and closing chapters, Dr. Gowen is at his best. He shows a keen vision in seeing the essential features of the historical landscape and a style of unusual clarity and beauty in pointing them out to others. In sketching the events of the political history of the most recent period, however, he is less satisfactory and his chapters are more open to criticism.
Of the factors which have made the history of the Orient, the geographic and climatic are stressed as the causes which have turned tribe after tribe from the increasingly arid regions of Central Asia into the more moist and fertile valleys and coast lands, and have thus caused many of the tribal collisions and the wars which make up so much of conventional history. The religious movements are made prominent, and the influence of great leaders is emphasized. Jenghis Khan, the creator of the Mongol Empire, a type of Asiatic military chieftain, and the founders of the world’s great religions — Christ, Gautama the Buddha, Confucius, and Mohammed — have greatly changed the course of history. The importance of Europe is also recognized, sometimes as hammer, sometimes as anvil. Although Europe to-day is in political control of much of Asia, ‘three times in succession was Europe almost conquered by the Asiatic — the Arab, the Tatar, and the Turk.’
Profound and rapid changes are already taking place in Asia, changes which involve ‘that greatest of all problems confronting mankind — the relationship that is to exist between the civilizations of the East and of the West.’
In this problem the United States is vitally interested. Dr. Gowen well calls it ‘the most practical question of American foreign politics,’ and adds, ‘It is the subject by which American statesmanship is to be most thoroughly tested and that by which American intelligence will in the days to come be estimated.’ To solve this problem, he concludes, there must be understanding, sympathy, and coöperation between the people of the United States and the peoples of Asia. To aid in developing these qualities, so necessary to meet this greatest issue of the Pacific and the Orient, has been the underlying purpose of this interesting volume.
GEORGE H. BLAKESLEE