Outposts of Empire: Korea, Vietnam, and the Origins of the Cold War in Asia, 1949-1954

Abstract

At the end of World War II the nations of Asia, no less than those of Europe, lay in economic and political ruins. This is the story of their reshaping through the planning of American State Department officials led by the Secretary of State, Dean Acheson. The foremost task in the post-war years was to raise a beleaguered Japan once again into the natural workshop of Asia - a rehabilitation that would ensure a broad-based Asian recovery through trade and contain growth of communism in Asia. This Japan-centred strategy involved risks - the Korean and Vietnam wars and a long feud with the People's Republic of China, but on the whole Acheson and his group were remarkably successful. Told through the use of recently released documents and dozens of new interviews, this is the story of bare-knuckle diplomacy and high-stakes economic expansion, as well as the personal story of a visionary who shaped the Asian world today.