Victorian nightshades: how the Solanaceae shaped the modern world

The concept of ”Public Art” or ”Public” can never be obvious. The stage set of ”The Asian Art and Aesthetics” itself, raises a question on the issue of the individuality of Oriental Art from the Western (Occident) Art. That is to say, there is a question raised whether the concept of ”art” is only limited to the internal culture, or if it really has the universality that exceeds any particular form of a culture. Then, what does it truly mean when we speak of ”Public Art” in our time? If there is a thing that can be called the ”peculiar art” does really exist in a culture, if it is really accepted only within the interior of a specific culture, would not the Public Art also be accepted only within the interior of the individual culture? On the other hand, if the ”Public sphere” is that which entirely covers the present (modern) world, and, if the ”Public Art” is that which covers a ”global” range, the relation between the Public Art and Asian Art becomes completely contradictory. This rough sketch is enough to tell us that the concept of Public can never be separated from the historicity of a culture and the conflict of the modernity. When we bring Public Sphere of the art or a culture into a question, the question what we must raise is the confrontation between tradition and anti-tradition in the modern world. My paper will review the intercultural commensurability based upon the works of Rene Guenon who offered us a coherent discussion about the concept of the tradition. According to Guenon, the modern world has no relation to the true globalism. Because the universality which abstracts the identity of the region is the ”Anti-traditional” thought, that is to say a tendency peculiar to the Western world (at least in the era when Guenon; non lived). Anti-tradition makes the mutual understanding of different cultures impossible. On the contrary, in order that different traditions will cultivate the mutual understanding, the identity of the tradition must be kept up. When a specific tradition maintains its own particularity, the insight into the principle will be sustained. Since every tradition comes from the same principle as mutually different actus, such insight makes an inter-cultural understanding possible. Guenon considers the essence of the culture in the view of a tradition, and recognizes its main point in the form of the religion. But, in this paper, I try to draw Guenon's thought into the problem of the art.

Sexuality, Feminism, and Women's Bodies in the Modern(izing) World Jean H. Quataert and Leigh Ann Wheeler In this jumbo issue, you will find a rich collection of research in women's history, ranging from eighteenth-century Holland to twentieth-century colonial Korea, Imperial Japan, and the United States. The range here is broad and varied, but each article focuses on issues involving women's bodies, sexualities, and feminisms. Read together, they lead us to consider several major questions that illuminate the changing position of women throughout the modern world: How have women, including feminists, used their own body knowledge, science, law, the state, and colonialism to exercise agency? What compromises have these strategies required? In addition, what are the ways women's bodies have been turned into projects of state control and commercial development? By addressing these issues in intriguing ways, the authors featured here advance the substrata of historical analysis, whether rethinking the bases of periodization or the nature of resistance, accommodation, and agency. They raise provocative questions about feminism as a political project in the context of colonial and racial hierarchies and provide useful insights for the ongoing efforts to internationalize women's history. In "The Tactics of Menstruation in Dutch Cases of Sexual Assault and Infanticide, 1750-1920," Willemijn Ruberg shows how women who charged men with rape and women who were accused of infanticide strategically presented information about their own menstrual cycles as evidence of either their victimization or their innocence. Ruberg employs an array of theoretical models including historian Thomas Laqueur's notion of the socially constructed body, social scientist Michel de Certeau's concept of "tactics," and feminist philosopher Elizabeth Grosz's ideas about "embodiment" and "counterstrategic reinscription" as sources of agency to understand how ordinary women subverted "dominant meanings of menstruation in response to the overpowering strategy of the law." This fascinating article explores evolving ideas among Dutch medical practitioners about the causes and meanings of menstruation over more than a century, showing that it did not always "function as a designator of the female body"; nor was it always associated with fertility and pregnancy, although it was often considered a marker of sexual maturity and desire as well as illness, disease, and insanity. Ruberg demonstrates, however, that women frequently countered medical knowledge and drew on their own experiences, assumptions, and superstitions regarding menstruation to bolster their charges of rape and to defend themselves against accusations [End Page 7] of infanticide. Women in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth-century Netherlands thus "played with knowledge and ignorance" and employed "the tactics of representing menstruation" to advance their own interests in courts of law. Kirsten Leng also explores conflicts over medical knowledge about women's bodies in "Sex, Science, and Fin-De-Siècle Feminism: Johanna Elberskirchen Interprets The Laws of Life." Through the evolving work of an understudied lesbian scientist—Johanna Elberskirchen—Leng examines the limits and possibilities of science for "first wave feminists" in Wilhelmine Germany. Many feminists of the day deplored science, because they considered it a tool for establishing women's biological inferiority to men. But Elberskirchen turned contemporary claims about human sexuality and male and female biology on their head. Surrounded by a burgeoning feminist and sex reform movement, Elberskirchen argued for the superiority of homosexuality and of women. Concerns about prostitution first led her to criticize male heterosexuality and its role in oppressing women. From there, she went on to condemn the subjectivity of male scientists who proclaimed male biological superiority and insisted that the voices of female scientists possessed greater objectivity and authority. For Elberskirchen, the female body was superior to the male because of its ability to produce life and nourishment beyond its own needs and because it did not impose sexual demands on others. Despite this revaluation of the sexes based largely on the reproductive capacities of each, Elberskirchen considered homosexual love superior to its heterosexual counterpart. Whereas, she argued, the heterosexual takes responsibility for physical reproduction, the homosexual focuses on "spiritual and intellectual reproduction." Leng finds much to admire in Elberskirchen's challenges to male-dominated science, but she concludes with cautions about the ways that Elberskirchen's scientific approach discouraged political contestation...

The essays in this volume collectively cover the development of chemistry in the “early modern world,” that is to say, from the fifteenth century through the eighteenth century. Until comparatively recently, this period was of less interest to historians of chemistry than the succeeding era of the emergence of “modern” chemistry, with its familiar chemical elements, compounds, and equations. But recent research, exemplified by the essays of this volume, has shown how exciting and complex this era in the history of chemistry was in its own right. And its backdrop of early modern European and world history was critically significant for the development of the modern world. The beginning of this period witnessed the high water mark of the Renaissance, the inception of global “outreach” of sea voyages and explorations by Europeans, the Protestant Reformation, and the beginning of bureaucratic national monarchies and smaller political entities. Its conclusion was marked by those revolutionary sequels to the Age of Enlightenment that also ushered in the modern world: the French and Industrial Revolutions.
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\nOur “early modern” centuries, in turn, divide up into two fairly distinct research epochs for the history of early modern chemistry. The first is late fifteenth-through seventeenth-century “chymistry.”1 The second is the chemistry of the eighteenth century. About half of the essays present research dealing primarily with the first epoch. The rest of the essays treat aspects of eighteenth-century chemistry, except for the final essay (Bensaude-Vincent), which offers a general commentary on the entire early modern period.

The modern religious world is characterized by the intensification of global tendencies, which, above all, are expressed in the ecumenical movement, in which almost all religious communities of the world participate, which forms a qualitatively different religious reality. At the same time, influence and significance of esoteric and occult teachings, movements and ideas in the modern world is increasing. Thus, arises the question of determining the role and place of the occult foundations in the modern ecumenical movement, which will enable a qualitatively different understanding of the essence of modern religious processes. The presented article considers the Doctrine of the Trinity in the context of the ecumenical theological discourse and the occult tradition as a fundamental component of the formation of world religious unity. The main tasks of the article is to determine the ecumenical foundations in the Doctrine of the Trinity, as well as to determine the meaning of the doctrine in modern ecumenism. In this regard, modern Doctrine of the Trinity was compared with occult Triadology, as a result of which common pantheistic foundations were revealed. Thus, the article showed that the Doctrine of the Trinity is revealed in the pantheistic paradigm as an expression of the global Trinitarian principle. At the same time, it was showed that the Doctrine of the Trinity is a fundamental theurgic principle for the main part of occult teachings and esoteric religions. It was also revealed that in the ecumenical discourse the Doctrine of the Trinity performs as a fundamental principle that is common to esoteric and classical religious systems. Performs as the principle around which most of the world's religions are integrated. Also it should be underline that the Trinitarian paradigm has many common positions with pantheism and pneumatology, where many pantheistic ideas are expressed. Ecumenical teaching has a global character, than it converges with pantheism. And, in this regard, the Doctrine of the Trinity gets special importance in the ecumenical movement, which is more pronounced in pneumatological discourse. Thus, there is an actualization of occultism in the modern world and the importance of occult ideas and concepts in the religious world is growing. Arises the integration of occult teachings with classical religious systems.

The Making of the Global Yijing in the Modern World has clearly demonstrated that the Yijing (Classic of Changes) is a book of universal wisdom that continues to guide human beings in the modern and future world. Its ideas and practices have survived to the present day and spread to different corners of the world. This book project aims to bring together established scholars, promising junior researchers and bright graduate students around the globe to examine the globalization and localization of the Yijing from cross-cultural and comparative perspectives, and focuses on how the Yijing was used to support ideologies, converted into knowledge and assimilated into global cultures in the modern world, from East Asia to Europe and the United States as well as from the Sinosphere to the British, American and French cultural and religious traditions. The Yijing was an ancient philosophical and divination text that contains timeless messages for all ages. Many people may see it merely as an ancient Chinese classic that has little to do with the digital age.

The present study aimed to focus on finding out the Learning Styles and Preferred Learning Modalities and Academic performance of the students in Mathematics in the Modern World. The respondents comprised 830 freshman students enrolled in Mathematics in the Modern World for the First Semester School Year 2021-2022 at Isabela State University-City of Ilagan Campus. The factors were categorized as follows: Profile of the students, Learning Styles, Preferred Learning Modalities, and the Academic Performance of the students in Mathematics in the Modern World. Also, it aimed to determine if there is a significant difference in the academic performance of the students when grouped according to their profile; test if there is a significant difference in the learning styles of the student when grouped according to their profile; test if there is a significant relationship between the learning styles and the academic performance of the students; and to determine if there is a significant relationship between the preferred learning modalities and academic performance of the students in the Mathematics in the Modern World subject. The data gathered were analyzed and interpreted based on the Descriptive Statistics, Analysis of Variance or the F–test and the Chi–square test, and the Micro-Stat Software Program (SPSS) computer output. The descriptive method using the survey and correlational techniques were used in this study. The use of questionnaires and standardized instruments – The VARK Learning Style Inventory by Neil Fleming was used to evaluate the student’s learning styles. The academic performance of the students was limited to the grade obtained in Mathematics in the Modern World validated by the Campus Registrar. The results reveal that in terms of profile socio-economic status, the majority of the respondents belong to families whose monthly income is at most P9, 520.00. Moreover, most students used mobile phones as the gadgets available at home for educational purposes. The results also revealed that the students have fairly satisfactory mathematics performance. There is a significant difference in the academic performance of the students in Mathematics in the Modern world in terms of sex, the field of specialization, the mother’s source of income, and the family’s monthly income. As to profiles of the father’s source of income and the gadget available at home used for educational purposes, there is no significant difference in the academic performance of the students. Most students are classified as Auditory Learners, thus, they learn best through interactive listening. The learning styles of the students differ when grouped in terms of field of specialization and family’s monthly income. Hence, students’ learning styles vary when grouped according to the abovementioned profile. As to the relationship between the learning styles of the students and their academic performance, no statistically significant relationship was found between learning styles and the academic performance of students. Therefore, the earning styles of the students have no influence on their academic performance in Mathematics in the Modern World. Online learning is the preferred learning modality of the students which is 47.40 percent of the total respondents. The study also showed that there is a significant relationship between the preferred learning modality and the academic performance of the students.

Reviewed by: Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization ed. by Edward Bever and Randall Styers Jasonā. Josephson-storm Edward Bever, Randall Styers, Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm, Magic, Modernity, Modernism, Anthropology, Sociology, Esotericism, Supernaturalism, Rationalism, Selfhood, Repression, Legitimization edward bever and randall styers, eds. Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017. Pp. 208. Contemporary scholars often have difficulty explaining the presence of magic in the modern world. A number of foundational theorists posited that belief in magic would eventually decline and then vanish. They suggested that modernity was almost definitionally disenchanted. The issue is that those of us who work on magic know differently; countless scholarly studies (reviewed in this journal and elsewhere) have traced influential magical movements and occult revivals across the nineteenth century and down to the present day. Long after magic was supposed to have vanished, by some measures at least, it seems to be flourishing. The essays collected in this volume attempt to get at this issue of magic in [End Page 299] a disenchanted world in two different ways. The essays in the first part of the volume focus on various historical efforts to suppress magic. Those in the second part ask how magic survived persecution in modernity. The repression of magic is best highlighted in two chapters that begin and end the first portion of the book—Randall Styers's "Bad Habits, or How Superstition Disappeared in the Modern World" and Adam Jortner's "Witches as Liars: Witchcraft and Civilization in the Early American Republic." Taken together these two chapters provide an account of how European and American notions of "superstition," "magic," and "witchcraft" emerged in a Christian theological context to describe diabolical powers, but eventually came to refer to errors in thinking. In that respect, "superstition" was displaced from theology to psychology. Thus, in an extension of this logic, in nineteenth-century America, belief in witches came to be seen as a dangerous sign of irrationality incompatible with democracy. These two chapters complement each other quite well and, in that respect, do an excellent job of setting up the rest of the volume. Also in the first half of the volume is an essay by Edward Bever, "Descartes's Dreams, the Neuropsychology of Disbelief, and the Making of the Modern Self," which focuses on a set of Descartes's dreams as a foundational moment in the history of modern thought. It is followed by what is perhaps the single best chapter in the volume, Benedek Láng's "Why Magic Cannot Be Falsified by Experiments." Láng's chapter is an outlier in the first half insofar as it addresses one of the reasons disenchantment failed—namely the problem of falsifiability. It shows how a simplistic notion of "science" as falsifiable and medieval "magic" as irrational falls flat. Skeptical readers often think that magicians either must have been very irrational or must have noticed that their spells did not work. But as Láng notes, interpreting the failure of a spell is not so simple. In that respect he takes the Duhem-Quine thesis to the study of magic, noting that a particular experiment or magical rite never appears in isolation. Thus, it is always possible to adjust a background theory in the face of a seemingly failed trial. This is equally true of science and magic. If a spell to topple a tower or an experiment to test a cannonball's velocity does not produce the result the theory predicts, one can always explain the failure by adjusting auxiliary hypotheses (e.g. the weakness of demons or the strength of air resistance) without considering the grand theory to have been refuted. In this respect, no single scientific experiment or magic spell is ever crucial to proving or disproving a theory. The second half of the volume builds on Olav Hammer's notion that contemporary esoteric movements deploy three main strategies to assert their [End Page 300] legitimacy—"claiming of tradition, an appropriation of the rhetoric of scientific method and verification, and a reliance on the evidence of experience" (4)—and looks at these kinds of legitimization strategies in four...

Why is the modern world a challenge for inter-culturality and especially for intercultural philos-ophy? The discussion of this question is the focus of the article which is aimed at proposing some possible answers to it. This task is solved by considering three thematic blocks. They also form the three sections of the article. 1) What do we refer to when we speak of the “modern world”? First of all, we mean a construction of hegemonic power, the result of the development of European civilization. The author identifies the following preconditions of modernity: socio-political, ontological, anthropological-theo-logical, idolatrous anthropocentrism, historio-sophical (historical-theological), technological, and epistemological. 2) To what extent is the “modern world” a challenge for intercultural interaction and intercultural philosophy? Analyz-ing the cultural and historical reasons for the rejection of the idea of interculturalism nowa-days, the author points out, firstly, the tradition-ally rooted Eurocentrism of the “modern world” (this world does not belong to all mankind, not all human cultures participate equally in the for-mation and development of the modern world), secondly, the fact that the hegemony of capital is now joining the European / North American hegemony. 3) What can intercultural philosophy do to resist the dictates of the modern world? The author determines the tasks of intercultural philosophy as follows: criticism of the hegemon-ic (eurocentric) interpretation of the world; the search for theoretical and practical ways of a truly humanistic communication between differ-ent cultures; the struggle for freedom and cultur-al diversity. He concludes that the challenges of the “modern world” should be regarded as those to our own being, our understanding of humani-ty.

Reviewed by: Child Slaves in the Modern World by Gwyn Campbell, Suzanne Miers, Joseph C. Miller Colleen A. Vasconcellos Child Slaves in the Modern World. By Gwyn Campbell, Suzanne Miers, and Joseph C. Miller, eds. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2011. v + 281 pp. $24.95. Having already reviewed the first book in this two-volume set (JHCY volume 3, number 3), it was a pleasure to be given the same opportunity with this book. As with its companion, the editors of Child Slaves in the Modern World note that this is not a comprehensive anthology of child slavery in the modern world. Hopefully this assertion forces the reader to pause and think about the weight of that statement. Chapters on India’s child brides or the numerous children who labored in Stalin’s gulags are not included. Yet, this second volume does build upon the complex and fluid perimeters of childhood and slavery set by the first in order to show a blurry, somewhat subjective definition of childhood that is just as difficult to delineate in the modern world. This speaks as much to the ever-changing nature of childhood as to the environments and cultures in which these children lived and labored. While this second volume continues to force readers to rethink their definition and perception of slavery and childhood, Child Slaves in the Modern World also shows them how these boundaries continued to change once enlightened citizens began to push for the abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Divided into two sections, this book takes more of a chronological approach than the first. While the first section examines child slavery during the era of abolition, the final five chapters comprise a second section examining enslaved children in the modern era. Although the difference in size between the two sections makes the volume seem a bit imbalanced, each section has its strengths. Furthermore, that imbalance becomes more understandable as the reader delves deeper into the volume. The majority of the chapters contained in the first section focus on children enslaved in Africa from 1790 to 1914, adding more imbalance to the volume despite the editors’ promise of a wide geographical range. However, Sue Taylor’s examination of the complex negotiations between parents and the Caracas Courts over enslaved children and Nara Milanich’s discussion of tutelary servitude in Latin America challenge more traditional ideas of slavery in the Americas to show that children, and not always children [End Page 396] of African descent, were enslaved and used as labor outside of the conventional plantation setting. That said, Cicely Jones’s outstanding piece on plantation children in the British Caribbean challenges that traditional viewpoint further by showcasing child resistance and agency. In perhaps the most interesting chapter of the section, Benjamin Lawrence presents a fascinating discussion of the experiences of the four children captive aboard La Amistad, children who seem to have had more of an active role than Hollywood’s Cinque. The remaining five chapters of this section focus on children’s experiences in the slave trade and colonial Africa. Yet, despite this heavy focus on Africa, readers begin to understand this imbalance as they progress through the final chapters of this first section. Just as the editors challenge customary views of childhood and slavery, they also expand the more commonly used periodization of the Age of Abolition—a strategic move that forces readers to look into the twentieth century. As they point out in their introduction, many chapters included in this section discuss the experiences of enslaved children living in a time when abolitionists witnessed the increased emancipation of slaves throughout the Western world. However, slavery continued in Africa and still continues there today. Therefore, while William Clarence-Smith shows how lax Catholic policies were in ending slavery in central Africa, Trevor Getz discusses the ineptitude and cultural naiveté of the colonial administrators handling enslaved children in the early colonial Gold Coast. After reading about the state enslavement of children in post-emancipation Senegal, as discussed by Bernard Moitt, one is not surprised that the practice persisted. Hopefully these chapters push the reader to question those enlightened abolitionists of...

The study examined the challenges and prospects of Igbo apprenticeship system in the modern world: The specific objectives were to: determine the challenges of Igbo apprenticeship system in the modern world and examine the prospects of Igbo apprenticeship system in the modern world. The research design was descriptive survey method. Study Area was Enugu State. The sample size of 163 respondents were taken from population of 276 apprentices from different major markets – Kenyetha market (44), Ogbete market (41), Timber market Abakpa (53), Artisans markets (64) and Gariki market (74) Enugu Metropolis business clusters in Enugu state, Nigeria. Research questions of the study were answered using mean score and standard deviation. The hypotheses stated would be tested with chi-square and single regression analysis. The empirical result showed that there are significant challenges of Igbo apprenticeship system in the modern world (Chi-square: 33.62 > Critical-value: 0.000) and there are significant prospects of Igbo apprenticeship system in the modern world (Chi-square: 98.48 > Critical-value: 0.000). The study recommended that Nigerian government should formulate policy that enforce justice between apprentice master and his apprentice to control non-settlement of apprentice after several years of patience.

This essay argues that essentialist models of modernity are always ideological, and that Britain’s dominant ideology of modernity was transformed from the mid-1950s, with revolutionary consequences for British Christianity and secularisation. Before the mid-1950s Britain's predominant 'civilisation' ideology portrayed Christianity as more advanced than secularity. The mid-1950s global crisis, however, created widespread belief in a radical break between 'tradition' and 'the modern world'. This perception rapidly legitimated the further belief, promoted by radical Christians, that ‘the modern world’ is inherently ‘secular’. Once accepted by the national media, the ideological belief that modernity is secular made possible the 1960s ‘secular revolution’.

Organizational Change Management (OCM) is a crucial and really important process for companies that seek to adapt and succeed in a modern and dynamic world. However, despite the importance of Organizational Change Management and the numerous models and frameworks available, a significant proportion of change initiatives fail to achieve their desirable results. This problem instantly emphasizes the need for fresh ideas and innovative ways to address the complexities of organizational change in the modern world. First of all, this article explores the paradoxical theory of change as an alternative for better understanding and more efficient management of change that will be useful for various organizations. It reviews the theoretical foundations of this approach, rooted in Gestalt therapy and other relevant literature. Apart from that, the publication defines key concepts such as polarities and tensions, explaining how these seemingly contradictory forces are natural and necessary elements of dynamic systems. By embracing these tensions, organizations can foster adaptability, drive innovation, and enhance resilience. Secondly, the article also considers the concepts of the Real and Ideal Self in the context of organizational change, displaying how these two states' tensions can be a source of resistance or motivation. Understanding and managing these tensions is unarguably crucial for utilizing them as sources of energy and creativity, ultimately leading to more organizational transformations that would be more successful. What is more, this article provides practical insights on how to apply the paradoxical theory to some of the real-life situations. This shows the importance of balancing stability and change, autonomy and control, and exploration and exploitation in business corporations. Taking everything into consideration, by adopting these paradoxical components, organizations can create a holistic and more effective approach to change management, achieving lasting success and sustainability in the modern ever-evolving environment, which is vital for modern and successful business.

Global Miocene tectonics and the modern world

The article is devoted to the study of the concept and characteristics of cybersecurity as a multidimensional reality of the modern information world, key challenges and the main international legal framework for data protection. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of political, security, economic, legal, social, technological, psychological and cultural aspects, which in general have a significant impact on the evolution of general and specific problems arising in the field of cybersecurity. With the increasing number of attacks, cybersecurity is becoming essential for global stability, which requires international cooperation, strategic investment and collective efforts to combat these threats. The author proves that the emergence of sophisticated cyber threats in the modern world and the problem of data privacy have prompted many countries to develop appropriate legal frameworks to regulate data protection and cyberspace security. The author emphasises that solving international cybersecurity and data protection problems requires a combination of cooperation between States, strengthening of technical and legal capabilities, and formation of a global cybersecurity culture. It is analysed that one of the most important milestones in this regard is the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, which aims to harmonise national legislation and strengthen international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime. Today, the EU plays a leading role in promoting data protection standards through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is argued that although the progress in this direction is cause for some optimism, much work remains to be done to ensure a secure cyberspace. It is emphasised that continued cooperation between governments, business and civil society will be crucial to address this common challenge and protect our rights in the digital world. It is emphasised that the main thing in the context of escalating cyber threats, in particular in the context of armed conflicts, is to create a harmonised international legal framework for regulating cybersecurity and data protection.

Reviewed by: China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia David Christian Peter C. Perdue , China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. 752 pp., illus., maps. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 067401684X. $35.00. China Marches West is a massive and important book. It is richly researched, profoundly intelligent, sharply focused, and rich in its historiographical implications. It is also beautifully produced; both the maps and the illustrations are gorgeous. At its core is what will surely prove a definitive contemporary account of a fundamental yet neglected topic: the closing of the ancient Eurasian frontier between steppe and sown lands as a result of the Qing conquest of modern Xinjiang. Perdue argues that the closing of the Eurasian frontier was as momentous an event in Eurasian history as the closing of the American frontier was according to the Turner thesis. What makes this book so valuable for those who are not China specialists (such as the author of this review) is that Perdue uses the distinctive perspective of his central theme to illuminate many fundamental issues in modern historiography and world history. These include the nature and origins of modernity, how we conceptualize states and empires of the modern world, how states and empires conceptualized and represented themselves, how "the frontier" played out in Eurasian history, and, perhaps most interestingly of all for those interested in world history, how to place modern China within modern world history. Perdue himself highlights three themes or "theoretical perspectives": "frontier environments, state-building, and the construction of national and ethnic identities through historical representation" (15). Perdue gained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Harvard University, and he is currently the T. T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations in the History Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Exhausting the Earth: State and Peasant in Hunan, 1500–1850 AD and numerous articles on Chinese history.1 Though I have no doubt of this book's fundamental importance for China specialists, this review will focus mainly on its value for those interested in world history and comparative history. [End Page 183] China Marches West is not a book to be read quickly: it is too full of information and ideas for that. It deserves a slow, careful reading and an openness to the many different questions it explores. Perhaps the most useful thing a reviewer can do is to summarize some of the book's contents and describe some of the many lines of inquiry it sets in motion. At its simplest, the book is about the Qing conquest of what is today Xinjiang province, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. This is a vast and important topic that has been largely neglected in modern historiography. Until Perdue's book, the main European language accounts dated, respectively, from 1912 (Courant) and 1964 (Zlatkin). While Courant's 1912 volume relies mainly on a single Chinese source, Zlatkin's Soviet-era publication uses Manchu and Russian sources but none in Chinese.2 There is considerable Japanese and Chinese scholarship on the issue but, as Perdue notes, these accounts are constructed firmly within the nationalist historiographical paradigms that he is keen to transcend. From the start, Perdue takes issue with an official historiography that sees the conquest of Xinjiang as a natural process of "unification." In this view, the ultimate outcome of Qing conflict with the western Mongols was never in doubt. The conquest was the inevitable result of geography and of Chinese cultural, economic, and technological primacy in eastern Eurasia. It was also the culmination of a process that had begun 2,000 years earlier with the initial Han conquest of the "western regions." In the official view, the conquest brought pre-existing ethnic communities into new relationships under the civilizing umbrella of the Chinese empire. The logic of this historiographical perspective explains why the People's Republic of China (PRC) has managed to persuade the United Nations to classify the Eastern Turkestan independence movement as a terrorist organization (xiii). Perdue describes a much more complex and less predictable process involving a competition among three empires for the heartlands of Eurasia. The three...