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A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century 2nd Edition

by Charles Holcombe (Author)

4.6 229 ratings

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Charles Holcombe begins by asking the question 'what is East Asia?' In the modern age, many of the features that made the region - now defined as including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam - distinct have been submerged by the effects of revolution, politics or globalization. Yet, as an ancient civilization, the region had both an historical and cultural coherence. This shared past is at the heart of this ambitious book, which traces the story of East Asia from the dawn of history to the twenty-first century. The second edition has been imaginatively revised and expanded to place emphasis on cross-cultural interactions and connections, both within East Asia and beyond, with new material on Vietnam and modern pop culture. The second edition also features a Chinese character list, additional maps and new illustrations.

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ISBN-10

9781107544895
ISBN-13

978-1107544895
Edition

2nd
Publisher

Cambridge University Press
Publication date

January 12, 2017
Language

English
Dimensions

7.5 x 0.5 x 10.5 inches
Print length

492 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

'Holcombe’s book is a precious guide to the histories of East Asia. It is clear and incisive, as any textbook should be, but it also offers and alternative and specialist reading.' Noemi Lanna, University of Naples 'L'Orientale'

Review of first edition: 'Treading a line between the emerging field of transnational history and a more traditional regional history, Holcombe has written a valuable and impressive guide to the histories of East Asia. The historical and regional scope, reaching from the ancient past to the ultra-modern present, is unprecedented in a volume of this size. Students of East Asia and of international history will find this book essential reading.' Chris Goto-Jones, University of Victoria, British Columia

Book Description

The second edition of Charles Holcombe's acclaimed introduction to East Asian history from the dawn of history to the twenty-first century.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1107544890
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (January 12, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 492 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781107544895
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1107544895
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 year and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.28 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.5 x 10.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #491,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #67 in Asian History (Books)
- #14,425 in Unknown

Customer Reviews:
4.6 229 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

229 global ratings

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Michelle Rodriguez

Text

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

It was the right book for college.

One person found this helpful

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Banyan

Good summary of East Asia, easy to read but also academic

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2018

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Offers a streamlined overview of East Asian history- which the author defines as history of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore (countries influenced by common cultural elements such as Confucianism). I like this book b/c the tone is professional and unassuming, the pace is brisk (but not rushed) and the author continually lists books for further reading in case there’s a particular era or subject the reader wants more in depth knowledge about. The content has an academic quality to it yet is easy to read.

10 people found this helpful

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Andrew Orchard

4.5 stars. Interesting and well thought out

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2019

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The content and linear stories were well thought out and placed in orders that made sense and were easy to follow and understand. Occasionally though, sentence's structures would get so unnecessarily elaborate you'd have to re-read it a few times to fully comprehend what was being said.
Overall enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone.

4 people found this helpful

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James langdon

Perfect condition

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2022

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It arrived in perfect condition

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Darren Wan

good

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2019

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Good overview of East Asian history for a college survey course on the past and present international affairs and politics of East Asian

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Chuck

A concise history book

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2018

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The books touches surface of the east Asia history and culture heritage. It is a good book for starters, although a little dry.

4 people found this helpful

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Maka4BTS

CHEAP

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2019

I am so happy. I have a quiz due tomorrow and was really struggling to find this book in such a short amount of time. I couldn't afford to purchase the book from the book store just yet so i had to find an alternative and this was it. Alot of other sites charged alot, but this one was by far the cheapest an honestly it made my day. Now off to ace my quiz, wish me luck :)

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Probably good historically, but the writing is just painful to get through.

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

I'm no historian, so I can't say how accurate or inaccurate this book is. The class I'm using this for is also a mess, so I can't blame the book entirely, but the author is long winded and... a little insufferable. Or a lot. Especially for as much information as this book is trying to cover, it REALLY needs better information break down and distribution which visuals and bullet points would help.

If you're into history, this book definitely covers a lot. If you're a normal student just taking a class for credit, though, this book is a chore and difficult to slough through endless huge pages of text with little to aid the large amount of info it goes through. It has a few, but with as much that they try to cover with the few they have, they don't feel helpful. I say this as a graduating writing major: please try to have more pity on your student readers if possible. I want to learn and clearly the author is passionate, but even *with* online formatting options I can't make myself make anything of what I am reading. Which I say as a writing major, who, y'know, finds passion in editing math educational texts.

Probably good historically, but the writing is just painful to get through.

6 people found this helpful

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Timmy Yeung

I ordered it for my class

Reviewed in Canada on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

I ordered it for my Asian studies class and it is an interesting book since it talks about China, Korea and Japan.

virgilio pellandini

Best book on the topic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

Good and academically sound. The width of the topic (both chronological and spatial) results in some lack of detail, but overall this is the best place to go if you need a single book on the topic.

One person found this helpful

Chiranthana g

Great history book

Reviewed in India on September 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a great book to read and understand the history of East Asia in a short comprehensive way. Go for it, you won't regret.

Las Patatas

東アジアを俯瞰する入門書

Reviewed in Japan on September 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

本書を知ったのは、Peter Frankopanのベストセラーである一般向け歴史書『The Silk Roads: A New History of the World』の中の引用である。

本書自体は、内容的に東アジアを学ぶ英米の大学一年生の教科書といった様相なので、深みには欠けるし、またクリアな記述ではるが、一般向けの歴史書のように読み心地を追求しているわけではない。

それでも、読書後の感想としては優れた本という印象を受け、その理由を考えてみると、消極的・積極的な理由が思いついた。

消極的な理由としては、日本語で同種の本がないと思われるためである。日本では、東アジアの隣国とその歴史について書かれた本は多くあるが、基本的には明治から続く自国のナショナリズムの餌となる差別感のベースから逃れられず、どうしてもバイアスがかっていることが多い。隣国で流通しているものも同じくらい偏っているかもしれないし、良書があっても翻訳が一般的な日本人が目にすることもないだろう。

次に、言語の問題がある。日本がいくら漢字を使おうと中国語は外国語であり、英語の方がプレゼンスが高い今となっては、正しい翻訳をすると漢字だらけで読みにくいだろう。例えば、突厥や吐蕃はローマ字で読むと、トルコ系・チベット系と関連しているとわかるが、中国から輸入した蛮族に対する呼称を正しく漢字で使い続けても、残念ながら読みにくい。この語彙レベルの読みやすさに加え、英米文学に流れるストーリーテリングの精神も読み手の理解につながっているだろう。

積極的には、日中韓（＋ベトナム）を大きな視点で比べることで、今まで知っている知識に視点を持てることが本書の利点だろう。東アジアで仏教が受容されたことは東アジアに住む誰もが理解していることだが、その受容は国よって異なる。同じように、日本史での、南蛮人の到来・鉄砲やキリスト教の伝来・明治維新や近代化（西欧化）もすべて同じように各国に起こったことであり、その対応方法も国によって異なる。これらの点がうまく表現され、既に知っている日本史の事象が必然ではなく、可能性の一つだったと思わせるあたりに本書の良さがあるのではないかと思う。

個人的には、東アジアを1単位としてとらえる視点にあまり疑問は抱かないが、それであれば、技術の伝来を含む域内での交流についてもう少し触れてもよいのではないかと思った。また、どうしても「蛮族」に対する記述が断片的であり、上にも記載したトルコ系やチベット系は重要なアクターとして彼らの視点を中心とした記述があれば、包括的ながらも深みを出せたのではないかとも思う。

しかしながら、総じて断片的な知識をまとめ、歪んでいた視点を正し、新たな知的好奇心を追求するファーストステップとしては、優れた一冊だと思う。

One person found this helpful

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Rodrigo De Avila

Great book, bad Amazon handling

Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

I needed this book for one of my university courses. So far, the book is great, I find the it's content interesting and informative. It does a great job in explaining things and making analogies.

The only reason I'm giving this 4 stars is because the cover and the outside of book looks somewhat worn and damaged, especially around the corners. The book was supposed to be new and the other book that I bought used was in better shape.

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