{"product_id":"constructing-east-asia-technology-ideology-and-empire-in-japans-wartime-era-19311945-9780804785396","title":"Constructing East Asia  Technology Ideology and","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough an analysis of public discourse, national policies, and large-scale infrastructure projects, this book examines how Japanese intellectuals, bureaucrats, and engineers created a \"technological imaginary\" during the wartime era (1931-1945) to mobilize people for war and empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An expertly written and cogently argued study, singular in its skillful combining of intellectual, cultural, and politico-economic history. Moore breaks new ground in particular by showing how Japanese engineers in the 1930s and early forties strove to make 'concrete' expanded notions of technology through infrastructure projects on the continent.\" -- Steven J. Ericson * Dartmouth College *\u003cbr\u003e\"[I]nformative and illuminating . . . Highly recommended.\" -- P. L. Kantor * \u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"Aaron Stephen Moore's \u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e is one of several recent important studies that offer a corrective by revealing just how fundamental technology was to the shaping of interwar and wartime Japan . . . [I]t is among the few truly innovative studies on the Japanese empire to come out in recent years. It is, for one, an excellent example of how one might integrate intellectual history with histories of empire, technology and political economy. \u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e should be of much interest not only to historians of modern Japan and East Asia, but also to those interested in the politics of technology and the intellectual foundations of sociotechnical regimes.\" -- Victor Seow * \u003ci\u003ePacific Affairs\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"Paying careful attention to the ways that technological and colonial development co-produced and challenged each other, Moore's story respects the archives of both text and practice . . . It is a fascinating case study that informs a larger global historiography of the modern technosciences, while also using the social study of technology to extend the historiography of Japanese empire.\" -- Carla Nappi * \u003ci\u003eNew Books in East Asian Studies\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e deserves praise for bridging the disciplinary gap across the technological and intellectual divide. Moore inspires his readers to take a more comprehensive view of colonial modernity that pays close attention to the history of specific artifacts, even as it takes into account the dynamic interplay of power, technology, and ideas.\" -- Juergen P. Melzer * \u003ci\u003eJapan Review\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"Moore is to be thanked for opening up a fascinating line of inquiry in the burgeoning historiography of postwar Japan.\" -- Miriam Kingsberg * \u003ci\u003eJournal of Northeast Asian History\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"Aaron Stephen Moore's \u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e provides important new insights into wartime Japan by examining the various manifestations of the concept of 'technology' and its meanings in different contexts . . . One innovative aspect of Moore's work is its analysis of not only aspects of the discourse about technology among intellectuals and civil servants but also the concrete applications of theoretical concepts about technology by engineers.\" -- W. Miles Fletcher III * \u003ci\u003eJournal of Japanese Studies\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e offers a robust counterpoint to the standard narrative of imperial Japan dominated by fanatical ultra-nationalists steeped in irrational Shinto spiritualism. Instead, we find technocrats—otherwise rational actors grounded in science—deploying the 'technological imaginary' to rationalize colonial exploitation and imperial designs on the Asian mainland. Moore's scholarship is exceptionally thorough, precise, and often provocative.\" -- Walter E. Grunden * Bowling Green State University *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e challenges us to see Japanese technocrats, their professional aims, their continental objectives, and the realities of their undertakings in Northeast Asia in new, sometimes rational, ways . . . \u003ci\u003eConstructing East Asia\u003c\/i\u003e is a solid and at times engaging study of the tantalizing allure of technocratic modernity as a force of rationalization and development both in Japan and in Northeast Asia. It reminds us that Japan's colonies were not blank slates awaiting uncomplicated exploitation and development. Academics and graduate students interested in science, technology, engineering, and empire will find much about this book rewarding.\" -- J. Charles Schencking * \u003ci\u003eAmerican Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"Aaron Moore's discerning and persuasive book should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand Japan's failed attempt to develop an East Asian empire. It offers a breathtaking exposé of the arrogant fantasies of the 'rational' technocrats, engineers, and reform bureaucrats who led Japan into the abyss.\" -- Walter Skya * \u003ci\u003eMichigan War Studies Review\u003c\/i\u003e *","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405610557783,"sku":"9780804785396","price":89.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780804785396.jpg?v=1730492988","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/constructing-east-asia-technology-ideology-and-empire-in-japans-wartime-era-19311945-9780804785396","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}