Research Guides: HIST 273: East Asia's Global Wars: Opium War to Vietnam (HC): Background Information

Chinese View of the Opium Problem

Commissioner Lin and the Destruction of Opium in 1839. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Background Information- China and Japan

The following sources provide overviews of Asian history. They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and recent scholarly interpretations.

When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Cambridge history of China
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This multiple-volume history provides detailed analyses of pertinent social, political, and economic issues.
Chinese History: A New Manual
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This new edition features informed introductory essays, side bars and tables (e.g., The Size of Steppe Armies), and comments for nearly every title cited, those written in Chinese and other languages as well as English. See Chapter 24 on war pages 314-335, for a treasure trove of information and resources.
A Companion to Chinese History
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This book offers a comprehensive overview of the latest intellectual developments in the study of China's history with scholarship by top historians from both China and around the globe. Essays present a view of Chinese historiography while covering such topics as China's changing position in global and world history and the current state of the field from European, Chinese, and Japanese perspectives.
Science and Civilisation in China
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This scholarly set of 24 volumes publishes in-depth studies of many different aspects of science and technology in Chinese history. For the interests of this class, see in particular:
Vol. 5, Part 6 . Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges;
Vol. 5, Part 7 Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic
The Columbia Guide to Hiroshima and the Bomb
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Michael Kort describes the wartime circumstances and thinking that form the context for the decision to use nuclear weapons, surveys the major debates related to that decision, and provides a comprehensive collection of key primary source documents that illuminate the behavior of the United States and Japan during the closing days of World War II.
A Companion to Japanese History
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Includes multiple essays concerning war:
"Oligarchy, Democracy, and Fascism," "The Japanese Empire," and "The Fifteen-Year War."

Subject Guide

Karen Viars

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Subjects: Africana & Black Studies, History, Political Science

Background-Korea and Vietnam

Encyclopedia of the Korean War
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This three-volume set addresses social and political issues as well as military topics. One of the editors is a professor of history in Korea.
Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean History
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See in particular these essays:
"The Division of Korea and the Rise of Two Koreas, 1945--1948"
"The Korean War and Its Politics"
The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War
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Provides an overview of the war along with primary source documents, definitions, and resource lists.
The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War
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This is the updated edition (published in 2011) of a three-volume set. Includes material on fiction, art, and the anti-war movement.