Books by W. G. Beasley

Did the activities of the Western powers prompt changes in Japan that would not otherwise have taken place? Or did they merely hasten a process that had already begun? This book deals with these questions that concerns the role and relative importance of internal and external factors in the pattern of events.

Since the 19th century the Japanese have looked to the West for ideas, institutions and technology that would help them achieve the goal of "national wealth and strength". In this book, an historian of Japan discusses Japan's "cultural borrowing" from America and Europe.