I just finished reading a book that I think many people on this forum will enjoy. It's exceptionally researched and written, and has expanded my understanding of historical events concerning East Asia at the outset of the 20th century.
Bradley, James. The Imperial Cruise.
New York: Hachette Book Group, 2009.
The author's father was one of the flag raisers in the famed image from Iwo Jima, and he wrote his first book, Flags of Our Fathers about the history surrounding that image. He also wrote a book called, Flyboys which I'm sure many of you are familiar with. In this, his third book, Bradley uses the vehicle of a diplomatic mission made in 1905 by then Secretary of War Taft, T. Roosevelt's daughter Alice and others to unwrap momentous turning points in Asian and World history that unraveled much at the same time and would lay the foundations for 20th century history in the Far East. Bradley quite compellingly asserts that Japanese expansion in Asia, World War 2, the rise of Chinese nationalism and Communism, the wars in Korea and Vietnam and a good majority of the other political developments over the course of the 20th century can be directly attributed to events surrounding this one diplomatic voyage.
Much can be blamed for some of the larger trends of human history that converged to bring about some of the bloodiest conflicts in the last century, and Bradley does a good job of exploring the roots and manifestations of these trends. He also holds no blows for key individuals who he views as culpable for setting various societies on a course for later destruction. President Theodore Roosevelt is one of these individuals that receives heavy scrutiny from Bradley, and the author traces TR's past of personal embellishment and manipulation of public image through lesser politics and into the White House. Through extensive and pertinent citation of the correspondence, speeches and official writings of Roosevelt and his acquaintances, Bradley shows how an extremely racialized world view and an overly-accentuated machismo lead the President to blunder his diplomatic big stick through Asian politics with disastrous results.
Bradley's work is an organized and easily readable narrative that takes the reader on a journey through time and space at the same time as it exposes chapters of American history that have long been overlooked. He looks at each place that the diplomatic voyage stopped along its travels, and explores the history of that place and its relations with America and the world at the turn of the last century. It makes for a very enjoyable read, and Bradley's inclusion of pertinent images from the time reinforces his points and brings the past into the face of the reader. By doing so, Bradley clearly and capably leads the reader through a rather complex area of American History in a way that leaves one with a greater contemplative understanding, rather than grasping at key figures, terms and places.
I really think his thesis is important for our understanding of 20th century history, and I think a lot of you may enjoy reading this too. Please let me know what you think!
