Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of maps -- Acknowledgments -- Note on transliterations -- List of abbreviations -- Introduction -- Understanding modern East Asia -- A new approach to Cold War history -- Two critical themes: Nationalism and modernization -- Three text organization features -- Notes -- PART I: War and revolution -- 1. Imperial powers and pre-WWII Japan -- Classic civilizations and tributary system (from ancient time to 1500) -- East Asia's response to European expansion (1600-1800) -- Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) and Japan's aggression -- Colonial Korea and Manchuria (1910-1937) -- Notes -- 2. The Asian-Pacific War (1937-1945) -- Japan's attacks on China and Pearl Harbor (1937-1941) -- Conquest and home front (1942-1945) -- Anti-Japanese wars in East Asia -- Allied support, operation, and atomic bombs (1942-1945) -- Notes -- 3. Cold War Japan: Occupation and reform (1945-1951) -- The origin of the Cold War (1945-1947) -- SCAP policy and the 1947 Constitution -- Policy change: Reform and rebuilding (1948-1950) -- Yoshida cabinets and economic recovery (1948-1951) -- Aftermath: Political and social changes -- Notes -- 4. The Nationalists vs. the Communists in China -- The Chinese Civil War (1946-1949) -- US aid to Jiang (1947-1948) -- Mao's fight for victory (1948-1949) -- Who lost China? -- Notes -- 5. The People's Republic of China and Taiwan (1949-1957) -- Mao's request for Soviet aid -- Russian model: The Party-state -- Political movements and control -- US Taiwan policy change -- US aid and the 1954 Taiwan Strait Crisis -- Notes -- PART II: The East vs. the West -- 6. The Korean War (1950-1953) -- Two Koreas (1945-1950) -- Northern invasion and the UNF Inchon landing (1950) -- China's intervention (1950-1953) -- From trench warfare to the cease-fire (1951-1953)