{"product_id":"the-american-pacific-from-the-old-china-trade-to-the-present-9780195085624","title":"The American Pacific: From the Old China Trade to the Present","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1784  the United States was scarcely more than a strip of seaports  inland towns  and farms along the Atlantic coast--and already the China trade had begun  as the Empress of China sailed into Canton. From this small beginning  an American empire in the Pacific grew until it engulfed Alaska  Hawaii  the Philippines  and hundreds of small islands. With World War II  U.S. power advanced further  into China  Japan  Korea  and Southeast Asia--where it was finally halted. Today American influence continues to ebb  as Japanese economic supremacy mounts and Manila forces the U.S. to dismantle its bases. In The American Pacific  Arthur Dudden provides a sweeping account of how the U.S. built (and lost) a vast empire in the ocean off our west coast. Opening with a fascinating account of the early China trade  Dudden provides a region-by-region history of the Pacific basin. What emerges is the story of how American commercial interests evolved into territorial ambitions  with the acquisitions of Alaska  Hawaii  and the Philippines  and finally into far-reaching efforts to project American power onto the shores of mainland Asia. Duddens vivid narrative teems with the dynamic individuals who shaped events: William Seward  the Senator and Lincolns Secretary of State who was driven by a vision of American dominion in the Pacific; Kamehameha I  the Hawaiian conqueror who tried to bring his kingdom into the modern world; William Howard Taft  who as the first governor-general of the Philippines built the institutions of American rule; Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto  the architect of Japans attacks on Pearl Harbor and Midway Island; and of course General Douglas MacArthur  whose immensely influential career spanned supreme command of the pre-war Philippine army  the Allied occupation forces in Japan  and the U.N. forces in Korea. Dudden brings the story up to date  reviewing the war in Vietnam  the aftermath of Tiananmen Square  the triumph of the Pacific rim economies  and the tremendous impact of Asian immigration on American society. Since the days when Commodore Perry sailed his black ships to open feudal Japan  the histories of the American republic and the peoples of the Pacific have been closely intertwined. Dudden seamlessly blends developments in domestic politics  military campaigns  commercial trends  and international relations  providing the first comprehensive overview of this critically important region.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651819593781,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195085620","price":143.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195085624.jpg?v=1781841029","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-american-pacific-from-the-old-china-trade-to-the-present-9780195085624","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}