Reardon-Anderson, James 1944–

views updated

Reardon-Anderson, James 1944–

PERSONAL:

Born April 1, 1944; married; wife's name Kathleen; children: Jane, Peter, William. Education: Williams College, B.A.; Columbia University, M.A., Ph.D., 1975.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Georgetown University, A009E Liberal Arts and Sciences Bldg., Education City, P.O. Box 23689, Doha, Qatar. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Was affiliated with University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies, Taipei, Taiwan, director, 1980-81 and 1988; Columbia University, New York, NY, chief librarian of C.V. Starr East Asian Library, 1982-85; Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 1985—, director of Asian studies, 1992-95, director of Master of Science in Foreign Service program, 2002-05, Sun Yat-sen Professor of Chinese Studies at School of Foreign Service in Qatar, dean of School of Foreign Service in Qatar, 2005—. Director of Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China, 1990-92.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Grants from American Council of Learned Societies Joint Committee on Contemporary China, Social Science Research Council, and Georgetown University Father Walsh Fund.

WRITINGS:

Yenan and the Great Powers: The Origins of Chinese Communist Foreign Policy, 1944-1946, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1980.

The Study of Change: Chemistry in China, 1840-1949, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan: The Lukang Rebellion, M.E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 1992.

Grasslands and Grassland Sciences in Northern China, National Academy Press (Washington, DC), 1992.

Reluctant Pioneers: China's Expansion Northward, 1644-1937, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including China Quarterly, Isis, Journal of Asian Studies, and Osiris.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Reardon-Anderson is an educator—a longtime professor and the founding dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar—and the author of several books on Chinese history. The Study of Change: Chemistry in China, 1840-1949, is "the first full-length study of the history of a modern science in China," according to John B. Henderson in Science. Although China had success with chemistry in the past, the science experienced a dormant period lasting into the mid-nineteenth century, after which it was reintroduced by Westerners. Reardon-Anderson examines the process and impact of this reintroduction as well as the interactions between the political and scientific spheres along the way. As Peter Atkins in the New Scientist observed, the book "examines how an emerging, modernising society, with its own deep cultural roots, adjusts to a subject that has grown to maturity in an alien culture." Atkins described Reardon-Anderson's "sprightly and thoughtful text" as "a fascinating analysis of a cultural phenomenon that has resonances with our own time and place." Reviewing The Study of Change for Journal of Asian Studies, Jonathan Spence called it "immensely rewarding" as well as "comprehensive and original."

In Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan: The Lukang Rebellion, Reardon-Anderson gives an account of how citizens of a coastal city in Taiwan successfully prevented DuPont Corporation's establishment of a titanium dioxide plant in their area. Writing in Journal of Asian and African Studies, John Fuh-Sheng Hsieh remarked that the book "does us a service by providing a detailed account of the event." Donald R. Deglopper in Public Affairs wrote that "Reardon-Anderson's commendably brief book" examines one step in the formation of an environmentalist movement in Taiwan and "suggests reasons why it has not yet become a major political force."

Reardon-Anderson's 2005 book Reluctant Pioneers: China's Expansion Northward, 1644-1937 is a study of China's settlement of Manchuria and the region's eventual incorporation into the country. It is an "ambitious and elegant book," in the opinion of Diana Lary in the China Review International. Covering nearly three hundred years, the book shows how the area was absorbed not by military force but by the gradual migration of millions of Chinese, who brought the agricultural and social systems of their homes to the new land. Writing in the Journal of Social History, David G. Atwill found that "there is a refreshing comparative dimension that broadens the relevance of [Reardon-Anderson's] work to a much broader audi- ence both inside and outside of Chinese studies." He also remarked upon "the author's ability to draw attention to the motivations, methods, and exploits of the Chinese settlers themselves," which he deemed "the primary strength of this book." Historian contributor Don J. Wyatt stated that "Reardon-Anderson has wisely elected to concentrate not only on the how of China's settlement of the northern territories but also on the why, and thus this interpretive attention devoted to both parameters is the greatest strength of the book." While Lary regarded the "absence of a discussion in the book of political and international affairs" as potentially "rather critical," she maintained that "the mention of topics that are not covered in this pioneering book is less a criticism than a hope that Reardon-Anderson will be able to continue his work." Deeming Reluctant Pioneers "clearly argued" and "accessible," Bill Sewell in the Canadian Journal of History concluded, "This is a big-picture kind of study, peppered with useful comparisons with other cases of expansion, and many will find it intriguing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, December, 1992, Steven A. Leibo, review of The Study of Change: Chemistry in China, 1840-1949, p. 1576; December, 2005, Steven I. Levine, review of Reluctant Pioneers: China's Expansion Northward, 1644-1937, p. 1496.

BJHS: The British Journal for the History of Science, September, 1992, A.R. Butler, review of The Study of Change, p. 376.

Canadian Journal of History, winter, 2006, Bill Sewell, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 610.

China Quarterly, March, 1993, D.W.Y. Kwok, review of The Study of Change, p. 172; June, 1994, Denis Fred Simon, review of Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan, p. 539; March, 2006, Peter C. Perdue, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 195.

China Review International, fall, 1994, Steven J. Hood, review of Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan, p. 229; spring, 2006, Diana Lary, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 255.

Choice, January, 1992, E.R. Webster, review of The Study of Change, p. 767; September, 2005, R.P. Gardell, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 163.

Current History, September, 1980, review of Yenan and the Great Powers: The Origins of Chinese Communist Foreign Policy, 1944-1946, p. 37.

Historian, winter, 2006, Don J. Wyatt, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 858.

Isis, September, 1993, William J. Haas, review of The Study of Change, p. 599.

Journal of Asian and African Studies, July-October, 1994, John Fuh-Sheng Hsieh, review of Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan, p. 275.

Journal of Asian Studies, May, 1992, Jonathan Spence, review of The Study of Change, p. 389.

Journal of Chemical Education, February, 1992, Alan J. Rocke, review of The Study of Change, p. A60.

Journal of Oriental Studies, February, 1995, Frank Dikötter, review of The Study of Change, pp. 117-118.

Journal of Social History, fall, 2006, David G. Atwill, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 279.

Nature, December 12, 1991, R.G.W. Anderson, review of The Study of Change, p. 441.

New Scientist, August 24, 1991, Peter Atkins, "The Long March to Catch Up," p. 47.

Pacific Affairs, spring, 1994, Donald R. Deglopper, review of Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan, p. 115.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 1993, review of Pollution, Politics, and Foreign Investment in Taiwan, p. 20; May, 2005, review of Reluctant Pioneers, p. 119.

Science, August 30, 1991, John B. Henderson, review of The Study of Change, p. 1045.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, October, 1993, Morris F. Low, review of The Study of Change, p. 677.