Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom is an American historian of modern China. He is Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. Wasserstrom's research interests began with the role of student protest and have grown to include the social history of China and comparative social history.[1]
In his first monograph, Student Protests in the 20th Century: The View from Shanghai, Wasserstrom pays particular attention to symbols used by student protesters in Shanghai. Wasserstrom argues that students became particularly good at mimicking the practices of government officials, which made their causes seem legitimate.[5]David Strand praised the monograph as a "major contribution" because it "offers a model for rethinking the late imperial, Republican and Communist periods as a historical unit conditioned by indigenous and global forces, and explained by Sinological and comparative models."[6]
In 2009, Routledge published Wasserstrom's book Global Shanghai, an analysis of the globalization of Shanghai during seven 25-year periods, and of the popular image of Shanghai as the hub of cultural interaction between China and other countries since 1850.[7] Wasserstrom argues that, while historians should be suspicious of those who propagate this image, they should not underestimate the city's potential for cultural innovation.[8]
Alongside these books, Wasserstrom has written articles for, and edited, several anthologies.[9]
Wasserstrom's book China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know was first published in 2010 and a second edition came out in 2013.[14] The book contains an overview of recent Chinese history and includes his attempts to counter what he sees as western misunderstandings about China, including misunderstandings about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989[15] and China's one-child policy.[16] Wasserstrom argues that the most common misunderstanding of China is that China is culturally homogeneous. Wasserstrom's view is that, like the United States, China has enormous ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity.[17] The book also contains an overview of the issues that China was facing at the time of writing.[18] The book had mixed reviews. Barrett L. McCormick, for instance, had some misgivings about Wasserstrom's claim that Mao Zedong was, like Andrew Jackson, a man of the people who committed some atrocities, but McCormick concluded that "if someone asks you to recommend a first book on China that he or she can read on the plane, this is the best book available."[19]
Publications
Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink. Columbia Global Reports, 2020.
^Paul Bailey, "Student Protests in 20th Century China," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 56, no. 3 (1993):621-622.
^David Strand, "Student Protests in Twentieth-Century China: The View from Shanghai by Jeffrey Wasserstrom," The Journal of Asian Studies 51, no. 3 (August 1992): 660-662.
^Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Global Shanghai, 1850-2010, (New York: Routledge, 2009), 11.
^Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, xvi.
^Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, 80.
^Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, 104-106.
^Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, 114-125.
^Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know,113-148.
^Barret L. McCormick, "China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know," The Journal of Asian Studies 70, no. 1 (February 2011): 216-218.
Bibliography
Bailey, Paul. "Student Protests in 20th Century China." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 56, no. 3 (1993):621-622.
Strand, David. "Student Protests in Twentieth-Century China: The View from Shanghai by Jeffrey Wasserstrom." The Journal of Asian Studies 51, no. 3 (August 1992): 660-662.
McCormick, Barret L. "China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know." The Journal of Asian Studies 70, no. 1 (February 2011): 216-218.
