Devoted to the history of non-Western science, technology, and medicine, this path-breaking volume goes beyond the legacy of the late historian of Chinese science, Joseph Needham, by covering an unprecedented range of countries and by adopting new approaches. The seventeen chapters address topics in China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. However, the contributors do not view the histories of these countries in isolation. Many adopt a cross-cultural approach by tracing interaction with other Asian countries and the West. The volume begins with four chapters that provide a "big picture" overview of science and civilization in Asia. These are followed by more focused essays, which deal with aspects of science, technology, and medicine in specific countries.

Specialist and non-specialist readers alike will leave this volume with a strong sense of the political and economic imperatives behind knowledge systems in Eastern Asia, their cultural contexts, and how they have coexisted along with those in the West.

Since the first world’s fair in London in 1851, at the dawn of the era of industrialization, international expositions served as ideal platforms for rival nations to showcase their advancements in design, architecture, science and technology, industry, and politics. Before the outbreak of World War II, countries competing for leadership on the world stage waged a different kind of war—with cultural achievements and propaganda—appealing to their own national strengths and versions of modernity in the struggle for power. World’s Fairs on the Eve of War examines five fairs and expositions from across the globe—including three that were staged (Paris, 1937; Dusseldorf, 1937; and New York, 1939–40), and two that were in development before the war began but never executed (Tokyo, 1940; and Rome, 1942). This coauthored work considers representations of science and technology at world’s fairs as influential cultural forces and at a critical moment in history, when tensions and ideological divisions between political regimes would soon lead to war.