Böcker av Albert M. Craig

The idea that society progresses through stages of development, from savagery to civilization, arose in eighteenth-century Europe. Craig traces how Fukuzawa Yukichi, deeply influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, "translated" the idea for Japanese society, both enriching and challenging the concept.

This text looks at the state of Choshu, in Japan, and how it changed in the years between 1853 and 1868. The author emphasizes the vitality of traditional values in Japan's early reaction to the West, and looks at the contribution of the old society to the formation of the new Meiji state.