The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia Book Review

Pankaj Mishra's survey of European imperialism in Asia (Ottoman Empire, India, China, Japan) in the 19th century examines the physical impact, but also the cultural and intellectual impact of European ideas and culture on Asians. Mishra selects three individuals whose sense of their own cultures in competition/co-option with Modem European culture spells enormous changes: Jamal al-din Al-Afghani, Rabindranath Tagore, and Liang Qichano. Discuss how European imperialists impacted the lands of these three intellectuals. What were the individual responses of all three? What ideas or positions did they each develop in comparison to Modem European culture? Did their views change over time? In what ways? Why? How did the Great War and the subsequent peace treaty of Versailles impact these intellectuals and their respective lands?