THE LIGHT OF ASIA

The East-West trade in beliefs and ideas has been as important as technology and products.

Harding is a respected historian and academic who has written a string of books about Asia. Here, he casts a broad net, stretching from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the modern era. His focus, in relation to Asia, is on India, China, and Japan, and he emphasizes that influences in thinking, commerce, and politics have been a two-way street. Alexander the Great was the first European ruler to lead an army into Asia, and although he turned back at the northern frontier of India, his expedition provided hints of entirely different civilizations. Marco Polo brought back startling news of China as well as novel inventions and materials, which led to an era of discovery and trade. But Harding is more interested in the exchange of philosophical and theological ideas, and he notes that the awareness of other civilizations undermined biblical certainties in Europe. Voltaire, Schopenhauer, and Jung were informed by Hindu and Buddhist thinking, even while Enlightenment concepts influenced Asian crucial aspects of social development. In fact, Western and Asian ideas have become so entangled that the threads can be hard to separate, although Harding does a good job of discerning the main themes. Along the way, he encounters a cast of colorful characters, from vagabond adventurers to self-proclaimed New Age gurus. He writes with an authority that stems from deep research, although some parts of the work are dauntingly dense. Despite this, the book will appeal to readers interested in global history and culture.

A rich, entertaining exploration of the intellectual exchanges between East and West.