| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

William T. Rowe. Saving the World: Chen Hongmou and Elite Consciousness in Eighteenth-Century China. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2001. Pp. xii, 601. $59.95.

In his own words, William T. Rowe does not "shy away" from drawing broad comparisons. "The big ideas conventionally identified with the development of elite consciousness in early modern Europe—statism, liberalism, and individualism among them—were not, I would suggest, the prerogative of Europe alone" (p. 456). To avoid such comparisons would be to "cavalierly discard one of the most potent frameworks" of analysis developed by historians of the West and also to ignore the degree of global integration already present in the eighteenth century. Still, he acknowledges, the usefulness of such comparisons is limited. Rowe's ultimate goal "is to comprehend, as fully as possible and on its own terms, the ground of consciousness occupied by Chen Hongmou and his colleagues in the late imperial official elite" (p. 4). No matter what one thinks of the bold comparisons, the ultimate goal justifies the heft of this volume. It is Chen's own language, examined in each case with reference to particular moments and particular policy discussions, that might persuade readers of his fundamental modernity. . . .

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