Buy used: $6.27

$7.99 delivery November 1 - 22. Details

Used: Good | Details

Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Follow the Author

Ezra F. Vogel

The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Edwin D. Reischauer Lectures, 1990) Hardcover – January 1, 1992

by Ezra F. Vogel (Author)

4.5 13 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$6.27

—

$2.29

Paperback

"Please retry"

$32.00

$5.00

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$89.00

$36.18

Japan and the four little dragons - Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore - constitute less than one percent of the world's land mass and less than four percent of the world's population. Yet since the 1950s they have become, with Europe and North America, one of the three great pillars of the modern industrial world order. How did they achieve such a rapid industrial transformation? Why did the four little dragons gain such Promethean energy at this particular time in history? Ezra F. Vogel, provides an explanation of East Asia's industrial breakthough. While others have attributed this success to tradition or to national economic policy, Vogel analysis illuminates how the cultural backgound interacted with politics, strategy, and situational factors to ignite the greatest burst of sustained economic growth the world has yet seen. Vogel describes how each of the four little dragons acquired the political stability needed to take advantage of the special opportunities available to would-be industrializers after World War II. He traces how each little dragon devised a structure and a strategy to hasten industrialization and how firms acquired the entrepreneurial skill, capital, and technology to produce internationally competitive goods. Vogel aims to pinpoint how institutions and cultural practices rooted in the Confucian tradition were adapted to the needs of an industrial society, enabling East Asia to use its special situational advantages to respond to global opportunities.

Print length

150 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard Univ Pr
Publication date

January 1, 1992
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0674315251
ISBN-13

978-0674315259
See all details

Lin Yutang
292
Paperback
$15.49
$10.83 shipping
Yasunari Kawabata
203
Paperback
$16.95
$9.90 shipping
Various
17
Paperback
$18.00
$10.58 shipping
Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).
Rabindranath Tagore
6,282
Paperback
$4.90
$10.65 shipping
Conrad Schirokauer
41
Paperback
$231.95
$12.37 shipping
Temporarily out of stock.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

13 global ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Tom

just ok

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed the author's book Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, however, this book was poorly written and not that enjoyable to read.

Helpful

S.R.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great primer or refresher on the subject

Helpful

John Elmers

Great, slim comparative introduction. Homes in on key issues, themes of an era.

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2014

Ezra Vogel's Four Little Dragons is a comparative primer that distills key narratives and lessons from four "Asian miracle" economies. Vogel skillfully narrates the rapid growth episodes of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan in a slim volume. Remarkably, he synthesizes the varied experiences of these late developers, drawing key insights from a rich comparative setting. This guide is a solid starting place for those wanting to understand "what happened." Also--an unfortunately dated cover for a story still worth reading.

While concise, and written in an almost aphoristic style, there is no shortage of ideas and bibliographic material. Western scholars can view the Asian growth miracle as one big blob of statist industrial strategies. But paces, policies, and timelines very, and Vogel's brevity amplifies the differences among the four dragons. For instance, his juxtaposition of Singapore and Hong Kong will frustrate grand theorizers of the post-war Asian experience and those looking for singular models of structural change.

Vogel wrangles insights from these experiences, but you wont find a simple, grand explanation here. His final theoretic chapter is written in a chunky, pragmatic style, much like the preceding case studies, and highlights a number of key takeaways. Common patterns have bite: The post war era found societal hierarchies reshuffled and old elites were often supplanted. Each regime presided over industrialization with a sense of urgency; trauma undergirded the rise of the region's KMTs or PAPs and binding political threats loomed. Importantly, new political elites had a template for industrialization: Japan's Meiji-era. Finally, as a sociologist, as well, Vogel forcefully highlights the importance of the Confucian past in allowing the four dragons to produce competitive bureaucracies.

In sum, Four Little Dragons is a great introduction to "what happened" across post-war Asia. Instead of a giant comparative tome or slick theories, Vogel deliveries the key issues any scholar of industrialization has to confront. For this reason, Four Little Dragons is a great reading for popular economic readers or for a college/graduate course syllabus.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

jgacis

The industrial growth of East Asia

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2010

While this book was written more than 19 years ago, I still found much relevance in the information found in this book after reading it. The author gives a meaningful explanation of why Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore (little dragons) were able to grow very rapidly over tremendous hurdles while other asian countries have not. China today continues to dominate the asian economic headlines but after reading Vogel's book, one can still see how industrialization in a Confucian society makes a difference, even in small dragon countries.

In the first half of the book, the author explains how the colonial history and influence Japan imposed on Taiwan and South Korea made a profound impact on their economic development. Technology and socio-political values of early leadership in these small countries are also discussed and given relationship to their historical ties with Japan. In the second half, Hong Kong and Singapore are briefly discussed. Their unique development of growth are summarized by their special circumstances of geographic location and influence by the British. Although the discussion of the last two countries (Hong Kong and Singapore) were short (about 6 and 8 pages respectively - out of 112 pages), the author does expand on all the countries' asian heritage and common traits in the last chapter.

I enjoyed reading the book, finding it historically informative and insightful. The story Vogel presents is clear and structured to explain his opinions, focusing more on past analysis rather than numerical analysis or future trends. While more varied specific examples may have helped to support his views better, the book is just long enough and well written (for the general reader) to make its point.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Long Yingxian

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2014

good deal

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2014

Thank you!

Helpful

Dex Randall Howard

Concise, scholarly study of the post-war "little dragons"

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 1999

Case studies of the post-war economic development of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. A concise and scholarly work. Though all "Asian," these countries differ, yet each have done well economically.Why so? Vogel offers an answer. I'm writing this, 26 March 1999. East Asia is experiencing extreme economic difficulties, but this does not undo what has occurred nor remove the possibility for future development. If you're doing business in East Asia, Four Little Dragons will provide you with a quick read-in to four major players.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Image Unavailable

Follow the Author

The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Edwin D. Reischauer Lectures, 1990) Hardcover – January 1, 1992

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Follow the Author

The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Edwin D. Reischauer Lectures, 1990) Hardcover – January 1, 1992

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.