Asian Studies

The Blue-Eyed Shogun: Douglas MacArthur and the Making of Postwar Japan

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│By Masaki Morisawa, Product Solutions Consultant│

There are two American names that every Japanese schoolchild learns in history class because of the enormous impact they had on our country. One is Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1794–1858), whose visits in 1853 and 1854 helped end more than two centuries of Tokugawa diplomatic seclusion. The other is General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964), who, as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) from 1945 to 1951, oversaw the complete transformation of post-World War II Japan.

Both men embodied American power at critical turning points, but MacArthur’s influence was arguably greater. Perry jolted Japan out of seclusion and set major changes in motion, but he did not rewrite Japan’s laws, restructure its society, or govern its people. MacArthur oversaw sweeping changes in all three areas, leaving a legacy that is still debated today.

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Gale Fellows Present their DH Research at the Socio-Economic History Society Conference

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Blog Post Author with the Gale–SEHS Fellows

| By Masaki Morisawa, Product Solutions Consultant | On the sunny weekend of 9–10 May 2026, the 95th National Conference of the Socio-Economic History Society (SEHS) took place at Senshu University’s suburban Ikuta campus. More than 300 members gathered for the event, presenting and discussing topics as varied as promissory notes in Edo-period Japan, American … Read more

Contours of Connection: Exploring India–Africa Ties Through Memory, Movement, and Meaning

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│By Anushka Srivastava, Gale Ambassador at the University of Delhi, India│

India-Africa relations are strengthening in a new global scenario, driven by economic complementarity, strategic alignment, and a shared focus on multilateralism. In 2025, India strengthened its ties with Africa through several high-level visits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a significant five-nation tour in July 2025, in Ghana and Namibia, and President Droupadi Murmu made a historic visit to Angola in November 2025.

Understanding the long-standing relationship between India and Africa requires exploring the historical documents that shaped early contact, mobility, diplomacy, economic networks, and political exchange. For this, Gale Primary Sources offers unparalleled access to documents that illuminate how people, commodities, and ideas moved between the two regions.

This blog post traces these linkages through four lenses – historical, diplomatic, economic, and political – using illustrative citations from Gale Primary Sources collections.

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Douglas MacArthur – A Life in Service

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│By Phil Virta, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Gale Primary Sources│

Douglas MacArthur was an American military commander whose career spanned World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. One of the few U.S. military leaders to achieve a five-star rank, MacArthur was described by admirers as heroic and patriotic, while critics considered him to be overly ambitious and narcissistic.

The archive Asia in the Twentieth Century: General MacArthur and War, Occupation, and Reconstruction in the Pacific, 1941-1972 is about more than just MacArthur, but his figure permeates the sources. His leadership shaped the Pacific War, the rebuilding of Japan, the course of the Korean War, and U.S. policy across Asia.

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China in Print: Two Centuries of English-Language Reporting, 1827-1974

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│By Lindsay Whitaker-Guest, Associate Editor, Gale Primary Sources│

Gale Primary Sources has recently released its latest addition to the groundbreaking series China and the Modern World. China and the Modern World: The English Language Press in China, 1827-1974 features 25 English-language newspapers and periodicals published over the course of 150 years of immense change and transformation in China.

These newspapers and periodicals played a significant role in the cultural and political life of major Chinese cities, offering critical and diverse reporting on milestone events. In this post I will delve into these newly digitised titles and discuss some of the stories and insights which can be researched through this unique new resource.

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Uncovering India with Gale Primary Sources

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│By Mickey Mehta Arorra, Digital Product Trainer│

India’s history unfolds across centuries of transformation – colonial rule, the struggle for independence, post-colonial reconstruction, and global diplomacy. Much of this complex narrative has long remained buried in distant or hard-to-reach archives. Now, Gale Primary Sources brings these rich and rare documents into the digital realm, making them accessible to students, educators, and researchers across India.

With collections such as Decolonization: Politics and Independence in Former Colonial and Commonwealth Territories, The Making of Modern Law: Legal Treaties, 1800-1926, and Women’s Studies Archive, learners can dive deep into archival material that brings India’s layered past to life in vivid detail.

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A Moment of Anguish: Revisiting the Separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia Through British Library Newspapers

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|By Liping Yang, Senior Manager, Academic Publishing, Gale Asia|

On the morning of August 9, 1965, a visibly shaken Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister of Singapore, stood before journalists and television cameras. His voice trembled and his eyes welled with tears when he talked about the moment when the agreement “which severed Singapore from Malaysia” was signed. For him, it was “a moment of anguish.” His words marked the beginning of a new chapter for Singapore—a moment that would redefine two nations.

Sixty years on, the emotional weight of that day still echoes through the region’s political and cultural memory. But what did ordinary people know at the time? How did newspapers report the unfolding crisis, and what voices emerged in the public sphere?

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Tracing the History of Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong through British Official and Non-Official Documents

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By Liping Yang, Senior Manager, Academic Publishing, and Emma Harris, Associate Editor, Gale Primary Sources│

Gale has recently released Part IV in its State Papers Online Colonial: Asia series (SPOCA 4). This new module provides a perfect continuation of State Papers Online Colonial Asia Part I-III through a combination of major Colonial Office files featuring (East & West) Malaysia and Singapore as well as a curated collection of Hong Kong-related British official and non-official files selected from the archives of the Colonial Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, and the British Council.

Consisting of around 380,000 pages of documents digitized from 15 series, this new module features a wide range of content types including correspondence, register of out-letters, registered files, government gazettes, sessional papers, and maps and plans, providing a wealth of valuable material for researching the history of Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong as former British colonies between 1844 and 1997.

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Treaty Ports and Modern China

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Map of China

|By Liping Yang, Senior Manager, Academic Publishing, and Lindsay Whitaker-Guest, Associate Editor, Gale Primary Sources|

Gale has just released China and the Modern World: Regional China and the West, 1759-1972. As the ninth instalment in the series, this new archive features a compilation of 39 series of mostly British Foreign Office (FO) files. These include general correspondence and registers composed by the British legation in Beijing as well as British consulates based in more than 20 Chinese coastal and inland treaty ports.

Also included are the private and semi-official correspondence of Sir Henry Pottinger, Sir John N. Jordan, and Lord Edmund Hammond as well as the records and photographs of the British concession in Tianjin. This post will explore a few of the topics and events which can be studied through this new archive.

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A Century of Change: How Soviet Union Policies Reshaped Kazakhstan’s Demographics

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|By Alisher Romankul, Year 11 Student at NIS of Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan|

It is believed that the Kazakhs, who lived a nomadic culture for hundreds of years, faced a number of demographic crises in the twentieth century under the rule of the USSR. Since the beginning of industrialisation in the Soviet Union and before the collapse of the USSR, the ethnic and demographic situation in the country has changed dramatically.

This blog post will explore industrialisation, the famine of 1931-1933, deportation in the Kazakh SSR, World War II, and the development of virgin lands and discuss how the collapse of the USSR affected the population in the country.

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