While I've had a good bit of exposure to the issues that the author is dealing with, this is the best overall examination I've ever read of the whole process by which Meiji Japan became a continental empire, with the Kingdom of Korea ultimately losing its independence. Besides that, Jager considers the whole period of peak imperialism in East Asia, with special focus given to the Russo-Japanese competition, and bringing together as a system events and trends that are usually dealt with separately. Ultimately, Jager concludes that the struggle for empire has never ended, and ties the events of a century ago into current trends of rising hegemonic conflict.

About the only thing that I'm marking Jager down for a bit is that she writes much better about social and diplomatic conflict than she does about the military aspects of this era; though not badly. ( )