Asian history professor to speak about Japan

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

BATESVILLE — Jeffrey Alexander will speak at Lyon College as part of the Japan Lecture Series at 7 p.m. today in Derby Lecture Hall.

Alexander is an assistant professor of Asian history at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside, where he researches Japan’s industrial and technological growth since 1870. He received his doctorate in history from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His recent book, Japan’s Motorcycle Wars, was co-published by UBC Press and the University of Hawaii Press in 2008.

Alexander has given invited lectures about his research at Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of British Columbia and the University of Waterloo.

In his presentation, Alexander will discuss the development of Japan’s 20th century motorcycle industry through exploration of this industry’s four successful firms as well as more than a dozen of its failed companies.

Based upon this comparative approach, he draws novel, often surprising conclusions about Japan’s industrial and economic growth during the postwar era.

He is writing a history of Japan’s beer and whisky industries.

Three Rivers, Pages 56 on 11/05/2009