中华书局1989年7月出版柯文是经过美国史学正规训练又多年从事历史写作的历史学家。该书对美国战后至70年代前以费正清、李文森为代表的研究中国近代史的“西方中心论”思潮提出挑战,是代表新兴起的“中国中心观”潮流对这种思潮进行批判总结的一部重要著作。它较全面地介绍了战后美国研究中国近代史的方法、成果与趋向。 Published in July 1989, Zhonghua Book Company Ke Wen is a historian who has been trained in the formal history of the American historiography for many years. The book challenges the “Western-centered theory” trend of modern Chinese history represented by Fei Zhengqing and Li Weisen before the war to the 1970s, and represents the new trend of “new China's centralism” Thought critical summary summary of an important book. It comprehensively introduces the methods, achievements and trends of the post-war American study of modern history in China.