By the late 1970s, scholars and journalists were quick to proclaim the dawn of a new era--the Age of the Pacific. The 1980s--with the economic growth of Japan and the Four Dragons, the industrialization of several Southeast Asian states, the growth of new industries on the West Coast of North America and decline of industry in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast, and the collapse of centrally planned economies--seemed to confirm this prognosis. Yet,...