William Watson

Globalization, the dominant economic force of this era, is a phenomenon that invites misrepresentation and exaggeration. One of its results has been to introduce several false premises into this country's policy debates. So says William Watson, whose new book draws on economics and history to pose interesting challenges to modes of thinking that have become habitual in late twentieth-century Canadian life. Watson begins by pointing out that globalization is not new: Canadians have some 400 years' experience of being dependent on economic events in other countries. He goes on to show that deepening economic integration does not bind governments as tightly as much popular commentary suggests, but rather leaves room for considerable diversity in national economic and social policies. Although Canadians remain free to choose what size government they want, Watson argues that their decision to invest so much of their national identity in a larger-than-American state has been harmful to the country in ways that only now are becoming clear. This vigorously argued book offers much new insight and corrects many current misperceptions about Canadian affairs. Readers will welcome its lively mix of historical and contemporary perspectives.

This book is the first in a major three-volume series that will survey China's immense wealth of art, architecture, and artifacts from prehistoric times to the twentieth century. The Arts of China to A. D. 900 investigates the beginnings of the traditions on which much of the art rests, moving from Neolithic and Bronze Age China to the era of the Tang Dynasty around A. D. 900. William Watson discusses in lively detail a wide range of art forms and techniques: porcelain and pottery, lacquer, religious and secular painting and sculpture, mural painting, monumental sculpture and architecture. He explains the materials and techniques of bronze casting, jade carving, pottery manufacture, and other arts, and he describes the most important sites, the artifacts that were produced at each one, and the historical interactions between different areas. He discusses the iconography, the technique and the function of every art form. Written by one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of Chinese art and archaeology, this lavishly illustrated book will be a valuable resource for both experts and beginners in the field.

For more than forty years William Watson has occupied a unique place in the study and teaching of Chinese art in Great Britain. Professor Watson's publications cover a wide field, his command of Chinese, Japanese, Russian and western languages giving access to the fullest literature on his subjects. The colloquies he organized at the Percival David Foundation achieved international repute, with results that remain on record. At the Royal Academy of Arts he took a leading part in the Chinese archaeological exhibition of 1972 which reinstated cultural relations between Britain and China. Also at the Royal Academy he was the instigator and chief organizer of the Japanese exhibition of 1982, in which for the first time the art of the Tokugawa period was comprehensively presented outside of Japan as enshrining the national genius. The present two volumes collect Professor Watson's main smaller publications made in the course of museum and university careers. Many are specific studies of works in terms of cultural context, dating and historical significance. They contain mainly writing on Chinese, Japanese and Korean subjects, in particular the bronze art, ceramics and sculpture of the T'ang and earlier periods. Painting is treated in some closely defined topics.

For more than forty years William Watson has occupied a unique place in the study and teaching of Chinese art in Great Britain. Professor Watson's publications cover a wide field, his command of Chinese, Japanese, Russian and western languages giving access to the fullest literature on his subjects. The colloquies he organized at the Percival David Foundation achieved international repute, with results that remain on record. At the Royal Academy of Arts he took a leading part in the Chinese archaeological exhibition of 1972 which reinstated cultural relations between Britain and China. Also at the Royal Academy he was the instigator and chief organizer of the Japanese exhibition of 1982, in which for the first time the art of the Tokugawa period was comprehensively presented outside of Japan as enshrining the national genius. The present two volumes collect Professor Watson's main smaller publications made in the course of museum and university careers. Many are specific studies of works in terms of cultural context, dating and historical significance. They contain mainly writing on Chinese, Japanese and Korean subjects, in particular the bronze art, ceramics and sculpture of the T'ang and earlier periods. Painting is treated in some closely defined topics. Contents: Preface The Lathe in Antiquity Ancient Khorezm The Seligman Gift A Grave Guardian from Ch'ang Sha A Bronze Mirror from Shao Hsing Recent Discoveries in Chinese Archaeology I & II A Buddhist Patron of the Refectory Chinese Lacquered Wine-cups The Earliest Buddhist Images of Korea Sung Bronzes A Dated Buddhist Image of the Northern Wei Period A Jade Hatstand An Inscribed Jade Cup from Samarqand A Chinese Bronze Bell of the Fifth Century BC A Chinese Bronze Figure of the Fourth Century BC The Kingdom of Tien and the Dong Son Culture Inner Asia and China in the pre-Han Period Overlay and p'ing-t'o in T'ang Silverwork On T'ang Soft-glazed Pottery The Thai-British Archaeological Expedition Chinese Ceramics from Neolithic to T'ang History and Technological History Traditions of Material Culture in the Territory of Ch'u The Chinese Contribution to Nomad Culture in the pre-Han and early Han Periods

In 1861 William Watson, a native Scot who had established himself as a Louisiana businessman, enlisted in the Confederate forces although still a British subject. In 1887 he penned his memoirs ""to give,"" he said, ""a simple narrative of my experience in a war campaign."" Far from simple, Watson's work clearly and forcefully describes his experiences with the 3rd Louisiana Infantry in battles at Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge while depicting the mundane aspects of camp life and providing delightful and colourful character sketches of fellow soldiers and officers, including the legendary General Ben McCulloch. But Watson offers much more than the story of a soldier's life. He also provides an excellent depiction of southern society undergoing the crisis of secession and the tumultuous early years of the Civil War. Watson's status as an alien made him keenly aware of the culture of his adopted home, and the first twelve chapters of his work stand alone as a superb primary account of antebellum southern society and politics. Thomas W. Cutrer clearly and succinctly explains the setting of Watson's memoir, thoughtfully detailing the battle history of Watson's regiment and the opinions and ideals of Watson himself.