Book
In the Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan
My book, published by University of California Press in 2025 is available open access.
It received the Henry A. Wallace award from the Agricultural History Society for best book on the history of agriculture outside the U.S.
Official description:
In just half a century, Taiwan transformed from an agricultural colony into an economic power, spurred by efforts of the authoritarian Republic of China government in land reform, farmers associations, and improved crop varieties. Yet overlooked is how Taiwan brought these practices to the developing world. In the Global Vanguard elucidates the history and impact of the “Taiwan model” of agrarian development by incorporating how Taiwanese experts took the country’s agrarian success and exported it throughout rural communities across Africa and Southeast Asia. Driven by the global Cold War and challenges to the Republic of China’s legitimacy, Taiwanese agricultural technicians and scientists shared their practices, which they claimed were better suited for poor, tropical societies in the developing world. These development missions, James Lin argues, were portrayed in Taiwan as proof of the Republic of China’s modernity and were crucial to how the ruling government sought to hold onto its contested position in the international system and its rule by martial law at home.
Book reviews:
Professor Julia Strauss: “All interested in contemporary Taiwan history, as well as other audiences interested in agrarian development or the high modernism of the Green Revolution, should run, not walk, to get their hands on this informative and ground-breaking monograph.”
Professor Emily Hill: “Lin contributes critical analysis of an early example of South–South development thought and practice to studies of global development. The cliché that creative scholarship “breaks new ground” is very fitting in this case. Lin’s attention to how Taiwan assumed a leadership role in rural development opens new areas for scholarly cultivation.”
Professor Spencer Stewart: “In the Global Vanguard is a meticulously researched and analytically rich study that offers valuable insights for scholars of modern Taiwan and China, agricultural history, and global development in the Cold War era…Overall, the book effectively recasts development as a deliberate instrument of statecraft and demonstrates the significance of cases such as Taiwan for understanding the broader history of twentieth-century global development.”
Professor Justin Wu: “Through archival documents and oral interviews, Lin successfully demonstrates the significance of agrarian development, from implementing domestic reforms to spreading its “modern” ideals to the Global South, in the social and political development of the ROC in Taiwan…Scholars of modern Asia, global history, capitalism, and the history of science and technology alike will find this book intellectually stimulating and rewarding.”
James Baron: “Groundbreaking new book illuminates origins of Taiwan’s agrarian development”
Podcast interviews about the book:
- New Books Network
- National Taiwan Normal University International Taiwan Studies Centre
- Interlocutor Podcast
Recorded book talks: