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About
Professor Best studied for his undergraduate degree at the University of Leeds before moving to London where he studied for his PhD at the London School of Economics. He joined the LSE as a Lecturer in 1989.
Professor Best's main fields of research interests lie in Anglo-Japanese relations, the origins of the Pacific War; the international history of East Asia; the history of modern Japan, and intelligence and International history.
Other titles: MSc History of International Relations Programme Director; MSc Theory and History of International Relations Programme Director
Expertise
Modern East Asian History, Modern Japan
Publications
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Teaching
Professor Best usually teaches the following courses in the Department:
Undergraduate:
HY113 Empires and Resistance in Global History
HY235 Modernity and the State in East Asia: China, Japan and Korea since 1840
Postgraduate:
HY461 East Asia in the Age of Imperialism, 1839-1945
Professor Best also supervises the following PhD students:
| Research student | Provisional thesis title |
| Milton Chow | The Imperial Dimension in Pacific Diplomacy: Britain, the Dominions, and East Asia in the 1930s |
Engagement and impact
2022
New article
Read Professor Antony Best new open access research article, ‘To Contemplate the Soul of the Oldest Civilization in the World’: Britain and the Chinese Art Exhibition of 1935–36'.
2021
New Books Network podcast
Catch up with Professor Antony Beston New Books Network podcast. He talked about his latest book, British Engagement with Japan: The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance, 1854-1922(Routledge, 2020) with Shatrunjay Mall, a history PhD student from the University of Wisconsin. Listen to the episode.
2020
New book
British Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922: The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance(Routledge) goes beyond existing accounts which concentrate on high politics, strategy and simple assertions about the two countries’ similarities as island empires. It reconsiders the circumstances which led to the unlikely alliance of 1902 to 1922 between Britain, the leading world power of the day and Japan, an Asian, non-European nation which had only recently emerged from self-imposed isolation. Read more
2019
New co-edited volume
Dr Best released a new edited book (with Peter Kornicki and the late Sir Hugh Cortazzi) entitled British and Japanese Royal and Imperial Relations, 1868-2018: 150 Years of Association, Engagement and Celebration. The volume, published by Renaissance Books in association with the Japan Society, is divided into three sections, the first of which examines the "royals and imperials" history during the Meiji era; the second assesses the first half of the twentieth century; and the third focuses on post-war history up to the present day. Its appearance marks the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito in April 2019. Read more about his new publication.
2018
New co-edited book by Dr Antony Best
Dr Antony Best released a new co-edited volume in June with Renaissance Books, called British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy. The book reviews the role of British Foreign Secretaries in the formulation of British policy towards Japan from the re-opening of Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. It also takes a critical look at the history of British relations with Japan over these years. British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990is part of a 10-volume Japan Society's series, which includes Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraitsas well as British Envoys in Japan. The book is co-edited with Hugh Cortazzi, British Ambassador to Japan (1980-1984) and editor or contributor to all the volumes in the Japan Society's series.
2016
New book: Britain's Retreat From Empire in East Asia
Dr Antony Best’s new edited volume, Britain's Retreat from Empire in East Asia, 1905-1980,was published by Routledge in September 2016. The book addresses the decline of British power in Asia from a high point in 1905, when Britain’s ally Japan vanquished the Russian Empire, apparently reducing the perceived threat that Russia posed to its influence in India and China, to the end of the twentieth century, when British power had dwindled to virtually nothing. The book considers a range of issues that illustrate the significance and influence of the British Empire in Asia and the nature of Britain’s imperial decline. Subjects covered include the challenges posed by Germany and Japan during the First World War, British efforts at international co-operation in the interwar period, the British relationship with Korea and Japan in the wake of the Second World War, and the complicated path of decolonisation in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Order the book.
LSE Excellence in Education award winner
In June 2016, Dr Antony Best won an LSE Excellence in Education Awardwith other members of the Department. Designed to support the School’s aspiration of creating ‘a culture where excellence in teaching is valued and rewarded on a level with excellence in research’ (LSE Strategy 2020), the Excellence in Education Awards are made, on the recommendations of Heads of Department, to staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments.
Dr Antony Best in the Yomiuri Shimbun
Dr Antony Best was interviewed by the Japanese daily, the Yomiuri Shimbun, on 1 February 2016. In his interview, he talks about his recent book, Daiei Teikoku no Shin-Nichi Ha: Kaisen ha Naze Sakerare Nakattaka[British Japanophiles: Why Could Britain and Japan Not Avoid War?]. His book is translated from the original English-language essays by Dr Tomoki Takeda and came out in September 2015.
2015
International History PhD student, supervised by Dr Antony Best, wins Institute of Historical Research's Pollard Prize
Cees Heere, a PhD student at the Department, is this year’s recipient of the Institute of Historical Research’s Pollard Prize for the best paper given to one of the Institute’s research seminars by a doctoral student. As a result he will have his paper published in the IHR’s peer-reviewed journal Historical Researchand be given books to the value of £200. Mr Heere’s paper, which is entitled ‘The Imperial Politics of Asian Immigration 1900-1914’, was presented to the International History seminar at the IHR, of which Dr Antony Best is one of the convenors, in January this year. This is also very pleasing news for Dr Antony Best, because Mr Heere is one of his PhD students.
International History of Twentieth Century and Beyond, 3rd Edition
The third edition of the hugely successful
International History of Twentieth Century and Beyond
was out in March 2015 with new updates and additions. The volume, co-authored by our lecturers, Dr Antony Best and Dr Kirsten Schulze, and former lecturers in our department, Professor Jussi M. Hanhimäki and Professor Joseph A. Maiolo, features several updates, namely, new material on the Arab Spring, including specific focus on Libya and Syria and increased debate on the question of US decline and the rise of China. The new edition also includes a new chapter on the international history of human rights and its advocacy organisations, including NGOs, and a timeline to give increased context to those studying the topic for the first time.
Read Professor Jussi M. Hanhimäki's interview about the new edition.