Originally published during the early part of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature were designed to provide concise introductions to a broad range of topics. They were written by experts for the general reader and combined a comprehensive approach to knowledge with an emphasis on accessibility. The Evolution of New Japan by Joseph H. Longford was first published in 1913. The book contains an account of the rapid changes which occurred in Japan following the significant mid-nineteenth-century trade agreements with Western powers.