I had Owen Lattimore as a professor at Leeds University in 1970 at the department of Chinese Studies which he headed. He gave a lecture series overview of Chinese history. I realized then that I was witnessing a scholar with a broad multidisciplinary intellect. Truly brilliant, truly old-school in the best sense. He also has the distinction of being one of the first europeans forced to leave the US in the the 1950s due to the McCarthy madness. No doubt because he was able to put the Chinese revolution in perspective unlike most commentators in this country at the time.
I recently re-read Inner Asia Frontiers and it still holds up. Among many other things, I appreciated his insight on the expanding Japanese empire from the viewpoint of 1939 - which is when the book was first published. This does not mean that the book is in any way dated. Quite the opposite. From a historical point of view it is entirely relevant, and indispensable for anyone interested in China's relationship with its neighbors to the west. Historical scholarship at its best
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