This series reveals the impact of Asia's high civilizations on the development of modern Western society. The authors examine the ways in which European encounters with Asia have altered the development of Western society, art, literature, science, and religion since the Renaissance. In Volume III, "A Century of Advance", the authors have researched 17th-century European writings on Asia in an effort to understand how contemporaries saw Asian societies and peoples. Book One discusses Christian missions, and trade and conquest in the East and examines the various histories, reports, letterbooks, and travelogues printed and widely disseminated throughout Europe in the 17th century.