Townsend Harris opened the hostile countries of Japan and Siam to international trade and was the first foreigner to lift the "silken curtain" of isolation from the mysterious East. Diplomat, adventurer, explorer, he also pioneered in American education and founded The College of the City of New York.

Forced to earn his living at thirteen, Harris clerked in a New York City drygoods store and within three years became a prosperous merchant. In his spare time he mastered three languages and taught himself geography and navigation, as though instinctively preparing for a future of adventure and excitement in far-off places. Meanwhile there was excitement enough in local politics. As a member of the Board of Education he plunged into controversy, advocating a free city college for needy students, and in 1847 founded The College of the City of New York—the first of its kind in America, and a triumph for his devotion to democratic ideals.

At the peak of success he lost his business, bought a half-interest in a schooner, loaded it with drygoods and began years of wandering in China, Burma, India, Siam, Borneo, Ceylon, trading with the head hunters of New Guinea and the man-eating natives of the Cannibal Islands. But Japan, forbidden to foreigners, intrigued him, and became the challenge of his life.

Learning that Commodore Matthew Perry had succeeded in getting Japanese to approve a treaty with the United States, he applied for the post of U.S. Consul-General and received the appointment, the first foreigner permitted to live there. Through patience and courage he overcame centuries of hatred and did single-handed what no foreigner had done in two hundred and fifty years — he negotiated the first commercial treaty in our diplomatic history.

Mr. Levine brilliantly recreates the fascinating, sometimes eerie world of nineteenth century Japan — its savagery, superstition and splendor. Most dramatically, he lays bare the heart of a daring man who planted peace in hostile soil and reaped international gratitude.

From the dust jacket