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The sentence, from chapter 7 of the Tobira textbook, is
日本の[漫画]{まんが}は[欧米人]{おうべいじん}の本の読み方さえ変えようとしている, which I think from context should
mean something like "Japanese manga even changed the way that Americans &
Europeans read books," except that ようとしている is in the present tense.

The rest of the paragraph goes on to explain, in the past tense, that the
manga fans in Europe and the US wanted the manga books to be published from
right to left like the books in Japan, and so it ended up being like that. The
"changing how Westerners read books" is clearly a thing that already happened.

I am used to that grammar construction meaning either "about to do something"
or "try to do something," neither of which work in this context. I'm
completely mystified. What are the nuances I'm missing?

Note: my question had to do mostly with the reason it is in the ongoing
present tense, not the actual meaning of ようとしている in the general case.
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grammar translation volitional-form
What is the use of 〜ようとしている?
This ようとする just means "about to do something".

Some western manga fans may have already changed their way of reading books,
but for now, that's a local phenomenon that has not yet spread to the general
public in Europe/USA. So in this context, the author listed what happened
objectively using the past tense, but he/she also thought saying
"欧米人の本の読み方が変わった" in general was too much. The sentence in question implies
that such change is still in progress and in its early stage.
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ようとしている Is not in the present tense, but the "ongoing" tense.  
Which is why it was translated as " **changing** how Westerners read books"
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For reference, the full sentence is from page 153 of the textbook 上級へのとびら, and
reads:

> その上、日本のマンガは欧米人の本の読み方さえ **変えようとしている** 。

* * *

## Grammar

> _I am used to that grammar construction meaning either "about to do
> something" or "try to do something," neither of which work in this context._

While ようとする can mean **to be about to do something** , as in (1)...

> (1) 部屋を出ようとすると、電話がなった。  
>  When I was about to leave the room, the phone rang.

This ようと **している** here doesn't seem to indicate _a person_ wanting to do
something. The meaning here is slightly different - it means **a change is
about to occur**. See the following examples:

> (2) 今にもコンサートが **始まろうとしている** 。  
>  (The) concert will start at any moment.
>
> (3) ようやく新しいビルが **完成しようとしている** 。  
>  Finally, (the) new building is about to be completed.
>
> (4) 冬が **終わろうとしている** ときに雪が降った。  
>  Just when winter was about to end, (the) snow fell.

Hence your sentence means:

> (5) その上、日本のマンガは欧米人の本の読み方さえ **変えようとしている** 。  
>  Moreover, Japanese manga is about to change even how Westerners read.

* * *

## Sources

Examples 2, 3 and 4 were taken from [this
video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTps3iylJso). It explains ～ようとしている from
00:30, and compares it with similar grammar: ～つつある, ～ばかりだ and ～一方だ.

Another resource: <https://www.renshuu.org/grammar/674/%3Cspan%20class=>
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