Book Description
In The Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present, Andrew Gordon paints a richly nuanced and strikingly original portrait of the last two centuries of Japanese history. He takes students from the days of the shogunate--the feudal overlordship of the Tokugawa family--through the modernizing revolution launched by midlevel samurai in the late nineteenth century; the adoption of Western hairstyles, clothing, and military organization; and the nation's first experiments with mass democracy after World War I. Gordon offers the finest synthesis to date of Japan's passage through militarism, World War II, the American occupation, and the subsequent economic rollercoaster. But the true ingenuity and value of Gordon's approach lies in his close attention to the non-elite layers of society. Here students will see the influence of outside ideas, products, and culture on home life, labor unions, political parties, gender relations, and popular entertainment. The book examines Japan's struggles to define the meaning of its modernization, from villages and urban neighborhoods, to factory floors and middle managers' offices, to the imperial court. Most importantly, it illuminates the interconnectedness of Japanese developments with world history, demonstrating how Japan's historical passage represents a variation of a process experienced by many nations and showing how the Japanese narrative forms one part of the interwoven fabric of modern history.With a sustained focus on setting modern Japan in a comparative and global context, The Modern History of Japan is ideal for undergraduate courses in modern Japanese history, Japanese politics, Japanese society, or Japanese culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

College Textbook
I mistakenly didn't realise that this is a college textbook. It also reads like a college textbook on Japanese history. As a matter of fact it feels like I am studying! Anyway, a fine book but be warned, it's like taking Modern Japanese History 101.

Untangling and Navigating 200 Years of History
In A Modern History of Japan, Andrew Gordon sets to do the ambitious - to give a bottom up approach to writing a historical narrative - without ignoring the big picture. Gordon intertwines several interrelated events in Japan's continuing history pertaining to social markers - from the Tokugawa era to the present. By doing this he brings to presence a myriad of themes.

Gordon's book is a traditional chronological examination of the history of Japan. However, Gordon takes history to a different level by adding complexity. Gordon takes the time to examines, in some detail the issue of women in Japan's fast changing society, the ever changing identity markers of the Japanese youth with reference to their role in society, from the Tokugawa to the post-war era. Lets face it, modernization and democratization in Japan has been turbulent to say the least, and as examined in this sweeping book by Gordon, the causes and effects are many and as discussed previously - complicated.Gordon has a wonderful handle on the complexity despite his position as an outsider to the culture.

Deftly opening with the fall of the shogunate, Gordon deftly untangles and presents the interior and exterior pressures that form the impetus for the civil strife and the eventual Meiji "restoration." The "restorers" according to Gordon were alarmed by and reacted to European colonization. Gordon explains that the rejoinder to change, by all classes is intertwined with nationalism. Gordon navigates us through the postwar Japan were the national polity was more worried with reconstruction than with "history," setting the stage for the so-called Japanese economic miracle up to 1990 - which is really a result of Realpolitik and historical luck.

The book is nothing less than a comprehensive look into two centuries of Japanese history. The eclectic but solid mix of topics/themes includes landlord-tenant dealings since the Tokugawa era to the present, and lastly, the dangers Japan has to navigate through in this challenging yet promising post war era.Gordon ends the book hurriedly with a quick examination of the ever-changing party politics horizon in the present era.

Miguel Llora

Excellent history book
This book was easy to read and understand. I enjoyed it so much that I did not even sell it at the end of the class.I reccomend this book to anyone even remotely interested in Japanese history.

Great Overview of Japanese Histor
Andrew Gordon covers the important aspects of Japanese history through time. He starts off by dealing with the Tokugawa and ends with the current political situation at the turn of the century. The appendixes provide a good account of Japanese government by listing the prime ministers and the country's election results since the end of WWII. Contemporary History of Japan focuses on important aspects of the Tokugawa regime such as its political, social and economic set up of Tokugaw Japan and focuses on its eventual downfall. The book continues with the Samurai revolution and the Meiji revolution that set the path for Japan to become a world power. Gordon then continues Japan in the early 20th centiru and how the countr began to change internallly as a result and how Japan dealt the Depressoin Crises in the 1930s, its wars with China and Russia and its eventual role in WWII and the American influence in the post WWII years. After the end of WWII, Japan becomes a dominant figure on the world stage with rapid economic growth unparalled else where in the world resulting in massive changes in society. Gordon does deal with Japanese economic troubles in the post WWII era such as the oil crises in the 1970s and the how Japanese bubble burst as well as other issues Japan is facing such as low-birth rates and changing gender roles.

Great background to Japan overall.

Outstanding
This is an outstanding book on the modern history of Japan since the early 19th century. Mr. Gordon writes exceptionally well; unlike most academics, his sentences are mercifully short. You won`t get lost in any run-on sentences that take up half a page. Having said that, however, this is not a book just for children. People who have lived in Japan for years or who have studied Japan extensively as graduate students will find something to learn in this book. The book has many appealing aspects. It devotes considerable time to discussing the lives of ordinary Japanese, and it makes for fascinating reading. The book is relatively short and can be finished in one week. Finally, the author`s emphasis on the similarities between Japan and other nations in the tumultuous modern era is most welcome. The Japanese are not a unique, bizarre people; like all people everywhere, modernity is something they have adjusted to and dealt with, with varying degrees of success and failure. Mr. Gordon`s book is well worth reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A tiny if very complete history
The History Of Japan by R. H. P.Mason and J. G.Caiger is a very small yet very complete book of Japanese history and culture, from 10,000 BC up to the 1950s.Maps, photos, quotes and a small bibliography add delight and swift understanding to a very complex subject.Perfect gift for a person just showing interest in Japanese or Asian history.Deals with the major points, the changing twists and turns, in Japan during its history.It also deals with the culture, the religions, the development of city life, the arts, the political and industrial changes with just the right amount of information.

Good, not great
When I first became interested in the history of Japan, this is the first book that I read.At the time, I gave this book five stars.As I have read more about Japan though this book falls a little bit for the things it leaves out and the fact that it focuses too much attention to relatively obscure cultural phenomena without expending equal energy to political and military development.I would recommend this book for a good start to learning about Japan and a quicker read than Sansom's histories or the Oxford histories.

An overview of Japanese history
This book is a great introduction to the history of Japan, as the liner on the back of the books says. It suffers a little from the obvious problem of trying to squeeze two thousand years of civilisation into 370 pages, and as such is basically a fleshed out timeline. There is little elaboration on events and presents the reader with an endless string of historical characters, places and dates. However, there is a good focus on the development of the arts in each period. It would seem the authors have a great liking for Japanese verse, so the seemingly often appearance of poetry excerpts can get a little annoying if one is reading it purely for historical information. The book also glosses over recent Japanese history, from about the beginning of the occupation by American forces. As a turbulent time, there would be a lot to write about but if you're interested in that, try John Dower's "Embracing defeat" or a number of other books on Japan's modern history. If you are planning on making a visit to Japan this may be a good book to read so that you know when "that castle" or "this temple" was built, by whom and why.

A comprehensive history of Japan
This book makes an excellent introduction to Japanese history, as it covers the whole spectrum of history and does not focus in on one part too much. About two thirds of the chapters cover political and general history, and the other third look at cultural and religious developments. My only problems are that it doesn't seem to go in-depth in Buddhism enough and it seems to move past the civil war in the 16th century too quickly. It is especially good at developing the ideas of Shiki land rights and how Buddhism developed in Japan. A good general history or introduction to Japanese history. ... Read more

Book Description
A timely fifteenth Anniversary reissue of a "deeply moving book" (Studs Terkel) that portrays the Japanese experience during World War II in all its complexity.

Following the release of Clint Eastwood's epic film Letters from Iwo Jima, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, there has been a renewed fascination and interest in the Japanese perspective on World War II. This pathbreaking work of oral history is the first book ever to capture—in either Japanese or English—the experience of ordinary Japanese people during the war.

In a sweeping panorama, Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook take us from the Japanese attacks on China in the 1930s to the Japanese home front during the inhuman raids on Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, offering the first glimpses of how the twentieth century's most deadly conflict affected the lives of the Japanese population. The book "seeks out the true feelings of the wartime generation [and] illuminates the contradictions between the official views of the war and living testimony" (Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan).

Japan at War is a book to which Americans and Japanese will continue to turn for decades to come. With more than 30,000 copies sold to date, this new paperback edition features an updated cover designed to appeal to a new generation of readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Insight into Nationalism
This book gave me great insight into how a people are injured by the lies of their government. I learned a lot about the Japanese culture.I could easily see myself in the mothers of Japan. I bought this book at a garage sale where the owner was selling all of the books they read in their Asian studies program at college. I was honestly shocked and heartbroken to read about the Japanese point of view.
The really scary thing is how current the idea still is that an uneducated populus can really be driven to a horrible end by their government's lies! Now I am learning Japanese (another garage sale find!) from tapes. I will visit Japan with a greater sense of their history and culture.

JAPAN AT WAR: ORAL HISTORY
This was a very good well written book!It is easy to follow, and takes the reader down numerous paths of the war years and the scars that were inflicted on those who lived, and died.

I believe the book was initially utilized as a text in some colleges, but it is not written like any text book I ever had to read.

This book is an accumulation of oral interviews that helps the reader to visualize, smell, and even taste the sadness and poverty ofthose who fought the war; not just on the high seas, or the jungles of the South Pacific, but...on the streets of Tokyo, Nagasaki, Kyoto, and Hiroshima.

This book examines a proud culture and the utterly devestated people who lived within it.

War from the Japanese perspective
A compelling set of recollections from Japanese citizens and soldiers who lived and experienced WWII.These stories give an interesting insight into the psyche of the average Japanese citizen and soldier during the war.This is one of the few existing WWII books pertaining to the Pacific Campaign that gives you insight into the thoughts and feelings of the Japanese during the war.A must read for anyone wanting to see the perspective from the "other side".Highly recommended.

A "must read" for anyone who want to understand the Japanese psyche during the war.
Being an ethnic Chinese, though born after the war, I just couldn't understand the Japanese inability to accept that they have been behaving in a most atrocious manner during the war, given the massive amount of evidence that has been accumulated to prove that point. Despite there being so much evidence pointing to the fact it was the Japanese who started the war, and yet, they seemed to think of themselves as the victims rather than the victimizers. That was something I couldn't understand.

But now, having read this book, though I don't agree with them, I could, in an intuitive sense, understand them.

At the beginning of Part Four, on page 259, it's printed these words:

"Umi yukaba, misuku kabane...Across the sea, corpses soaking in the water, Across the mountains, corpses heaped upon the grass, We shall die by the side of our lord. We shall never look back."

"Umi yukaba.." is from a collection of poetry known as Manyoushu, which dated from around 700 AD, around the Nara, Heien period. This specific poem, "Umi yukaba..." was set to music in 1937, and after 1943, it preceded radio announcements of battles in which Japanese soldiers "met honorable death rather than the dishonor of surrender." In a flash,I understood the mentality of the time. They were really still set in the medieval feudal samurai mentality. The veneer of modernity was just that, a veneer of modernity. They might be able to build and master complex machinery of the modern twentieth century, the mentality was still of feudal Heien period. Their treatment of the conquered people was justified. That's how the Heien period warriors behaved. Their perception of themselves as the victims were justified. That's what samurai warrior would feel. They were all prepared, or at least indoctrinated to be prepared to die in the service of the emperor.

I cannot imagine any other country which would announce their battles lost with such a song.

The army doctor, Yuasa Ken, described his wartime experience, that of experimental surgery on perfectly healthy, well except for the fact that they have been starved, perfectly healthy Chinese. To them, there was nothing wrong. The Chinese were the conquered people. The Imperial Army needed doctors to treat the wounded soldiers, so many doctors were recruited into the army, including pediatricians, dermatologists, ophthalmologists and so on. These doctors have no experience in treating trauma injuries. How to train them? What better way than to use the Chinse as experimental animals for their training. Only in the light of the concept of "human rights", a concept developed in the West, was that kind of experimenation considered wrong. In the feudal samurai ethics, that was not considered wrong.

Now look at the situation this way. From the samurai ethics point of view, they had not behaved wrongly. But after the defeat, and the acceptance of the world view of "human rights", what they have done was definitely wrong. However, in their minds, they haven't done anything wrong. How to reconcile the one with the other? How to reconcile their internal moral judgment, "we have not done anything wrong", with the now newly developed and accepted concept of "human rights"? The only way out of this psychological dilemma is to deny that those atrocities have happened. The only way out is to deny that the Nanjin massacre had happened, that the human experimentationsin Unit 731 had ever happened.

This is a most fascinating book, and is a MUST READ for anyone interested in how the Japanese felt and thought of the events of the time.

An Illuminating View from the Other Side
I have sought, over the years, to try to understand the nature of our enemies in war.Some wars, like WWI, were essentially fought over the issue of power and control.Some wars, like the US Civil War, get redefined periodically and often to the advantage of who's redefining it.Today, July 4, is a good day to reflect on our Revolutionary War and, although I don't do it annually like I feel I should, reading the Declaration of Independance is an excellent way to understand the grievances that led to war.It is WWII that had been my biggest challenge to comprehend and it was the Japanese side of this conflict that I understood the least.I can't say that one book clarified everything I didn't understand but "Japan at War: An Oral History" put me on the fast track to getting there.

This is an amazing book in many ways.First, the scope of the book covers the many different facets of the Japanese experiance in WWII.For example, the war begins for them with the invasion of China and the conquest of Manchuria; aspects we generally know little about.It has a chapter on the kamikazi's and the similar sailers who volunteered to man suicide torpedos.It looks to the glory of the height of conquest and to the chaos and destruction of the waning days.It takes a look at the little mentioned Soviet invasion of Manchuria (that began after The Bomb).It takes a brief look at post-war Japan as well.It does all of this through the interviews the authors conducted with a number of soldiers, sailers, officers, civilians, and conscripts.To their credit, the husband and wife team of Haruko Taya and Theodore Cook constructed their book by publishing the reminiscences of their subjects.We read the words they heard supplemented briefly by overviews provided by the authors.This first-person recounting of events and the reactions to them brings everything to life for us.Whatever passions we may have from our own perspectives are, at least temporarily, set aside with the riminder that war victimizes everyone it touches.

The Cooks have done an excellent job of finding persons who were not only first-hand witnesses but excellent historians as well.The stories that they were able to collect were so personal and down-to-earth that the one exception (a professor's educated treatise on the censuring of textbooks) sticks out noticeably in comparison.

The witnesses let us in on many events but it is their editorial perspective of how these events changed their lives (and the lives of other Japanese) that reaches across the animosities of war and touches us deeply.There are interviews with some of the volunteer suicide soldiers who would have carried out their mission but for time and/or equiptment failure.There are stories of Koreans brought to Japan and insights on how they were treated.However, the most impressive were the stories of the witnesses and survivors of the Atomic Bombs that fell on Japan.Whatever your feeling on this subject are (and mine affirm the correctness of our actions) these first hand accounts are stunning.

The Cooks deserve a lot of credit for their painstaking efforts to amass all of these interviews.Their editing appears to be minimal as is their background introductions to each new chapter.In other words; helpful without being intrusive.Undoubtably, there were many other survivng Japanese witnesses to war who would not tell their story.Many of those who did were reflective of having been misled.

The Japanese and Americans are solid allies these days and the birth of that alliance is found in these monologues of history.Countless eye-witnesses bore testimony to their individual discovery that the American soldiers were not the devils the Japanese leadership portrayed them to be.The gratuitous stories of the acts of kindness and generosity of the American GIs were really heartwarming to read.

"Japan at War: An Oral History"was everything I had hoped it would be; and more.As a Baby-Boomer, I carry not the scars of war but the legacy of war.The history of American wars is the eventual alliance with our enemies.This book, in an indirect way, is a reminder of that tradition.We can only hope that our current conflict can eventually end in the same Phoenix of peace. ... Read more

Book Description
Japan: A Modern History provides a comprehensive narrative that integrates the political, social, cultural, and economic history of modern Japan from the investiture of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 to the present. Japan: A Modern History integrates the everyday experiences of farmers, artisans, families, soldiers, and laborers into the general narrative. Throughout, the point of view is based in Japan, emphasizing the Japanese as makers of their own history. Professor McClain provides in-depth coverage of the early modern period and the subsequent emergence of new dimensions in all areas of Japanese life. Numerous maps, illustrations, chronologies, and a helpful glossary reinforce central themes and events. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Superb recount of Japan
McClain offers a holistic approach to Japanese history. In this book he explains how Japan got to where it is today by going through the various historical periods. For recent Japanese history, he concentrates on the social aspects as well as the political and economic ones. Readers gain a thorough understanding of Japan with this book.

Concise but a bit boring (sorry)
This is a good summary of the history of Japan. It spans all topics and is quite balanced in social, political and economic issues. McClain's book takes quite an academic approach to Japan's history, (without exessive notes of course). It is well founded, he is precise, concise and avoids controversal or journalistic subjects and speculation (such as whether Roosevelt knew about the attac on pearl harbor). In this sense this book can be highly recommended for those readers who look for a no-nonsense textbook. However, this style makes the read a bit boring. Compared to other historical books I have read I found it hard to read and - as a non-english native speaker - it took me a long time. Because the writer never goes deep into one subject, the reader gets only a kind of the summary of an issue. The book is never really gripping and as a more casual reader it is probably not my the first choice. John Dower and David Nathan have left me more inspired.

The best history of modern Japan (1603 forward)...
McClain has fashioned a highly detailed, sophisticated, and complex history of Japan from 1603 to the present.The historiography is superb (he obviously is totally bilingual and is fluent in Japanese sources).The history is both descriptive (chronological, social, political, economic, family/personal) as well as analytic (how social structure affected the rise of industrial society, for example).The overall effect is to make Japanese history clear and comprehensible.The people of Japan stand out in distinct relief.

I was puzzled that the Boston Globe reviewer was much cooler toward this book than I think most readers are or will be.McClain's history will stand the test of time.

question
I am not writing a review in fact. But I can't find anywhere else here to ask my question: What is the difference between the college edition and hardcover ed.? There is no info on this.

Comprehensive history since the 17th century.
If you are looking for an excellent resource on the history of Japan in the past 4 centuries, I recommend this book highly. It does an excellent job in tracing the tortuous path that wove from Japan's feudal fiefdom society to the current modern parliamentary democracy. In addition to the governmental and military matters that are generally covered, there is notable space dedicated to the arts and the contributions of women, peasants and others not normally found in history books. The maps and illustrations are adequate, and do help to support the text. Highly Recommended. ... Read more

Book Description
In a rare combination of comprehensive coverage and sustained critical focus, this book examines Japanese history in its entirety to identify the factors underlying the nation's progression to superpower status. Japan's achievement is explained not merely in economic terms, but at a more fundamental level, as a product of historical patterns of response to circumstance. Japan is shown to be a nation historically impelled by a pragmatic determination to succeed. The book also highlights unresolved questions and little-known facts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

An excellent introduction to Japanese history
This book is my recent reading about Japanese history and I found it is written in a wonderfully succinct way. Japan's history ranges over almost 2,000 years only for its historical part. If anybody feels it is still difficult to summarize 200-year history of the United States into a few hundred pages, you will know how daunting task it is to summarize 2,000-year history of one of the most important countries of the current world into this comfortable volume. This book distributes proper weight to each period of Japanese history and does not disproportionately emphasizes its modern history in disregard of its ancient one. In fact, the author's narration of Japanese history flows with very clear connection in mind between its ancient display and its modern development. In this small volume (yet more or less 300 pages), every paragraph retains significance in relation to the entirety of Japanese history as the author recognizes it. One may choose a fact-ridden thick dry textbook type for his/her introduction to a country's history, but I believe you will get a more vivid sense of the politcal and cultural entity called Japan through this book than through a long enumeration of historical facts of Japan. This book has my hearty recommendation for anybody who begins to develop an interest in Japanese history and culture.

Excellent Overview of Japanese History
Henshall does an excellent job of providing a concise overview of Japanese history.The book is written in a very readable and engaging style and while a lot of material is covered in the limited number of pages he at the same time manages to tie it together in a coherent way.The benefit of this is that while it may not have depth you finish the book with the feeling that you have an understanding of what you have read as a whole.

Of particular value are the summaries at the end of each part and the tables listing key developments along with key values and practices in each period.

Different approach
RECOMMENDATIONS
I have been recommending this book to people as bedtime reading or something alike, as the style of this book seams more neutral (not comparing with West) but also in same time kind of light and somewhat humorous... so if interested of well written overview of Japanese history this book is kind of fun to read actually (how ever odd that might sound about bloody history).
Some people appreciate that, some don't. I certainly enjoyed this different and light Japanese 'story.


CONTENTS
Have read quite few history books about Japan, but this one was actually (mostly) entertaining, which is refreshing next to thick and boring books that still don't cover all events (for example Nanjing massacre is completely missing from quite few thick Japanese history books by western authors). It is indeed somewhat disappointing that even this author left out for example the massive Nanjing rape and massacre, but at least he mentions Nanjing on couple of the pages, which is much more than could be said about other material out there.

The best part in this book is though older history, that is before Meji era.
I like this 'clear:head kind' of neutral feeling about this book, as it appears to me.
Here you don't need to be worried about finding little lines here and there comparing some western countries against Japan (often in favor to writers own country), in same time as he still puts some personality to this 'story of the country.

I like the way mr Henshall has placed the Japanese mythology in beginning and actually explained it in concise but informative way. Not very common in history books, I think.
He seams to have also somewhat more sober interpretation of samurais throughout the history, among other things.
(Here samurais are not presented just brave "heros" fighting for the truth and honor of the country.;) They seam to be put forward in more realistic way.)


GENERALLY
It is relatively thin book to be about one country's history, and you can't expect read all the details about everything that happend in Japan throughout it's pretty long and shaky history.

However, if you not going to do deep detailed research about one specific event under Kamakura period or alike, with this book as only resource,
this book covers Japanese history perfectly well.


This entertaining and informative overview about history of Japan is definitely recommended.


Hopefully this review helps you. If you will get this book, enjoy!! :)

Sad. The book is distorted by the Japanese.
First of all this book states that Yayoi is 100% Japanese however it's actaully 50% Korean, 30% Chinese, and 20% Middle Asia's culture. Also this book rarely talks about the killing of 3 million innocent Koreans and 0.8 million Chinese and torturing them by raping, experimenting and killing for entertainment when half of Japan's history was killing and robbing.

Very perspicacious summary of Japanese history
After reading Gordon's "A Modern History of Japan" which was twice thicker with longer pages and concentrate on the history since Meiji, I was a bit skeptical that Henshall would be able to tell me much more about Japanese history, as there isn't much to say about early and medieval history in 70 pages, and even less from Meiji in 110 pages. However, I really enjoyed this book. Not only was it more digestible than Gordon's, it is probably the best comlpete history of Japan from the stone age to now that I have read so far.

There are lots of interesting anecdotes and facts, and Henshall's summaries of key points in Japanese culture's development after each chapters are very eficient and perspicacious. There is very little useless commentaries or wasted space, without being too dense. Very good indeed ! ... Read more

Book Description
An Illustrated History of Japanis a riveting account highlighting some of the most important events in Japanese history. This book is suitable for all ages and a must-read for those interested in a pictorial overview of this economic and cultural powerhouse. ... Read more

Book Description
Japan's catapult to world economic power has inspired many studies by social scientists, but few have looked at the 45 years of postwar Japan through the lens of history. The contributors to this book seek to offer such a view. As they examine three related themes of postwar history, the authors describe an ongoing historical process marked by unexpected changes, such as Japan's extraordinary economic growth, and unanticipated continuities, such as the endurance of conservative rule. A provocative set of interpretative essays by eminent scholars, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of twentieth-century Japan and the dilemmas facing Japan today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good overview of Postwar Japan upto 80s
I read this book in a graduate class. So I didn't touch all bits of it. But judging from what I read, this book worths your time, I think.
1. Writers are well-known figures in their own field. So, unlike other edited materials, the quality of each article is superb.
2. As the title implies, this book was intended to provide the viewpoint to overview postwar Japan as an entity, upto 80s.
3. The subjects, covered in this fat book (500 pages), vary from economy, mass culture, urban lifestyle to political practice. If you expect some in-depth specilized material, this is not your choice. But if you want to get some starting point, this is yours. ... Read more

Book Description

Once a star of postwar industrial production and methods, Japan has encountered serious trouble with market forces in recent years. Social changes and departures from tradition are becoming more common in this conservative country. The revised edition of the popular work, Japan: Its History and Culture, Fourth Edition, documents and explains these changes. Seamlessly blending current events, politics, and cultural elements, the authors provide a riveting account of a nation often misunderstood by the West.

Customer Reviews (4)

corruption of information
This book was written by W. Scott Morton and J. Kenneth Olenik.
I never want to purchase anything from these authors again. The
material in the book contains very incorrect and slanderous information, as well as a failure to provide relevant information, concerning Nichiren Daishonin and Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. I know this for a fact because I am a member of the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, which is True Mahayana Buddhism, with the Head Temple based in Japan. I have been to the Head Temple twice before, and to the temples in the United States, several times since joining in 1984. The Nichiren Shoshu is NOT political, as the authors present in their book.And Nichiren Daishonin was not political, either, as the authors present. Nor do the authors present the material in a responsible and informative manner, which would be the only suitable manner, especially for persons of their standing in the educational field. To understand the times and the culture of the country at the time, and the circumstances that Nichiren Daishonin was contending with, and to obtain CORRECT information on the actual beliefs and practice, the only reliable source would be the Nichiren Shoshu temples themselves.
Considering the interwoven relationships of religion and politics, and their supportive or non-supportive roles in research, science, medical, etc., fields and their overrall effect on influencing societal behaviors, this is an extremely serious error of the authors.
Not only am I so very dissatisfied with the information they presented, I am also very dissatisfied with their presentation of it.Based on this, I cannot trust their other information either, especially in reference to comments concerning the corruption of U.S. contractors, and the Japanese government, and similiar topics. Even if the information presented on those topics were correct, my question then becomes "Who is the corruptive force behind it all?".I refuse to provide support of any kind to the authors.

A Short Cultural History
This books seeks to give the reader a broad grasp of the space of Japan's cultural history. Important names and dates are mentioned in connection with their cultural accomplishments. More than simply telling who killed whom in what war and when, this book gives the reader a vague understanding of how Japan's customs, architecture, art, and prose evolved into the form they are today.

This book is best for those who know next to nothing about the history of Japan and would like an outline with which to proceed to learn more.

A short introduction to Japanese History
This book is perfect for anyone who knows nothing about Japanese history (as I did). It is short and easily readable (less than 250 pages for Japanese history to WWII). As an introduction to Japanese history it does just what it should.....inspire you to learn more....

does pretty much what it sets out to do
Morton has made an effort to impart understanding of Japanese heritage and culture.For the most part, he succeeds; the historical survey has about the right amount of depth for this type of book, and cultural issues arediscussed.

What would have made it better would have been a section onspecifically Japanese concepts that are hard for non-Japanese to graspaccurately.Many are touched on throughout the book, but words such as'wa' and 'giri' really deserve a page or two each to go into fulldescriptiveness, and that doesn't happen.It is clear that Morton has theunderstanding of them to share; I wish he'd done so. ... Read more

Book Description
Japan's ancient age was a period of radical and political change during which a Chinese-style empire emerged. This volume of The Cambridge History of Japan spans the beginnings of human existence to the end of the eighth century, focusing on the thousand years between 300 B.C. and 784, the end of the fabulous Nara period. The volume explores this period in four stages: (1) The Yayoi period (to about 250 A.D.) when small kingdoms and kingdom federations accumulated enough power to dispatch diplomatic missions to Korea and China; (2) the Yamato period (to 587) when priestly rulers, having gained economic and military power, conquered most of Japan; (3) the Century of Reform (to 710) when Japanese leaders, pressed by China's expanding T'ang empire, set out to build a strong Chinese-style empire of their own; (4) the Nara period (to 784) when spectacular literary, artistic, architectural, and religious advances were made. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An Extensive Reference
This is the second volume in The Cambridge History of Japan, covering from the founding of Heian-kyo in 794 to the Gimpei clan wars of 1185 and the rising dominance of the warrior class.Arguably, these are the formative years for Japanese culture and social structure.Many of the subtle forms of governance that endured into modern times were entrenched at this time.Art and religion flourished as well (this was the period in which The Tale of Genji was written).

The Heian era, marked by a tremendous amount of formative activity, are crucial to understanding all that followed.This text is as exhaustive a record and analysis of those times as any reader would ever want.The chapters are written by individual experts in their fields and cover key aspects of history, politics, sociology, religion, and art.If anything, the worst criticism of this text is that the amount of information provided is overwhelming.

Casual history buffs beware.Don't expect an easy to read narrative.The intended reader is either academic or deeply interested.The kind of person who doesn't mind information overload and who is willing to take the time to put all the pieces of the picture into place.It may be important to understand rice politics, but, for the average reader, the subject lacks the glitter of the Heian court and the conflicts that forged modern Japan.

Of course, this is intended to be a reference book as much as a history, which accounts for the dryness of some of the writing.But as a reference book it really shines - I have yet to look for something and not be able to find material.For the right reader, the book is well worth its steep price.

The First 99,000 Years
'Ancient Japan' is the initial volume in 'The Cambridge History of Japan.'As such it is a stunning effort to collect and organize the results of recent discovery about of Japan's early history.What surprised me from the beginning of the book was how much of Japan's early history has only been discovered in the last half of the 20th Century.In that period of time archeology and scholarship has added vast amounts of information to the story, dispelling some myths and affirming others.

The format is the classical form of a series of chapters written by experts in the field.Delmer M. Brown, who is Professor Emeritus at the Center for Japanese Studies (UC Berkeley) has done an excellent job of bringing the work together and making this first volume work as a whole, including writing a good piece of the text himself.Eight other writers contribute, with sections on the Jomon, Yayoi, Yamato, Asuka (century of reform) and Nara periods, ending with 784 CE.Collateral chapters on Japan's relations with the continent, Kami worship and Buddhism, Nara economic and social institutions, and culture are also included to fill out the overall picture.The religious and cultural studies I found particularly informative.

When a book attempts to cover this much material, the pace of exposition is often overwhelming.Brown manages to keep this from being extreme, but it would be dishonest to describe 'Ancient Japan' as a leisurely armchair read.On the other hand, it is the perfect vehicle for forming a mental picture of the periods under study, and identifying additional sources for further reading.As such, the footnotes, citations, and index/glossary are invaluable.In addition, the writing is all in a competent academic style that never bores, even when it fails to excite.Despite the steep price this volume is an important addition to a scholarly library.I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Comprehensive and Scholarly Review of Medieval Japan
This is an outstanding work and provides both the lay reader and the scholar with a comprehensive discussion of Medieval Japan with all its complexities, richness, and fascinating detail.Understanding Japanese history is a challenge and this work provides an excellent and detailed background of the feudal period.

It's the most detail publication on Heain era in Japan!
If one is looking for a manual that can help him/her understand historical events in Heian period (794-1185) then this is the book. It brings to you in detail the system of government (copying China's Tchang dynasty model),introduction of new Buddhist sects to Japan (Tendai, Shingon) and the life/ culture at the Imperial Court in Heiankyo (contemporary capital). Whatmay scare one off is the price but if you're either deeply interested inJapan's history or want to know more than you can find in the generalpopular history books then be sure to add this piece to your bookself andit will bring the Heain Japan to your reading chair.Index and glossaryare practically arranged.

The definative English language history of Japan
This book brings post war scholarship on the history of Japan up date.Excellent index and glossary.Too expensive for the general reader ofcollege text but an excellent addition to any library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lots of information on a small subject
The Book is a great collection of articles for the avid historian of Japanese history, or perhaps the struggling college student. The book is well-compiled and thurough. A very good refrence for information on the Tokugawa Era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

One of the Most Exhaustive and Informative Works on the Subject: Volume III
After I had finished reading George Sansom's "A History of Japan to 1334" and "A History of Japan: 1334-1615", I was definitely looking forward to reading this book, the final volume of his history series, since 1615-1867 is the time period of Japan's history that I have often been most interested in reading about. This major subjects of the time period covered in this volume include: the rule of the Tokugawa shoguns and the establishment of their government, feudal society (class distinctions and social hierarchy), Japan's exclusion policy (decrees issued in 1633, 1635, and 1639, which caused Japan to become almost entirely isolated from other countries), the persecution of Christians in Japan, the influence of Confucianism on politics and people in Japan, and the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853.

The only complaint I have about this book is its brief treatment of the cultural aspects of the Genroku period (1688-1704), which is a time frame that many readers are bound to be curious about, since it encompassed the growth of the ukiyo-e art style and the flourishing of literature (such as haiku, with Matuso Basho). G.B. Sansom's "Japan: A Short Cultural History" expands upon the Genroku period in greater detail in one of its chapters, and serves as a good companion to Sansom's "A History of Japan" series in general.

Losing a little steam
Sansom's third book in his History of Japan series covers the time from Ieyasu's Shogunate to the Meiji revolution, in which the Tokugawa bakufu was overthrown and the emperor restored to power.The timeframe under discussion involves the slow change from a feudal, militarized society to one which was much more mercantile and agrarian in nature.The role of the warrior diminished and that of the merchant and farmer, and thus of the common man, increases.

Perhaps this is why this book loses some of the vigour of its predecessors.Sansom concentrates much more on the changes in the structure of society than on events and personalities.The price of rice, while admittedly a very important factor in political events in Tokugawa Japan, receives so much attention that we are almost lost in the details of production and pricing.Sansom recovers some of his spirit as the tale draws to a close with the opening of Japan by Perry and the increasing encroachment of the West.Sansom's view of how the opening of Japan led to the restoration of the Emperor is quite revealing.

All told, this book, much shorter than the previous two, is definitely also the weakest.It contains, as do the others excellent maps, charts and pictures as well as tables of rice production and the occasional family tree.There is only one appendix, on rural family structure and the bibliography, while annotated, is very brief.I would still recommend buying the whole set but the first two books are much superior to this as reading material. This excellent series ends with a bit of a whimper.

Japanese History
I bought this for my daughter who indicates it is really factual yet easy to read like a novel.

Thank you,

The Third in an Excellent Compilation of History
George Sansom follows his previous work with this, "A History of Japan, 1615-1867" which chronicles the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the engrandeurment of Edo (Tokyo) and goes up to the Meiji Restoration (1868). This book is an excellent resource for any college student studying the Japanese culture as well as anyone with even a casual interest in the time period.

Sansom's history is by no means a boring recitation of dates and names. He tells stories, and does so with the expertise of a good writer. Sansom makes history interesting aswell as highly informative and very readable.

It is not essential to read "A History of Japan to 1334" and "A History of Japan, 1334-1615" to understand Sansom's work, however it does help. Sansom never looks back unless he absolutely has to, so the first time reader of his work may be a little confused as to who some of the major characters are, whats going on in Tokugawa's rebellion and some of the groundwork that led to it.

III. Edo to Meiji. . . and then?
Again, it is probably well to point out that Sansom's 3-vol. narrative history of Japan is sometimes confused with several of his other works, and that, for all practical purposes, these three constitute the standard narrative history of Japan of our time. . . Of course, these "other works" are of the same high caliber and well worth our attention: Japan: A Short Cultural History (1931; Revised Edition, 1943); and especially, The Western World and Japan: A Study in the Interaction of European and Asiatic Cultures (1965; 504, xi pp). The author is identified in both books as "G.B. Sansom." [Not a very exciting distinction, to be sure, but online computers sometimes get confused.]

George Sansom (1883-1965) is variously identified on Amazon.com and elsewhere as George Sansom, G. Sansom, George Bailey Sansom, G. B. Sansom, George B. Sansom, and Sir George Sansom (yes, he was knighted in 1935 and again in 1947).The 3-vol. set is signed "George Sansom".

This third volume of the series stops at 1867. Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond this year is that he had lived too close to events of the Meiji Restoration (1868) for him to develop a perspective that only distance could supply.For readers interested in later events, The Making of Modern Japan (2000; 2002), by Marius B. Jansen, another outstanding scholar of Japanese history, would be a good choice.Since this history begins at 1600, there are overlapping accounts of the Edo period, but from two quite different perspectives.

In short, this set is a good buy and is likely to remain the standard narrative history of Japan for the foreseeable future.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Sir George Sansom (1883-1965) Revisited
It would probably not be much of a stretch to claim that as late as the decade following the end of the Pacific War in 1945, the popular take in the States on things Japanese, even among the more knowledgeable, was shaped largely by three classics: Sir George Sansom's Japan: A Short Cultural History (1931) and Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946) against the background strains of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (1904). All three have had their critics and all three have survived comfortably into the 21st century.

But the Cultural History is not just curious relic.It often describes, in clear and straightforward terms, items of cultural behavior which contemporary scholars are often tempted to dispute contentiously, present in technical jargon, or ignore completely. Take, for example, this introduction to the crucial distinction in Shinto between "ritual purity" and "moral guilt":

........ The outstanding feature of Shinto observances is the attention paid to ritual purity.Things which are offensive to the gods were called by the early Japanese TSUMI, a word which is now rendered by dictionaries as "guilt" or "sin."Avoidance of these things was called IMI, a word meaning taboo.The Imibe, as we have seen, were a class of professional "abstainers," whose duty it was to keep free from pollution so that they might approach the gods without offence. Chief among the offences to be avoided was uncleanness.It might arise in many ways, none of which in other religions would be moral guilt... (p. 32ff.)

Those with a bigger appetite for historical detail might consider starting, or continuing, with Sansom's later 3-volume narrative history: A History of Japan to 1334 (1958), A History of Japan 1334-1615 (1961), and A History of Japan 1615-1867 (1963).Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond 1867 is that he had lived too close to events of the Meiji Restoration (1868) for him to develop a perspective that only distance could supply.

For readers interested in later events, The Making of Modern Japan (2000; 2002), by Marius B. Jansen, another outstanding scholar of Japanese history, would be a good choice.Since this history begins at 1600, there are overlapping accounts of the Edo period, but from two quite different perspectives.

With some skimming, a very good introduction.
While interested in culture, I have come to realize I am not very interested in cultural history.For one thing, it is difficult to convey a history of art or architecture or literature to a reader unless the reader is already conversant with historical examples of all of these.It is also true, for me at least, that a discussion of religious and philosophical ideas from a modern perspective, with reference to historical changes, is more enlightening than an attempt at a chronological history.On the other hand, cultural histories, such as Sansom's canprovide political histories of just the right amount of detail, and this book does; and Sansom is generally able to convey the flavor of a Japanese cultural epoch.The book lacks a proper emphasis on economic and technical history. Possibly, this is due to gaps in the historical record, at least at the time this book was written (1931), since Sansom does pay attention toeconomics in the late stages of this book. The book does successfully stressmorality and character.A Short Cultural History ends just before the Restoration in mid-19th century.The book's style is pleasantly informal, more in the style of an essayist than an academic.And despite the reservations I have expressed, I found that with a certain amount of skimming, it provides a very good introduction, one that encourages more reading.I give it 5 stars because of the challenge of writing a book such as this.

A Good Primer on Japanese Culture
Sansom's book has been around for a long, long time, and it has been an introduction to the subject for several generations of interested readers and budding Japanese scholars.

As a book for beginners on Japan it is an excellent start.If you already know something about the subject, you will probably find that it is long on history and short on culture.The author goes out of his way to keep the political context in the forefront and always maintains the chronological order of his story, even when the development of some cultural features (e.g., Japanese Buddhism) may not be well-served by that approach.Most of the major features we associate with Japanese culture are mentioned.Too many of them are only mentioned in passing, and could have merited more in-depth treatment.

Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to denigrate the book too much; when it appeared, most western readers knew little enough on the subject, and most of what they could obtain was either fanciful, biased or just plain unreadable.The tide has turned, and there is so much material available on Japanese culture nowadays that it's hard for the beginner to figure out where to start.If he or she starts with this book, they could do far worse.

A great reference tool on Japan
I purchased this book at great cost but it has been worthwhile. It provides a concise overview of Japanese culture. It is the only book I have found to be so informative without the "fluff" of other books. I don't know about this one but the one I purchased is of fantastic high quality paper that makes such a small book rather heavy. A great book for anybodies reference library.

A treasure
This book is an excellent introduction to the roots of Japanese culture. It isn't a history of Japan, but rather a look at its religion, art, literature, etc. My only complaint is that there are few photos and drawings, and these are in black and white. ... Read more

Book Description
A Traveller's History of Japan not only offers the reader a chronological outline of the nation's development but also provides an invaluable introduction to its language, literature and arts, from kabuki to karaoke.This clearly written history explains how a country embedded in the traditions of Shinto, Shoguns and Samurai has achieved stupendous economic growth and dominance in the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good but needs supplemental texts or maps.
This is certainly an ambitious book. It attempts to cover thousands of years of Japanese history, as well as explain various aspects of Japanese culture and religion. It is highly readable however the cast of historic characters can become overwhelming.

I will first list the strengths of the book. The book does a very good job of explaining the centralization of Japan under a single Emperor and then the process by which the royal family was relegated (and overwhelmed) to court formality and ritual. A very curious tradition began whereby the Emperor would abdicate to a son or grandson who would then take on the all the responsibilities of court rituals and ceremonies. The abdicating emperor would then become a monk and live in a reclusive palace beside the main ceremonial palace. However, the former emperor would actually control the government while the 'official' emperor would be stuck with hours upon hours of court formality and ritual. A very wise system was thus developed that divided governing from the rituals of governing. The slow movement of power from Kyoto to Tokyo is also well documented. This period is marked by the rise of military dictators, Shoguns, who shared power with the royal family and frequently intermarried with the royal family so that eventually Shogun families had claims to the throne.

The book does a very good job of explaining the differences and similarities between Shinto and Buddhist religions and their combined influence on Japanese culture and spirituality.

The book has a weakness however that should be mentioned. The book does not discriminate well between landmarks and shrines that no longer exists and landmarks and shrines that are open to the public. The book does not tell the travel how to find significant historic sites or how to navigate within the sites once they are found. In this regard I found I needed a second book to help me. I used the Eyewitness Guide to Japan which offered many photographs and clear directions and between the two books I was able to identify significant sites and then locate them and reach them using the Eyewitness book.

If you wish to learn far more about Samurai, the Pillow Book, the Book of Genji, the rise and expulsion of Christian missionaries, and the bloody internal wars - this is certainly a good book. If you wish to then use some of this knowledge to see actual sites within Japan, you need more information.

Concise history, but I wish it would tie in with the sights.
I read this book while travelling around in Japan.It is a very concise, readable history of Japan, but the title is misleading.It actually has nothing whatever to say about linking travel in Japan with Japanese history.I was hoping to find a book which could relate the many sites one visits in Japan with its history.If you want to get a feel for the history behind the tourist traps, you will be disappainted in this book, as I was.If you want a straightforward, easy-to-read general history of Japan, this book is for you.

A Great Book for Starters!
Contrary to the popular opinion here, I enjoyed this book. For some one who does not really know much about Japan, or Japanese history, for that matter, the book is great. It starts off with a short prehistory, followed by the first Yamato state in Japan, followed by the Heian era, and the different shogunal dynasties, such as the Tokugawa and the Kamakura Shogunates. Then, it gives information about the Meiji Period, Japan's time as a power, and its defeat in World War II. It ends with a description of Modern Japan politically, socially, and economically.

One person said that Buddhism gets no treatment. Actually, it does. All of the important Buddhist sects (Tendai, Shingon, Nichiren, Pure Land, and Zen) are mentioned and information given about them. I do have to say, however, that Shintoism gets hardly any treatment.

And I do wisht hat the book gave more pictures and more information about the imperial family. But apart from that, I would get it!

Missing the most important aspect of Japan
Any visitor to a foreign country is well advised to get to know its religion, not only because it's practiced by most inhabitants of the country, but also it illuminates many cultural and social parculiarities of the locale.This book claims to be a travellers' book on Japan, yet Buddism, which informs most of Japan's architectures, art, literature, is relegated to an a few index pages in the back of the book.More distressingly, Christianity is treated with a whole chapter, "The Christian Century", which should be appropriately titled "Encounters with the West".The Christian Century implies somehow that Japan was almost Christianized, when in fact the reader will find that at most 50,000 Japanese converted during that time.Too much emphasis is put on how these converts were persecuted, without putting these incidents into historical context.In 16th century Japan, the Emperors saw Christianity as a threat and meddling to their affairs, due in part to the missionaries' arrogant dissimal of Buddism as idolatry.In the index, Buddism is said to be a religion that "conceives salvation as extinction, rather than redemption."This is a serious misunderstanding of Buddism.

Great, quick, and well-balanced general history
By title, this book, indeed this series, may put fear into the reader of being a too-general and non-scholarly vast account of a subject matter too complex for any quality to come from the short format.Tames proves these fears wrong almost from the beginning in this indeed scholarly, engaging, and very well-balanced account of the history of one of the most misunderstood nations among today's world leaders.Tames does write a very general account, but "general" can be better understood as "broad" and "far-reaching" in this narritive.Regardless of the period discussed, his approach is rarely too single-tracked.This is a developmental history, and as such, properly includes development of Japanese government, culture, arts and literature, and the cumulative effects of this development onto the subsequent generations of Japanese.Tames does an excellent though suggestive job of relating the development of the Japanese nation to that of its people, and vice-versa.Throughout, except for the beginning, where it is often difficult to make any pre- and early histories come to life, the narritive flows freely with a purpose, and Tames' clear interest in his subject shines through the pages to take the reader with him on the easy, air-conditioned, and quick monorail tour through the safari of Japanese history, which is exactly what it is meant to be.In addition to the narritive is an excellent bibliography with commentary, as well as an entire reference section on everything Japanese from language to food and drink to holidays and their meanings.Especially for ex-pats living in Japan who don't want to be bogged down with anything dry or without connection to their experience, this is a quick, excellent read.It does a great job of subtly explaining the oft-seemingly unexplainables of Japan today. ... Read more

Book Description

In the decades between the two World Wars, Japan made a dramatic entry into the modern age, expanding its capital industries and urbanizing so quickly as to rival many long-standing Western industrial societies. How the Japanese made sense of the sudden transformation and the subsequent rise of mass culture is the focus of Harry Harootunian's fascinating inquiry into the problems of modernity. Here he examines the work of a generation of Japanese intellectuals who, like their European counterparts, saw modernity as a spectacle of ceaseless change that uprooted the dominant historical culture from its fixed values and substituted a culture based on fantasy and desire. Harootunian not only explains why the Japanese valued philosophical understandings of these events, often over sociological or empirical explanations, but also locates Japan's experience of modernity within a larger global process marked by both modernism and fascism.

What caught the attention of Japanese thinkers was how the production of desire actually threatened historical culture. These intellectuals sought to "overcome" the materialism and consumerism associated with the West, particularly the United States. They proposed versions of a modernity rooted in cultural authenticity and aimed at infusing meaning into everyday life, whether through art, memory, or community. Harootunian traces these ideas in the works of Yanagita Kunio, Tosaka Jun, Gonda Yasunosuke, and Kon Wajiro, among others, and relates their arguments to those of such European writers as George Simmel, Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Georges Bataille.

Harootunian shows that Japanese and European intellectuals shared many of the same concerns, and also stresses that neither Japan's involvement with fascism nor its late entry into the capitalist, industrial scene should cause historians to view its experience of modernity as an oddity. The author argues that strains of fascism ran throughout most every country in Europe and in many ways resulted from modernizing trends in general. This book, written by a leading scholar of modern Japan, amounts to a major reinterpretation of the nature of Japan's modernity.

Customer Reviews (4)

an extremely difficult masterpiece
This book is essential reading for anyone trying to understand modernity and capitalism as a global phenomenon.However, if you are looking for information specific to Japan, this isn't the right book.Harootunian is consciously writing against area-studies specialization.Anyone trying to learn about the "Japanese case" will be disappointed.If you confront the book with an open mind (and a lot of patience to work through the myriad theoretical references), it could radically change the way you think.

Waste of Time and Effort
The intellectual history of early 20th-century Japan is an important and understudied topic of great interest to me, and this book seemed like a promising contribution to that field. Unfortunately, it disappoints. Harootunian's pretentious, tortured prose in this book is perhaps meant as a smokescreen for the utterly vacuous nature of its argument--which is, after all, not much more than a slightly highbrow variant of character assassination. That is, a few radically leftist thinkers such as the Marxist philosopher Tosaka Jun are given preference and almost lionized, while non-Marxist philosophers and thinkers are consistently undercut and more or less blamed for the rise of "fascism" in Japan. Obviously in a book of this bulk the presentation is more complex, but it all seems to boil down to this simplistic, sweeping judgment--and, due to the regular citations of Western Marxist thinkers like Louis Althusser and Walter Benjamin, I can't help but suspect this analysis results more from the author's own political biases than from an even-handed attempt to understand the thinkers and philosophers in question within their actual context. This is especially a shame because many of the thinkers discussed here are important and fascinating; they deserve much further study in English, but the demonization perpetrated against them by Harootunian tends to discourage such inquiry as well as distort their image--they themselves are dead and gone and can't respond to such slander, and few Americans have access to enough other sources to make an informed judgment.

Furthermore, translation errors and general carelessness mar this work irreparably. There are some interesting arguments here and there in the book, but in general hardly anything reliable about Japanese intellectual life during this complicated and interesting time period can really be gained from this lackluster work.

Totally incomprehensible
This book is totally incomprehensible; if you see it on a syllabus drop the course. Its a theoritical analysis of theoritical analyseses of art and history, and its incredibly poorly written. I think. I'm an undergrad a top 10 university, I've spent most of the last two days reading this book and I'm not even sure what its about, much less what he's actually trying to say.

Try to get it, okay
Whoever wrote the review that calls this book an "evocation of Japan's attempt to come to grips with the modern world," which is one of the things Amazon puts in its list of editorial reviews, just does not get it.That is precisely the kind of sentiment Harootunian is working against, the assumption that Japan's problems with modernity are the product of Japan's exceptional, unique, or non-Western character.His brilliance is in seeing clearly that the modernity confronted by "the Japanese" was and is a global problematic, and any Japanese deformities vis-a-vis modernity are the products of a global unevenness that is a perpetual characteristic of that modernity, the social, political and cultural milieu of capitalism. ... Read more

Book Description
How two economies with divergent political orientations have competed--and often collided--with each other. When Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo harbor in July 1853, opening Japan to the West, Americans and Japanese immediately began to misunderstand each other. This relationship between the United States and Japan--now the world's two greatest economic powers and fierce competitors--remains immensely important, highly fragile, and little understood on either side of the Pacific. Walter LaFeber, one of America's greatest historians, has written the first book to tell the entire story. Using both American and Japanese sources, LaFeber focuses on two central themes: the role of China which, ghostlike, has always haunted and shaped U.S.-Japanese policies, and the nature of the two capitalisms that have constantly clashed since the late nineteenth century and that led, in 1941, to Pearl Harbor and, after 1945, to today's long-term economic war. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Curious Friendship
Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, Prof. LaFeber offers the finest single-volume history of U.S.-Japanese relations to appear in recent years. Taking as his starting point the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in Edo Bay in 1853, Prof. Lafeber explains the close -- and occasionally stormy -- relationship between the United States and Japan over the past 150 years. Although the interests of the two nations are often aligned, Prof. LaFeber suggests that this alignment is not inevitable. Instead, the continued friendship between the two nations relies upon an understanding of our shared history -- and an appreciation of China's place in that history. Only by studying the history of the U.S.-Japan-China triangle can U.S. foreign policymakers formulate a comprehensive strategy for the Pacific in the 21st century. "The Clash" is an absolute must-read for those who wish to participate in the debate over U.S. interests in the Pacific. ... Read more

Book Description
This text chronicles the evolution of premodern (early A.D. to 1850), modern (1850-1945), and postwar (1945-1989) Japanese civilization from imperial rule through the death of Emperor Hirohito. Professor Reischauer, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, explo